NDP to introduce UN-recommended environmental racism bill

Legislation would establish all-party committee

HALIFAX - Lenore Zann, NDP Environment spokesperson, will introduce legislation this afternoon to work towards an end to environmental racism. Environmental racism is the practice of locating landfills, waste dumps, and other hazardous activities near African Nova Scotian, Acadian, and Indigenous communities.

"Environmental racism is not something we can just continue to sweep under the rug in Nova Scotia," said Zann. "We should be taking action to address historic wrongs and to prevent new acts of environmental racism in our province."

Legislation on environmental racism was highlighted in the recent UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent report, which urged provincial and federal governments to address long outstanding issues of racism. The Environmental Racism Prevention Act would create an all-party committee to address environmental racism in Nova Scotia. Zann initially introduced this legislation in 2015.

"With this UN report shining a light on racism in Nova Scotia and the specific impacts of environmental racism, we have the opportunity to chart a different path," said Zann.

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