Sabzwari, Sidra; Scott, Dayna Nadine --- "The Quest for Environmental Justice on a Canadian Aboriginal Reserve" [2012] ELECD 649; in Le Bouthillier, Yves; Cohen, Alfie Miriam; Gonzalez Marquez, Juan Jose; Mumma, Albert; Smith, Susan (eds), "Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Law

Editor(s): Le Bouthillier, Yves; Cohen, Alfie Miriam; Gonzalez Marquez, Juan Jose; Mumma, Albert; Smith, Susan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781003282

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: The Quest for Environmental Justice on a Canadian Aboriginal Reserve

Author(s): Sabzwari, Sidra; Scott, Dayna Nadine

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

5. The quest for environmental justice on
a Canadian aboriginal reserve
Sidra Sabzwari and Dayna Nadine Scott

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Indigenous peoples worldwide suffer from environmental injustice. Although
Canada prides itself on its environmental record, health care and social
programs, there are indigenous groups, or First Nations, Metis and Inuit
Aboriginal peoples, within Canada who do not have basic access to safe and
healthy environments. Many First Nations in Canada have a unique temporal
and spatial connection to the land, whereby they have inhabited or hunted
through traditional land areas for several generations spanning hundreds of
years. Since cultural identity is associated with specific land areas and prac-
tices, migration is minimal between lands and over time. As a result, although
every Canadian is affected by chemical pollutants in our environment, First
Nations in Canada experience a disproportionate burden of the harm from
localized and cumulative environmental toxins. The prevailing regulatory
schemes for air pollution in place across the country fail to address these
particular impacts that chronic pollution has upon aboriginal communities (see
for example Scott, 2008). In this chapter, we take the Aamjiwnaang First
Nation as a case study in how a community experiencing chronic contamina-
tion and environmental injustice can take direct action to mobilize and
catalyze changes in government environmental policy.
Section 5.2 of this chapter gives the background of the environmental
justice movement, chronic pollution, and the rise of popular epidemiology.
Section 5.3 provides some historical context for the Aamjiwnnang First
Nation's ...