Environmental racism

Environmental racism, coined by Benjamin Chavis describes policies and practices that target racialized communities as places for toxic waste facilities and the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants; historical exclusion of racialized people from leadership within the environmental movement - Benjamin Chavis, adapted by Michelle Xie

Examples of Environmental Racism in so-called Canada : 

Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek)

Disposability discourse	Much discussion around the severity of COVID was lessened by expressing how it mainly sickens and kills elderly, chronically ill, and disabled people. This discourse suggests these groups are seen disposable.
Loosened restrictions too early	When governments loosened COVID restrictions in response to business demands, political pressure, and public impatience, rather than scientific evidence, high risk populations (the chronically ill, disabled and elderly) were subsequently told they are disposable yet again.
Working through illness	Regulations around how many sick days should be required when someone falls ill with COVID also demonstrated ableism. In relation to these regulations, and in favour of profit above health, many politicians including US President Joe Biden, praised themselves for working through COVID, instead of encouraging people to rest and recover if they'd fallen ill.
Individualism	Individuals have been encouraged to make 'personal' choices on vaccines, masks and gatherings. "There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus

• For 8 years, Dryden Chemicals Ltd. dumped mercury into the English-Wabigoon river system, which fed into Grassy Narrows. The mercury poisoned fish in the river, a key food and economic source for the community.
• The Ontario provincial government advised the community to stop eating fish and closed their commercial fishery. Within a year of the fishery closing, Grassy Narrows’ unemployment rate jumped from 5 per cent to 95 per cent.
• Although Dryden Chemicals Ltd. has closed, the health effects of mercury contamination linger in community members.

Aamijiwnaang First Nation

• Chemical Valley is Canada’s largest petrochemical complex. Over 60 petrochemical facilities can be found within a 25 km² area.
• High rates of cancer, respiratory illness and reproductive health issues have been linked to living near these facilities.
• Members of the community depended on fish from the St. Clair River which flows through Chemical Valley. The river has had hundreds of spills which contributed to approximately 10 tonnes of pollutants in the St. Clair River.

Africville

• In 1965, the City of Halifax undertook actions that took property away from and displaced members of the Africville community. The area became the location of environmental and social hazards.
• Hazards included "a fertilizer plant, slaughterhouse, tar factory, stone and coal crushing plant, cotton factory, prison, three systems of railway tracks, and an open dump." - Ingrid Waldron
• Africville descendants have fought back. "Most recently, in November 2016, up to 300 former residents and their descendants joined an application submitted to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The application was for a class-action lawsuit against Halifax over the loss of their land. In 2018, a judge turned down the application. The judge ruled that the plaintiff had not “satisfied the requirements” to certify the class action, which prevented the case from proceeding."  - Ingrid Waldron

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