Ottawa – The Government of Canada is taking steps to implement the modernized Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), which recognizes in its preamble that every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment as provided under CEPA. It also strengthens Canada’s chemicals management regime and increases transparency in the way it is administered.
Through the strengthening of CEPA, the Government committed to protecting populations that may be disproportionately impacted due to greater susceptibility or higher exposure to environmental and health risks. CEPA also now requires the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Health to consider available information about cumulative effects on the environment and health that may result from exposure to a substance in combination with exposure to other substances when conducting and interpreting the results of risk assessments.
A proposed Plan of Priorities will be published to outline the Government’s proposed priorities for substances to assess and manage. This is to better protect the health of people in Canada and the environment.
The Government of Canada is working to implement the modernized Act through the development of various initiatives, such as frameworks, policies, strategies, regulations, and processes. Over the next couple of months, the public will have the opportunity to have their say on the Government’s efforts to strengthen CEPA.
The right to a healthy environment
The Government will release a draft implementation framework on the right to a healthy environment to propose how this right would be protected when administering CEPA. The draft framework proposes policies and procedures to ensure marginalized populations do not carry an unfair burden. Protecting the right of people in Canada to a healthy environment requires decision makers to consider several factors when interpreting and applying the right and in determining its reasonable limits, including social, health, scientific and economic aspects. While some of this existed prior to the CEPA revisions, the draft implementation framework provides direction to decision makers to ensure the right is protected when administering CEPA.
This draft framework elaborates on three new principles. Environmental justice means avoiding disproportionate impacts on different populations, recognizing that some populations are more vulnerable to impacts than others, and ensuring there is meaningful participation in the decision-making process. The principle of non-regression prevents reducing current levels of environmental and human health protection. Finally, intergenerational equity requires meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada conducted broad engagement activities to inform the development of this draft framework. In February 2024, the Government released a Discussion Document on the Implementation Framework for a Right to a Healthy Environment under CEPA. Consultations involved stakeholders from industry, non-governmental organizations, and Indigenous partners.
Plan of Priorities
CEPA requires that the Plan of Priorities outline priorities to manage substances in order to protect the health of people in Canada and the environment.
This proposed plan identifies more than 30 substances and substance groups prioritized for assessment and includes new or expanded activities to help assess, control, and manage risks posed by substances. In selecting and prioritizing these substances, this proposed Plan of Priorities took into account key drivers, including:
- Substances that are hazardous to human health or the environment, including carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxicants, as well as endocrine disrupting substances
- Substances that are impacting populations or environments that may be at increased risk due to either greater exposure or greater susceptibility
- Substances with the potential to contribute to cumulative risks
- Very hazardous substances that are capable of long-range transport (VH-LRT)
- Substances with known hazardous properties that are used in products available to consumers
- Potential substitutes for substances with known toxicity
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) is a large class of extremely persistent human-made substances used in a wide range of everyday products, including food packaging, drugs, cosmetics, non-stick cookware, vehicles, and electronics. Worldwide, PFAS can be found in the air, groundwater, oceans, lakes, rivers, and soil, as well as in wastewater and sewage sludge. An Updated Draft State of PFAS Report, which proposes to conclude that the class of PFAS, excluding fluoropolymers, is entering or may enter the environment at levels that are or may be harmful to the environment and human health, was published for a 60-day public comment period in July 2024. Based on available information, a group of polymeric PFAS, known as fluoropolymers, may have different exposure and hazard profiles compared with other PFAS. The Government is committed to doing additional work to understand the risks of exposure in the environment and health of Canadians. The proposed Plan of Priorities includes an assessment of fluoropolymers.
Reducing reliance on vertebrate animal testing
CEPA recognizes the need to replace, reduce, or refine the use of vertebrate animal testing when assessing the potential harms that substances may pose to human health and the environment. In advancing this work, the Government commits to, among other things, the development, standardization, and incorporation of new approach methods in hazard and risk assessment activities.
A strategy is being developed to guide future Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada’s efforts toward the goal of replacing, reducing, or refining the use of vertebrate animal testing under CEPA, when and where possible.
The strategy is intended to be flexible, and its implementation will reflect and keep pace with emerging science and technology, including ongoing engagement with people living in Canada, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders, and proceed in collaboration with national and international partners. The strategy responds to a new requirement under CEPA’s Plan of Priorities.
Watch List
The proposed Watch List Approach outlines how the Watch List would be compiled and amended. This approach will be finalized in 2025.
The Watch List will provide an online, continuously updated list of substances that do not meet the “toxic” criteria under CEPA but that have properties of concern (for example high hazard), and therefore could pose a risk if uses change, exposure levels increase, or if new information on hazardous characteristics becomes available.
The Watch List will enable importers, manufacturers, and Canadian consumers to make informed decisions to select safer alternatives and avoid regrettable substitutions, such as replacing one problem substance with another.
How to participate
On October 5, 2024, the 60-day public comment period will begin for the Draft Implementation Framework for the Right to a Healthy Environment under CEPA, the proposed Plan of Priorities, and the proposed Watch List Approach.
The draft strategy to replace, reduce, or refine vertebrate animal testing is currently open for public comment and input can be provided until November 13, 2024.
The Implementation Framework on the Right to a Healthy Environment; the Plan of Priorities; and the Strategy to Replace, Reduce, or Refine Vertebrate Animal Testing will be published in June 2025. Once the Watch List Approach is finalized in 2025, substances will begin to be added to the published Watch List.