Hon. Paul J. Massicotte, Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, presented the following report:

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

The Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources has the honour to present its

SEVENTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill C-226, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice, has, in obedience to the order of reference of October 26, 2023, examined the said bill and now reports the same without amendment.

Respectfully submitted,

PAUL J. MASSICOTTE

Chair

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte: Welcome, minister. Canada’s boreal forests represent a quarter of the world’s forests. For many years, we’ve been a leader in sustainable forest management. These forests store a significant amount of carbon in the soils, and that carbon is released into the atmosphere during logging. It is estimated that 122 megatonnes of CO₂ are released every year through logging. Are these emissions accounted for by the government? If so, how does your government envisage reducing these emissions to meet our net-zero targets?

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte moved the adoption of the report.

He said: Honourable senators, your committee has completed a study of Bill S-5, Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, in obedience to order of reference of Thursday, April 7, 2022.

Bill S-5 represents the first major review and improvement made to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, or CEPA, in over 20 years. The primary purpose of CEPA is pollution prevention. It provides a legislative and regulatory basis for many programs at the Department of Environment and Climate Change. The bill will, among other things, recognize Canadians’ right to a healthy environment in CEPA’s preamble. It will enshrine the Government of Canada’s duties to protect this right, consider vulnerable populations and cumulative effects in toxic substance assessments and implement a two-track system for the regulation of toxic substances under CEPA.

[Translation]

The Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources spent five meetings studying Bill S-5 and putting questions to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change as well as officials, members of the industry, associations, Indigenous representatives, non-governmental organizations and experts in various fields. The committee then dedicated another eight meetings to the clause-by-clause study of Bill S-5. Throughout this process, government representatives were present to answer committee members’ questions. I also want to point out that the minister, the sponsor of the bill, and government representatives all indicated that the Canadian Environmental Protection Act will be amended again and that Bill S-5 does not represent all the changes that the government intends to make to the act.

[English]

In its report, the committee is proposing 32 amendments to Bill S-5 and addressing five observations to the Government of Canada.

During the committee’s study and debate, several themes emerged, which are reflected in the committee’s amendments to the bill. These themes address the right to a healthy environment, Indigenous peoples’ rights and participation, animal testing and animal rights, transparency and accountability.

[Translation]

Part 5 of Bill S-5 would enshrine the right to a healthy environment in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and would require the two departments responsible for this legislation to develop an implementation framework that sets out how that right will be considered in the act. The right to a healthy environment is a new concept in Canadian federal law, but similar laws have already been enshrined in constitutions, laws, legal decisions and treaties in countries around the world for several decades. The committee recognized that the establishment of this right would represent a significant improvement to Canada’s environmental laws.

Although the bill introduces the right to a healthy environment, it does not define this right. The Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources has proposed a number of amendments to part 5 of the bill. These amendments would help ensure that the implementation framework is consistent with the purposes of the legislation and would require that the ministers define the reasonable limits that the proposed new right would be subject to. The amendments also add the principle of intergenerational equity to the ministers’ considerations.

[English]

Throughout the Energy Committee’s study of Bill S-5, we heard how Indigenous peoples’ rights and their participation in pollution prevention are affected by CEPA. The committee also received evidence that First Nations experience disproportionate exposure to toxic substances. Among other things, the bill would acknowledge the Government of Canada’s commitment to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, in the preamble of CEPA.

The committee considered and adopted several amendments to the bill that strengthened the rights and participation of Indigenous peoples under CEPA and which are in concert with the principles of reconciliation. For example, the committee proposed to amend the preambular commitment of the Government of Canada on UNDRIP by specifically including in the text of CEPA the principles of “free, prior and informed consent,” words that are taken from article 19 of UNDRIP.

This amendment was proposed in recognition of free, prior and informed consent being, as Senator McCallum described it, “instrumental in bringing about self‑determination and self‑governance and independence of Indigenous people.”

The committee is also proposing further amendments to the preamble that promote the meaningful integration of Indigenous knowledge in the CEPA decision-making process. Considering the evidence that the committee heard and the critical concerns raised by its members, it has proposed an amendment that would add a new clause to the bill requiring the ministers to report to Parliament every five years on the operation of CEPA with respect to Indigenous peoples.

[Translation]

Next, the preamble to Bill S-5 discusses animal testing in the context of scientific decision making, toxicity and environmental protection. The Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources is concerned about animal testing and animal rights in general. On this basis, the committee is proposing several amendments related to this issue.

Overall, these amendments would require the federal government to reduce its reliance on animal testing, prevent unnecessary animal testing, prioritize alternatives to animal testing and improve the conditions and processes adopted for animal testing where it remains necessary.

[English]

The Energy Committee is proposing amendments in several areas of Bill S-5 that would heighten government transparency and accountability. In addition to the new requirement for reports every five years on the operation of CEPA with relation to the Indigenous peoples of Canada, the committee is proposing a set of amendments that, when it comes to novel living organisms, would increase public participation and environmental protection. The committee heard that there is an urgent risk to Canadian wild species and Indigenous peoples’ rights arising from the introduction of genetically engineered living organisms into the environment.

The committee is also proposing an amendment that would require the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry to table in Parliament, no later than one year after the bill receives Royal Assent, a report regarding the environmental standards of countries that export products to Canada.

Colleagues, your committee recommends that the Senate pass Bill S-5, including our amendments that strengthen some important aspects of the bill. These changes represent an opportunity to modernize this important legislation all while introducing a new right for Canadians and improving its purpose of pollution prevention.

Your committee also requests that the Government of Canada address the five observations in the report as soon as possible. Thank you very much.

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte: Honourable senators, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, which deals with Bill S-5, An Act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, to make related amendments to the Food and Drugs Act and to repeal the Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Virtual Elimination Act.

(For text of report, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 752.)

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on April 28, 2022, the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on May 20, 2022, its second report, which deals with the subject matter of those elements contained in Parts 2 and 3 of Bill S-6, An Act respecting regulatory modernization.

[English]

Senator Massicotte: Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte: Welcome to the Senate, minister. As you know very well, 30 years ago, Canada was a global leader in managing climate change. Now, after the constant failures by all governments, we are the worst country in the G7. In a global context, last week, the IPCC once again sounded the alarm that we are reaching a point of no return. What are we to do, minister? Yes, I know you are a new minister and we have a new law, but after all these failures, how can we have confidence that, ultimately, we will be able to properly manage the enormous challenge of climate change?

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte, pursuant to notice of February 10, 2022, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources be authorized to examine and report on emerging issues related to its mandate:

(a) The current state and future direction of production, distribution, consumption, trade, security and sustainability of Canada’s energy resources;

(b) Environmental challenges facing Canadians including responses and adaptation to global climate change, pollution, biodiversity, and ecological integrity, and the cumulative environmental effects of energy and natural resource development;

(c) Sustainable development and management of renewable and non-renewable natural resources including but not limited to water, minerals, soils, flora and fauna;

(d) Pathways to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and ways to address the human and environmental impacts of climate change and manage the transition to a low carbon economy;

(e) Opportunities and challenges for women, Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized Canadians, newcomers, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ2 Canadians, in the energy and natural resource sectors; and

(f) Canada’s international treaty obligations affecting energy, the environment and natural resources and their influence on Canada’s economic and social development; and

That the committee submit its final report no later than December 31, 2025 and that the committee retain all powers necessary to publicize its findings until 180 days after the tabling of the final report.

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte: Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources be authorized to examine and report on emerging issues related to its mandate:

(a) The current state and future direction of production, distribution, consumption, trade, security and sustainability of Canada’s energy resources;

(b) Environmental challenges facing Canadians including responses and adaptation to global climate change, pollution, biodiversity, and ecological integrity, and the cumulative environmental effects of energy and natural resource development;

(c) Sustainable development and management of renewable and non-renewable natural resources including but not limited to water, minerals, soils, flora and fauna;

(d) Pathways to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and ways to address the human and environmental impacts of climate change and manage the transition to a low carbon economy;

(e) Opportunities and challenges for women, Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized Canadians, newcomers, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ2 Canadians, in the energy and natural resource sectors; and

(f) Canada’s international treaty obligations affecting energy, the environment and natural resources and their influence on Canada’s economic and social development; and

That the committee submit its final report no later than December 31, 2025 and that the committee retain all powers necessary to publicize its findings until 180 days after the tabling of the final report.

Hon. Paul J. Massicotte: Honourable senators, pursuant to rule 12-26(2) of the Rules of the Senate, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, which deals with the expenses incurred by the committee during the Second Session of the Forty-Third Parliament.

(For text of report, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 180.)