Why Indigenous voices are particularly important for Canada at UN climate change negotiations
Now that COP26 in Glasgow has ended, the reactions to the final agreement are still coming in. As a non-Indigenous observer from Canada at COP26, I paid particular attention to Indigenous participants and reactions. Indigenous peoples make up less than five per cent of the global population, but despite the legacy of colonial land dispossession, […]
We need whole-community leadership on climate change
MONTREAL—With so much of the news surrounding COP26 focused on the role of nations, we mustn’t overlook the importance of cities and communities in driving a just and equitable climate transition. What’s your municipality doing to address climate change? With jurisdiction over buildings, transportation, waste and land-use planning, municipalities have influence over approximately 50 per […]
Canadian chemistry sector well-placed to lead sectoral transformations
Canada looks well-positioned to attract an increased share of investments necessary for the major transformations facing the global chemistry sector in the coming years—the transformation to net-zero carbon and the transformation to a circular economy for plastics. In Alberta, in particular, the industry is responding very positively to the province’s Petrochemical Incentive Program. That program […]
Federal government must act on environmental justice
When pollutants spew from industrial plants, oil and gas operations, mines, and abandoned toxic dumps, it is economically marginalized, racialized, and Indigenous people who are most often disproportionately impacted by these hazardous environments. The impact of environmental pollution has real and lasting consequences for these communities, with increased rates of cancer, reproductive diseases, respiratory illnesses, […]
Climate resiliency: the future is now!
In response to the COVID pandemic, we shut down the economy to “flatten the curve.” We ramped up innovation to produce safe, effective vaccines in record time. We adopted public health measures that have fundamentally transformed how we interact, how we work, and how we learn. So, what’s it going to take for us to […]
‘We are resilient… but we need help’: MP Vis urges aid after record flooding
Being in Ottawa is the best place to push for support for B.C.’s flood-ravaged ridings, but Conservative MP Brad Vis says it is difficult to leave behind his constituents, whose livelihoods have been devastated by the disaster. “It’s hard not to be there on the ground helping my constituents fill sandbags and prepare, but my […]
An old war over climate change, a new phase
CHELSEA, QUE.—For decades, there has been a power struggle within federal cabinets of both major parties, between the Department of Natural Resources, and its minister, and the Environment Department, and its minister. Not to ruin the surprise, but natural resources always wins. It is a larger, better-funded department and its primary function has been to […]
Environment Policy Briefing
Greens need Elizabeth May to leave
Large swathes of British Columbia submerged in days of rainstorms. It caused mayhem and horror for people and animals who lived where the water accumulated. The Fraser Valley will physically recover in weeks. It will take years for those displaced to recover from the memory of their homes sunk in a lake of stagnant rainwater. […]
There is an answer to avoid a climate catastrophe, so what are we waiting for?
The United Nations recently declared: “The evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions are choking our planet and placing billions [of people] in danger. We must act decisively now to avert a climate catastrophe.” Reading the words, I feel horror for our children’s future and frustration that the sense of urgency to take sweeping action seems […]
