A PDF version of this newsletter is found on the Canadian Environmental Law Archive website; click here to open it in a new tab.
Inequitable Impacts of Extreme Heat
Extreme heat is more than just an inconvenience – it’s a serious health hazard.
High temperatures can lead to heat-related illnesses and exacerbate existing health conditions, especially for people with disabilities, seniors, children, socially isolated individuals and lower-income people. CELA is calling for provincial and municipal action to recognize the inequitable impacts of climate change and extreme heat.
In Ontario, Bill 198, Ontario Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Act, 2024, recently had its first reading. If passed, it would set out the procedures for creating, implementing, and financially supporting a Strategic Action Plan “to ensure that Ontario citizens, communities, infrastructure and natural environment are protected from the risks and impacts of climate change”.
Bill 198 seeks to address some of the worst impacts of extreme heat, in particular for low-income tenants with rental units that are much too hot to be safe and outdoor workers. CELA urges all parties to support the bill and take action to protect our communities from extreme heat.
This includes having protective measures in place such as maximum temperature bylaws at the municipal level that ensure that indoor environments remain safe and comfortable, regardless of external weather conditions.
CELA has been working with the Toronto Heat Safety Coalition to advocate for a maximum temperature by-law that would set a maximum indoor temperature inside rental units of 26 degrees C.
The City of Hamilton is looking to implement a maximum temperature bylaw to protect tenants in the city, following the unanimous motion in 2023 to study how to implement the bylaw. For this summer, it is also seeking to expand access to free air conditioning as a discretionary benefit for eligible OW and ODSP recipients.
Case Updates
Action Needed in Elliot Lake
Families in Elliot Lake are demanding action by the federal government and mining company BHP to clean up radioactive wastes found on their properties. Uranium mine waste was widely used as fill for construction in the 1960s in Elliot Lake, and came from uranium mines, now closed. The residents are calling the presence of radioactive waste at their homes “an egregious failure of Canada’s nuclear regulatory system”.
The Federal Court has scheduled a hearing date for July 3 and 4, at the courthouse at 180 Queen Street West in Toronto. The public can attend the hearing in person to show their support in this important case of environmental inequity.
Nuclear Safety Concerns
CELA, along with Durham Nuclear Awareness, Slovenian Home Association and expert review by Dr. M.V. Ramana, recently submitted a written report and gave a presentation to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) hearing regarding Ontario Power Generation’s application seeking to extend the operations of Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Units 5 to 8 until December 2026.
We submitted that it would be contrary to the responsibility of the CNSC to protect the environment and ensure the health and safety of the public if it were to allow Pickering Units 5-8 to operate beyond 2024. CELA’s presentation on behalf of our clients included drawing the CNSC’s attention to the plant’s poor performance, the risks of an ageing plant, inadequate emergency planning and preparedness in such a high population area, and inadequate consideration of climate change impacts.
CELA has also recently been granted participant funding to review the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Regulatory Oversight Report. CELA’s participation in the CNSC hearing and its review of the regulatory oversight report are made possible by the CNSC’s Participant Funding Program.
Image courtesy of @Tyler Mulholland via canva.com
Law Reform Updates
Parliament Passes Key Environmental Laws
Earlier this month, two important federal environmental laws were given Royal Assent:
1) The long-awaited anti-environmental racism legislation (Bill C-226) which requires the federal government to develop, consult upon, and implement a national strategy to assist vulnerable communities in accessing environmental justice; and
2) The carefully crafted amendments to the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) that were contained in Division 28 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2024 No.1 in order to respond to the 2023 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that aspects of the IAA were unconstitutional for division-of-powers reasons.
CELA supported Bill C-226 during its passage through the legislative process, and we look forward to participating in the forthcoming development of the national strategy mandated by the new law.
As an intervenor in the Supreme Court case regarding the IAA, CELA is generally supportive of the new amendments, but we remain concerned that the amendments fail to assert the federal government’s jurisdiction to apply the IAA to major industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
From the Foundation
June Feature
This month’s feature from the Canadian Environmental Law Archive is a 1997 briefing note from the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy outlining a number of environmental policy concerns, including management of hazardous waste, biodiversity, and climate change issues.
June 2024 Newsletter – Intervenor, Volume 49, Number 2
A PDF version of this newsletter is found on the Canadian Environmental Law Archive website; click here to open it in a new tab.
Inequitable Impacts of Extreme Heat
Extreme heat is more than just an inconvenience – it’s a serious health hazard.
High temperatures can lead to heat-related illnesses and exacerbate existing health conditions, especially for people with disabilities, seniors, children, socially isolated individuals and lower-income people. CELA is calling for provincial and municipal action to recognize the inequitable impacts of climate change and extreme heat.
In Ontario, Bill 198, Ontario Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Act, 2024, recently had its first reading. If passed, it would set out the procedures for creating, implementing, and financially supporting a Strategic Action Plan “to ensure that Ontario citizens, communities, infrastructure and natural environment are protected from the risks and impacts of climate change”.
Bill 198 seeks to address some of the worst impacts of extreme heat, in particular for low-income tenants with rental units that are much too hot to be safe and outdoor workers. CELA urges all parties to support the bill and take action to protect our communities from extreme heat.
This includes having protective measures in place such as maximum temperature bylaws at the municipal level that ensure that indoor environments remain safe and comfortable, regardless of external weather conditions.
CELA has been working with the Toronto Heat Safety Coalition to advocate for a maximum temperature by-law that would set a maximum indoor temperature inside rental units of 26 degrees C.
The City of Hamilton is looking to implement a maximum temperature bylaw to protect tenants in the city, following the unanimous motion in 2023 to study how to implement the bylaw. For this summer, it is also seeking to expand access to free air conditioning as a discretionary benefit for eligible OW and ODSP recipients.
Case Updates
Action Needed in Elliot Lake
Families in Elliot Lake are demanding action by the federal government and mining company BHP to clean up radioactive wastes found on their properties. Uranium mine waste was widely used as fill for construction in the 1960s in Elliot Lake, and came from uranium mines, now closed. The residents are calling the presence of radioactive waste at their homes “an egregious failure of Canada’s nuclear regulatory system”.
The Federal Court has scheduled a hearing date for July 3 and 4, at the courthouse at 180 Queen Street West in Toronto. The public can attend the hearing in person to show their support in this important case of environmental inequity.
Nuclear Safety Concerns
CELA, along with Durham Nuclear Awareness, Slovenian Home Association and expert review by Dr. M.V. Ramana, recently submitted a written report and gave a presentation to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) hearing regarding Ontario Power Generation’s application seeking to extend the operations of Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Units 5 to 8 until December 2026.
We submitted that it would be contrary to the responsibility of the CNSC to protect the environment and ensure the health and safety of the public if it were to allow Pickering Units 5-8 to operate beyond 2024. CELA’s presentation on behalf of our clients included drawing the CNSC’s attention to the plant’s poor performance, the risks of an ageing plant, inadequate emergency planning and preparedness in such a high population area, and inadequate consideration of climate change impacts.
CELA has also recently been granted participant funding to review the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Regulatory Oversight Report. CELA’s participation in the CNSC hearing and its review of the regulatory oversight report are made possible by the CNSC’s Participant Funding Program.
Law Reform Updates
Parliament Passes Key Environmental Laws
Earlier this month, two important federal environmental laws were given Royal Assent:
1) The long-awaited anti-environmental racism legislation (Bill C-226) which requires the federal government to develop, consult upon, and implement a national strategy to assist vulnerable communities in accessing environmental justice; and
2) The carefully crafted amendments to the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) that were contained in Division 28 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2024 No.1 in order to respond to the 2023 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that aspects of the IAA were unconstitutional for division-of-powers reasons.
CELA supported Bill C-226 during its passage through the legislative process, and we look forward to participating in the forthcoming development of the national strategy mandated by the new law.
As an intervenor in the Supreme Court case regarding the IAA, CELA is generally supportive of the new amendments, but we remain concerned that the amendments fail to assert the federal government’s jurisdiction to apply the IAA to major industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
From the Foundation
June Feature
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