Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) : Appearance before the Standing Committee – May 3, 2022
Bill S-5
Q1. How will this reform better protect Canadians and their environment?
CEPA will continue to provide us with the tools to manage a wide range of environmental and human health risks. More specifically, the amendments include:
A proposal to recognize that every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment as provided under the Act. This would be paired with an implementation framework to be developed with the participation of Canadians within two years from the date of royal assent. This would elaborate on, among other things, the principles to be considered in the administration of CEPA such as environmental justice (e.g., avoiding adverse effects that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations) and non-regression (e.g., continuous improvement in environmental protection).
The amendments would also make changes to the chemicals management provisions to:
require the Government to develop a Plan of Chemicals Management Priorities, which will set out an integrated, transparent, multi-year plan for the assessment of substances and the activities and initiatives that support chemicals management such as information-gathering, risk management, risk communications, research and monitoring;
require the Ministers to consider available information regarding vulnerable populations and cumulative effects in risk assessments;
create a new regime that will prioritize the prohibition of activities and releases of concern from toxic substances of the highest risk, in accordance with the regulations;
require the Minister to publish and maintain a list of substances of potential concern; and
improve transparency by, for example, clarifying the framework respecting the disclosure of confidential business information, and requiring that the Ministers communicate timelines for developing additional planned risk management instruments.
The amendments to CEPA would enable adaptation to a changing global chemicals landscape and consideration of new science, while maintaining a stable and predictable regulatory environment for industry and promoting greater transparency for Canadians.
These changes, among others, would ensure that the Government has the right tools to protect human health and the environment. In particular, they would help address disproportionate effects experienced by vulnerable populations and would contribute to a stronger more resilient Canada.
Q2. What is a right to a healthy environment?
For the first time in a federal statute in Canada, CEPA would recognize that every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment as provided under the Act.
Having a right to a healthy environment means being able to enjoy a healthy environment as a basic part of living in Canada.
An implementation framework – which will be developed based on consultations with Canadians within two years from the date of royal assent – would set out how a right to a healthy environment will be considered in the administration of the Act. The framework would also elaborate on principles such as environmental justice (e.g., avoiding adverse effects that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations) and non-regression (e.g., continuous improvement in environmental protection).
Applying the lens of a right to a healthy environment in CEPA would support and encourage:
strong environmental and health standards now and in the future;
robust engagement with Canadians; and
new thinking about how to protect populations that are particularly vulnerable to environmental and health risks.
Q3. What does chemical exposure mean for Canadians and the environment?
Chemicals are found in our air, water, food and in the household and commercial products that Canadians and our businesses use routinely. While they can be beneficial and lifesaving, some substances can be harmful to Canadians and the environment at certain exposure levels.
Some harmful effects can be immediate. Others can occur gradually, accumulating in organisms. Some effects may happen over a lifetime of exposure leading to chronic diseases.
Vulnerable populations can be disproportionately impacted by exposure to harmful substances. Where you live, what work you do, as well as age, sex and health status can all make some people have greater exposure or be more susceptible to the hazardous effects of substances than others.
Q4. How will CEPA reform help protect vulnerable populations, including racialized communities?
Vulnerable populations, including racialized communities, may be disproportionately exposed to or negatively impacted by harmful substances due to factors such as health status, socio-economic status, geography, culture practices, and environment.
In order to address these issues, it is important to understand actual exposure from the multiple substances from different sources to which Canadians are exposed to daily.
Amendments to CEPA would require the Government to consider vulnerable populations and cumulative effects when assessing risks where information is available. It would also require the Government to conduct research and biomonitoring, which may relate to vulnerable populations, to generate additional data that would provide information on how vulnerable populations are exposed and impacted by harmful substances.
Q5. How does this strengthening of CEPA address the recommendations of past Parliamentary committees?
Strengthening CEPA responds to recommendations of three parliamentary committee reviews over the past decade, including the latest review by the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (ENVI) in 2017. The amendments to CEPA respond to 30 recommendations made by the ENVI Committee in its 2017 report either partially or completely, as well as 23 recommendations from reviews of previous parliamentary committees, including the House and Senate Committees that completed reviews of the Act in 2007 and 2008.
The following key 2017 recommendations are addressed:
Environmental rights (e.g., recognizing the right to a healthy environment, strengthening protections for vulnerable populations, increasing transparency, accountability and public participation); and
Chemicals management (e.g., improving information-gathering, replacing the virtual elimination regime, expanding the considerations to be taken into account in risk assessment, providing new tools for use in risk management).
Q6. What is virtual elimination and why reform it?
The current virtual elimination (VE) regime was intended to reduce the release of persistent and bioaccumulative substances to below detectable limits. The three parliamentary committees that have reviewed CEPA all agreed that these particular provisions are unworkable. They require actions that are unnecessarily duplicative of other obligations in the Act, as well as actions that are unachievable for technical reasons in many cases.
The VE regime will be replaced by the new requirements to prioritize the prohibition of activities and releases of concern from toxic substances of the highest risk, in accordance with the regulations. The criteria for substances of the highest risk will be set out in regulations, and will include the persistence and bioaccumulation focus of the previous VE regime as well as criteria for such things as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and reproductive toxicity.
Q7. Why establish a Plan of Chemicals Management Priorities?
The assessment of substances on the Domestic Substances List that were identified as priorities in 2006 through the categorization process is almost complete and a new approach is required.
Amendments to CEPA will provide a framework to develop a new, public process for establishing and communicating chemicals management priorities. This will result in an integrated Plan of Chemicals Management Priorities for a specific period for the assessment of substances as well as other activities to support chemicals management, such as information-gathering, risk management, risk communications, research and monitoring.
In developing and implementing the Plan, the Government will continue to set priorities, and assess and manage substances by taking a risk-based approach. Such an approach takes into account the properties of a substance as well as exposure to the substance and must consider a number of factors of importance to Canadians, including:
vulnerable populations and cumulative effects;
particular properties and characteristics of substances such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity or neurotoxicity;
the capacity of substances to disrupt reproduction or endocrine systems;
the advantages of class-based assessments (e.g., as a means of avoiding regrettable substitutions);
safer or more sustainable alternatives; and
means of providing information to the public such as through labeling and other risk communication strategies.
Canadians will be consulted to help shape this Plan, and an update on progress will be provided in the annual report on CEPA that is tabled in Parliament.
The first Plan of Chemicals Management Priorities must be published within two years from the date of royal assent. Until that time, the Government will continue to complete the assessment and management work associated with the remaining substances that were prioritized according to the categorization requirement, as well as other substances that were identified as priorities through the Government’s more recent Identification of Risk Assessment Priorities (IRAP) approach.
Q8. What is happening to Schedule 1 to CEPA?
The title “List of Toxic Substances” from Schedule 1 to CEPA will be removed. This will address the stigmatizing effect of the word “toxic”, as some substances on this list are not considered toxic in the common understanding of the term but only as it is determined under CEPA (e.g., carbon dioxide). Schedule 1 will be unnamed and divided into two parts:
Substances of the highest risk, for which the Act will prioritize the prohibition of activities and releases of concern; and
