Dr. Ingrid Waldron and Dr. Juliet Daniel on a new research project to determine whether there is a link between relatively high rates of cancer among members of Shelburne’s Black community and the nearby dump, and how it will pave the way for further studies on the relationship between environmental racism and chronic diseases.
Awareness of environmental racism in Nova Scotia has changed for the better over the last five years or so. A private members bill, shaped to a large extent by Dr. Ingrid Waldron and introduced by then NDP MLA Lenore Zann in 2015, played a considerable part in that shift. Waldron and Zann, now a Liberal MP, are giving the legislation another shot, this time in Ottawa.
Press release: On Thursday, December 3, 2020, the MP for Cumberland-Colchester will be putting the federal private members bill A National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism (Bill C-230) forward to second reading in the House of Commons.
Fernwood Publishing in partnership with The ENRICH Project presents the launch of More Powerful Together: Conversations With Climate Activists and Indigenous Land Defenders. This event will feature a keynote by the author, Dr. Jen Gobby, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Alex Khasnabish. The panel discussion will focus on issues of Migrant Justice, Climate/Environmental Justice, Indigenous Sovereignty and Land Back, the Movement for Black Lives, and ways to build stronger links between these different movements and struggles.
PSA: “With the release of the film, There’s Something in the Water on Netflix this Friday, March 27, 2020, the voices of affected communities in Nova Scotia will now be elevated and amplified globally,” writes Ingrid Waldron.
It looks like the Town of Shelburne is not interested in the generous offer by filmmaker and actress Ellen Page to pay for a much-needed public well for the Black community in town. But the town’s legacy of environmental racism calls for reparations, and that well would be a great start.
Congrats to Louise Delisle and the South End Environmental Injustice Society (SEED)! I learned a lot about activism and rural Nova Scotia from listening to them. We posted this same news release yesterday, but with a photo that is no longer current. We are reposting with a current photo of Louise and her fellow SEED members, with apologies.
While municipalities reliably test the quality of water delivered through the utilities they manage, rural residents who rely on wells are on their own, reports new contributor Fazeela Jiwa. Now a new organization, Rural Water Watch Association (RWW), will respond to rural community members’ calls to test their water quality, addressing concerns about living close to toxic sites like landfills or incinerators.
While members of the Black community in the Town of Shelburne are facing racist comments by a local councillor, people elsewhere in the province are not standing idly by. “Racism is like a sore, and in order to heal it got to hurt first, I guess. You feel like you don’t have a voice, and you’re feeling isolated within that sickness,” Louise Delisle told the NS Advocate.
Shelburne activist Louise Delisle says Shelburne councillor Rick Davis should issue a real and public apology to the entire Black community in town, not just post some weasel words and a lot of self pity on her personal Facebook page. Meanwhile people elsewhere are speaking out in her support and other activities are being planned.