Editing Environmental racism (section)

==== Canada ====
''See more: [[Environmental racism in Nova Scotia]]''
[[File:Africville Church.jpg|thumb|The reconstructed Africville Church in Nova Scotia]]
In Canada, progress is being made to address environmental racism (especially in Nova Scotia's [[Africville]] community) with the passing of Bill 111 and [https://www.parl.ca/documentviewer/en/44-1/bill/C-226/royal-assent Bill C-226], An Act to Address Environmental Racism in the Nova Scotia Legislature.<ref name="Lee" /> Still, indigenous communities such as the Aamjiwnaang First Nation continue to be harmed by pollution from the Canadian chemical industry centered in Southeast Ontario.<ref>{{cite web|last1=MacDonald|first1=Elaine|date=1 September 2020|title=Environmental racism in Canada: What is it, what are the impacts, and what can we do about it?|url=https://ecojustice.ca/environmental-racism-in-canada/|website=Ecojustice}}</ref>

Forty percent of Canada's petrochemical industry is packed into a 15-square mile radius of [[Sarnia, Ontario]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Chemical Valley|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-chemical-valley-part-1/|access-date=25 November 2020|website=Vice.com|date=8 August 2013 |language=en}}</ref> Immediately south of the petrochemical plants is the Aamjiwnaang reservation with a population of 850 [[Aamjiwnaang First Nation]] members. Since 2002, coalitions of indigenous individuals have fought the disproportionate concentration of pollution in their neighborhood.

[[File:Ingrid Waldron at Dalhousie University.jpg|thumb|right|Canadian sociologist [[Ingrid Waldron]] lecturing on Environmental Racism at [[Dalhousie University]] in 2018]]
Environmental racism affects particularly women and especially Indigenous women and women of color. Many of these communities reside in rural areas rich in natural resources that are very attractive to extractive industries. These effects not only pollute the environment but also have detrimental effects on both physical and mental health. Many of these extractive industries such as oil and gas and mining have caused pollution to water sources, food sources as well as effects in air quality. This has started to affect people's bodies, especially those of women. This is because the toxins and poisons from extractive industries affect women's reproductive organs, can cause cancer as well as the health of their children.<ref name=":1" /> The harms of this activity last through generations in these communities; for example in the Indigenous community of [[Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation|Grassy Narrows]] in [[Northern Ontario]], they are still dealing with health effects from high mercury levels that have affected drinking water and fish in the region that occurred from a spill in the 1960s.<ref name=":1" />