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This exploratory analysis opens up new avenues for research in the area of media analysis and environmental justice by combining quantitative content analysis with qualitative discourse analysis of 15 Canadian mainstream newspapers to explore how Canadian print news media act not only as a filter but also as a constructor or silencer of environmental justice discourses. Disjunctures occur between what is covered by the Canadian news media and what local studies of place and injustice suggest are the on-the-ground realities. In particular, disadvantaged communities who have experienced or are experiencing significant environmental exposures are consistently underrepresented in key mainstream Canadian news media coverage. Consequences of this underrepresentation suggest indifference and may serve to perpetuate existing cases of environmental inequity. We suggest this muting happens not only through lack of reporting but also through discourse in existing reporting. This exploratory study suggests the need for ongoing research to examine: 1) how pervasive these phenomena are in various Canadian news media outlets, 2) how they manifest and with what impacts at the local scale in particular places, and 3) the overall impact of environmental justice as a discourse of resistance on the ground versus in the minds of academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian scholars know by heart the exhortation to think globally and act locally. Fewer, however, are familiar with the expansion of scientific knowledge and state policy that made it possible to think of the world as a global system and act on those beliefs. This article explores this interplay of scientific expertise, state power, and environmental politics by analyzing the Science Council of Canada (scc)'s "conserver society" of the 1970s. My research reveals how the scc, a Crown corporation, became a key player in Canadian environmentalism when it used the oil crisis and the Trudeau government's rationalizing reforms as an excuse to pioneer alternative development and to help Canadians grapple with the challenge of long-term sustainability. The article asserts that state experts played a central role in the construction of early forms of sustainability. Their efforts also highlight the multifaceted character of sustainable development as it promised to catalyze national growth, social change, and scientific achievement even as it protected Canadians' ecological future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores labor relations and the environmental movement in New Brunswick. Emphasis is given to alliances and cooperation between entities such as the New Brunswick Federation of Labor, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, and the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees. The author offers information on conferences that detail the relations between labor leaders and environmentalists on topics such as the construction of nuclear power plants, forestry management, and climate change.

The article offers information related to the 1972 Planning Guidelines for Coast Logging Operations and the National Democratic Party (NDP) government's response to the forests and other natural resources in Canada. It relates the subject that Jeremy Wilson discussed regarding the necessity of understanding the environmental politics during the early 1970s period. It also highlights the response of the Guidelines, which represented the British Columbia Forest Service (BCFS) over the rising public discomfort over the ecological consequences of unrestrained clearcutting of trees.

This study combines data from three cross-sectional surveys (1993, 1998, and 2004) to explore how hikers at the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada were affected by the introduction of several restrictive management policies. The analysis revolves around motivation-based segments defined via one single principal component and cluster analysis over all three years of data. The results document similarities and differences between the three motivation-based segments over time and as a reaction to the restrictions. Clusters also differed in the reaction to indicator variables such as advance booking time, perceived management problems, encounters, and satisfaction. Future longitudinal data collections and investigations as part of visitor monitoring protocols are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that salmon aquaculture operations situated in First Nations' claimed territories on Canada's West Coast create issues of environmental injustice. Salmon farms are associated with various environmental problems including pollution of the aquatic environment, risks to wild salmon, and food safety issues. These environmental problems constitute issues of environmental injustice due to the disproportionate, and different, impacts they have on coastal First Nations in comparison with other Canadians. The paper draws on material from several reviews of British Columbian (BC) salmon aquaculture to analyse coastal BC First Nations' claims and concerns about salmon farming along three environmental justice dimensions: distribution, participation and recognition. Qualitative evidence is obtained suggesting that coastal First Nations face disproportionate health risks from salmon farms, are excluded from decision-making processes with respect to the farms, and feel that their worldviews, identities, and ways of life are both ignored and at risk from the farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the environmental justice movement in relation to Canada and the United States. Canada has a very limited amount of environmental justice research as opposed to the United States, which has been practicing the policy for thirty years. Because of differences in urban geography, racial dynamics, the history of resource development, multiculturalism, and social policies, American environmental justice research is not useful for Canadian researchers. The author details the necessity for Canadians to begin their own environmental justice programs.

We have survived Canada's assault on our identity and our rights ... Our survival is a testament to our determination and will to survive as a people. We are prepared to participate in Canada's future - but only on the terms that we believe to be our rightful heritage. Wallace Labillois, Council of Elders, Kingsclear, New Brunswick This paper argues for a strengthening of the theoretical relationship between neo-liberalism and environmental justice. Empirical research involving First Nations communities in southwestern Ontario suggests that neo-liberal reforms introduced in the mid-1990s were particularly discriminatory against Canada's indigenous peoples, serving to exacerbate historical disparities in health, environment pollution, and well-being. In particular, under neo-liberal reform in Ontario, recognition of environmental injustices has become much more difficult for First Nations communities. Furthermore, this 'new' form of environmental governance has broadly reduced legitimate opportunities for First Nations to participate in environmental governance that affects their health and welfare. In short, this research supports a widening of the definition of environmental justice advocated by David Schlosberg and others (Environmental Politics, 13(3) (2004), pp. 517-540; Agyeman, Bullard and Evans 2003; Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Research Advisory committee 1997; Di Chiro 1998) if we are to understand the subtle, complex and multiple ways that this new form of environmental governance is particularly harmful to marginalized groups, such as First Nations in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews nine of the best-known strategies for eliminating and reducing substances in the category known as "persistent bioaccumulative toxic substances" (PBTSs). The nine strategies are as follows: 1) Ontario's Candidate Substances list for Bans and Phase-outs (1992), 2) Canada's ARET Program (1994), 3) Canada's Toxic Substances Management Policy (1995), 4) the Commission for Environmental Cooperation's Sound Management of Chemicals Initiative (1995), 5) the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (1997), 6) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA's) draft National PBT Strategy (1998), 7) U.S. EPA's Waste Minimization Program (1998), 8) the U.N. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001), and 9) Washington State's Rule on Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (2006). The review describes the commonalities among the strategies, including their goals and principles, design approaches, and other common elements. It also discusses several emerging trends, such as the increasing importance of economic considerations, human health information, and nonregulatory management approaches. The paper concludes with a discussion of how effective the strategies have been at achieving their goals of elimination and reduction of persistent bioaccumulative toxic substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interests of First Nations communities m Canada have traditionally had little voice at the various points of authority that maintain the equilibrium or balance necessary to get environmental protection laws ratified, regulations distributed, and enforcement actions initiated on First Nations lands. (First Nations is the term commonly used in Canada to describe the various societies of indigenous peoples who are accorded status as "Indians" by the Indian Act of 1985 and who are not of Inuit or Métis descent.) Along with a lack of adequate funding to address human and environmental issues — as well as past industrial exploitation of First Nations lands — the safety and acceptability of many solid waste management practices in Canadian First Nations communities have become a serious concern for many members from both human and environmental health perspectives. A history of poor management, monitoring, and remediation of solid waste facilities across Canada's First Nations Communities and the lack of current resolve over this issue has left First Nations people feeling the consequences of pollution to their environment: rivers, land, and air. First Nations people are traditionally connected to the land, and consequently the degradation of the environment also leads to a decline in a way of life for the people and thus a decline in the cultural health of communities. This article examines the issues surrounding waste management on First Nations communities, looks at how First Nations are trying to handle their solid waste, and considers the larger issues of environmental degradation that First Nations communities face throughout Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ways in which environmental justice (EJ)--in its myriad forms--has developed as a concrete and material challenge to the dominant (neo-liberal) discourse of ecological modernisation. The concept of 'environmental justice' is problematised and the fast conceptual transfer beyond the borders of the US, where it originated. The shift in the concept of environmental justice is explored in two urban environments in Toronto, Canada, and Hermanus, South Africa, with a specific emphasis on urban water policies and politics and their relation to concerns of environmental justice. The term 'environmental justice' in the context of urban environments must be defined within this context for each site under study; the paper argues against a universalising use of the term. In localising the term 'environmental justice', it is not proposed that its use be restricted to a specific site, but that its use is embedded in a multiscalar urban world specific to a particular site. It is argued specifically that what is and is not environmentally just cannot be discussed merely from the point of view of localised differentials in the exposure to environmental costs or benefits. Instead, the articulated scales of justice are explored in and among the case study cities. It is argued that in reality, injustice perceptions and justice demands are constructed through relative, scale-sensitive political and discursive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a Delphi Study undertaken at Dalhousie University in which a multi-stake- holder panel was consulted in order to generate ideas that could be incorporated into an Implementation Plan for the University Environmental Policy (UEP). The objectives of the study were twofold. First, the study endeavored to develop ideas as to the most desirable and feasible ways in which to incorporate the UEP into the activities and structure of the university. Second, the study sought to assess the applicability of the Delphi Technique for consulting with stakeholders in the development of an implementation plan. The final analyses confirm the literature on the challenges, barriers and opportunities encountered for institutional environmental change in higher education. The study also confirms the findings of existing research that promotes the Delphi Technique as an excellent tool to inform the creation of educational and social policy. Specifically, this study illustrates the benefits of applying the Policy Delphi Technique to the development of an Environmental Policy Implementation Plan in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illustrates a problem faced by environmental groups to gain acceptance into the policy-making program, Lands for Life process of the Ontario government. Background on the establishment of the Lands for Life process in February 1997; Information on several considerations for pressure groups' choice of strategies and tactics; Goals of the Lands for Life project.

Editor's Note. Representatives of nations from every region of the world signed a treaty in September 1987 in Montreal to limit the production and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons that were believed to cause potentially irreversible damage to the ozone layer. By the spring of 1989, approximately 40 countries, representing about 85 percent of global consumption of these chemicals, had ratified the protocol, and many more had signaled their intention to do so. The Montreal Protocol was characterized by President Reagan as "a monumental achievement" and by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Thomas as "the most significant international environmental agreement in history." Many knowledgeable observers had initially believed that such an agreement would be impossible to reach because of the complexity of the subject, the uncertainties of the science, and the widely divergent national positions on the issues involved. In this article, Richard Elliot Benedick, Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Montreal negotiations, considers the accomplishments at Montreal as a new form of global diplomacy.. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the termination of a package of programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by Canada's new Conservative government. Canada's Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says that Canada's Kyoto Protocol commitments are unachievable.

The first comprehensive assessment of Canada's water supply finds that climate change will trigger water shortages and changes in delivery of fresh water to the Arctic Ocean. This change could have worldwide impacts, such as altering the deep ocean currents that drive global climate patterns. The increasing strength of floods, droughts, and severe storms in Canada over the past decade provided the impetus for the study, released in March from Environment Canada, the federal environmental protection agency.

Reports on Environment Canada's proposal to regulate the 12 chemicals or chemical classes known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Properties of POPs.