Environmental Racism in Canada: How do we begin to reconcile?
Author
Hello, my name is Kara Stayberg and I am a grade 12 student at Princess Margaret Secondary school. For my English First People's 12 final project, I am looking into what reconciliation looks like in relation to the environment. I am looking into this topic because after taking Environmental Science 12, I am very passionate about the environment and more aware. I want to further my knowledge and awareness of the situation, the role that indigenous people play, and how they have been affected.
What are the issues and history behind Environmental Racism?
In the past, indigenous people have been unjustly stripped of their land, and forced to live on reserves with no control or legal rights for the land or natural resources that go with it. Then, even when they got some legal rights to the land, they still didn't have control, and were subjected to unfair treatment like storage of hazardous materials on their land and contamination to lands surrounding their land - ultimately contaminating their land. To this day, indigenous communities are still impacted by this because their land and natural resources have been compromised as well as their health and general well-being. Though there are now policies and legislature in place to prevent this from happening more like article 29 "States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior, and informed consent. 3. States shall also take effective measures to ensure, as needed, that programmes for monitoring, maintaining, and restoring the health of indigenous peoples, as developed and implemented by the peoples affected by such materials, are duly implemented" (United Nations 2007). Even the language in this declaration "duly implemented" imply that these issues are not of high concern and does not strictly enforce these. There needs to be development in restoration of these lands and continued efforts for conservation and protection of not only the land and natural resources, but the people.