Toxics Awareness and Education
Read the Canadian Environmental Protection Act or Access the Registry on the federal government's website.
One of Canada's most prominent environmental statutes is the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). In the 1970s Canada developed the Environmental Contaminants Act which served to regulate toxic substances throughout the 1970s and 80s.
Following a consultation period of numerous years, the Environmental Contaminants Act was to be updated. The CEPA was passed in 1988. As passed, CEPA 1988 contained a requirement for a five-year parliamentary review which began in 1994.
Following consultations and public hearings, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development released the 1995 report, It’s About our Health.
In December of that year the government responded and committed to many of the recommendations of the Standing Committee’s report. Following a series of bills the CEPA bill (known as CEPA 1999) was passed in 1999 and proclaimed the following year.
Since the 1990s, Canadians have had an ever increasing interest in toxic substances and the links between toxics exposure and health. The current parliamentary review of CEPA is certainly both well-timed and required.
Sierra Club Canada is working closely with Canadian government officials on this important legislative review so that we can have Canadian toxics policies which promise to protect the health of the citizens of the world.
