Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is engaging with stakeholders across the country to help inform the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent, and address environmental racism and advance environmental justice. As the voice of Ontario’s engineering community, OSPE will be submitting guidance as part of the federal government’s engagement.
Some core themes in the consultation include:
- Defining environmental justice and environmental racism.
- Exploring the relationship between race, socioeconomic status, and environmental risk.
- Considering Indigenous environmental justice, including the unique rights, experiences, and contributions of Indigenous communities.
Why Ontario’s Engineering Voices are Important
Engineers are uniquely positioned to unpack complex environmental risks (e.g., pollution, infrastructure failure, climate vulnerability) in quantifiable, actionable ways. OSPE aims to ground the national strategy in science and engineering to ensure proposed policies are equitable and technically feasible.
As licensed professionals, engineers have a duty to public safety and societal well-being. OSPE advocates for mechanisms to ensure environmental justice policies tie into professional standards, accountability, and enforcement.
OSPE Recommendations:
OSPE’s submission will be complete in mid-December, once it is submitted it can be found here: Submissions | OSPE
Some early recommendations across the four pillars are listed below:
- Embed environmental justice in infrastructure planning: Require that major infrastructure projects (transportation, built environment, utilities) integrate equity assessments in their design phases.
- Professional accountability & engineering ethics: Encourage the development of guidance documents or codes of practice for engineers working on projects in environmental justice contexts (for example, clarifying obligations when working in or near historically marginalized communities).
- Data transparency in assessment and mitigation work: Data, monitoring, and reporting should be publicly available, especially where environmental harms or offsets are involved.
- Support Indigenous data sovereignty and co-governance: Promote standards for Indigenous data governance in environmental monitoring. Engineers working in affected regions should partner with Indigenous communities, respecting consent, governance, and co-monitoring.
- Champion investment in community infrastructure: Provide equitable investment in water systems, air filtration, and green spaces of areas disproportionately exposed to environmental risks.
- Measure progress with relevant metrics: Develop and propose measurable indicators (both technical and social) for tracking progress, like frequency of environmental hazard exposure, infrastructure improvements, and community-led outcomes.
Moving Forward
OSPE has a unique opportunity to bring engineering rigor, accountability, and ethical responsibility to Canada’s national strategy on environmental justice. As we build toward a more equitable future, the voices that shape technical design and policy matter.
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