Foundational Research and Surveillance
Environmental Health, Equity, and Law: Making the Links
The Canadian Environmental Law Association and EHI-Canada have been granted funding by the Law Foundation of Ontario for the first year of a proposed three-year research project with the above title. The project will be an interdisciplinary outreach program focusing on environmental law and access to justice issues in six Ontario communities in which there is both a high pollution burden and incidence of environmental health issues, and a high percentage of low income and sensitive populations.
The project is founded on the recognition that low income families and other populations such as First Nations communities, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children are disproportionately exposed to and affected by environmental contaminants. Furthermore, groups such as these are often most likely to lack the legal and health information and services necessary to address their exposures and health outcomes. The project is broadly aimed at enabling and empowering communities to reduce these environmental inequities.
The ultimate objectives of the project will be to enhance the environmental health of a variety of Ontario communities by increasing their level of engagement in the legal system, enhancing community knowledge of environmental laws and available legal tools, contributing to the development of community legal skills, and improving the capacity of frontline environmental groups and health service providers to protect their constituents from environmental threats to health.