From Loyalists to Lincolnville Environmental Injustice and the - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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From Loyalists to Lincolnville Environmental Injustice and the Legacies of Racism Atlantic Land Reclamation Conference 2016 Donelle Fraser Introduction Introduction Youve probably heard of Africville Introduction Youve probably heard

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From Loyalists to Lincolnville

Environmental Injustice and the Legacies of Racism

Atlantic Land Reclamation Conference 2016 Donelle Fraser

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Introduction

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SLIDE 3

Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
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Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
  • The ENRICH Project on environmental racism
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Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
  • The ENRICH Project on environmental racism
  • “the disproportionate location of industrial

polluters… near to communities of colour and the working poor”

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SLIDE 6

Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
  • The ENRICH Project on environmental racism
  • “the disproportionate location of industrial

polluters… near to communities of colour and the working poor”

  • Also: “the lack of organization and political power

that these communities hold for advocating against the siting of industrial polluters”

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SLIDE 7

Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
  • The ENRICH Project on environmental racism
  • Africville is not really history
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SLIDE 8

Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
  • The ENRICH Project on environmental racism
  • Africville is not really history
  • Lack of legislation addressing issues of justice

within environmental procedures

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Introduction

  • You’ve probably heard of Africville
  • The ENRICH Project on environmental racism
  • Africville is not really history
  • Lack of legislation addressing issues of justice

within environmental procedures

  • Long legacy of racial injustice in the province

dating back to the arrival of Black Loyalists

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Environmental Justice Movement

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Environmental Justice Movement

  • Civil rights movement + environmental movement
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Environmental Justice Movement

  • Civil rights movement + environmental movement
  • 1982: Warren County protests
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Environmental Justice Movement

  • Civil rights movement + environmental movement
  • 1982: Warren County protests
  • Studies confirmed the link between race, class, and

exposure to toxic industries

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Environmental Justice Movement

  • Civil rights movement + environmental movement
  • 1982: Warren County protests
  • Studies confirmed the link between race, class, and

exposure to toxic industries

  • Development of a national discourse connecting

previously isolated struggles

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Environmental Justice Movement

  • Civil rights movement + environmental movement
  • 1982: Warren County protests
  • Studies confirmed the link between race, class, and

exposure to toxic industries

  • Development of a national discourse connecting

previously isolated struggles

  • Who benefits from – and who is burdened by –

environmental damage?

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Environmental Justice Research

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Environmental Justice Research

  • Research frameworks have shifted over 30 years
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Environmental Justice Research

  • Research frameworks have shifted over 30 years
  • In the wake of Warren County: establishing spatial

linkages between marginalization and exposure

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Environmental Justice Research

  • Research frameworks have shifted over 30 years
  • In the wake of Warren County: establishing spatial

linkages between marginalization and exposure

  • Also linkages between exposure and poor health
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Environmental Justice Research

  • Research frameworks have shifted over 30 years
  • In the wake of Warren County: establishing spatial

linkages between marginalization and exposure

  • Also linkages between exposure and poor health
  • More recently: focus on the processes
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SLIDE 21

Environmental Justice Research

  • Research frameworks have shifted over 30 years
  • In the wake of Warren County: establishing spatial

linkages between marginalization and exposure

  • Also linkages between exposure and poor health
  • More recently: focus on the processes
  • How does historical oppression continue to

manifest in current decision-making?

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Environmental Justice Research

  • Research frameworks have shifted over 30 years
  • In the wake of Warren County: establishing spatial

linkages between marginalization and exposure

  • Also linkages between exposure and poor health
  • More recently: focus on the processes
  • How does historical oppression continue to

manifest in current decision-making?

  • How does the technical/scientific framework of

environmental planning undervalue traditional knowledge?

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The “Double Burden”

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The “Double Burden”

  • “Privilege people’s lived experiences of injustice”
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The “Double Burden”

  • “Privilege people’s lived experiences of injustice”
  • Going beyond the narrow, medical definition of

disease

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The “Double Burden”

  • “Privilege people’s lived experiences of injustice”
  • Going beyond the narrow, medical definition of

disease

  • Impacts on quality of life, mental health, social morale
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The “Double Burden”

  • “Privilege people’s lived experiences of injustice”
  • Going beyond the narrow, medical definition of

disease

  • Impacts on quality of life, mental health, social morale
  • But both are problems in their own right!
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The “Double Burden”

  • “Privilege people’s lived experiences of injustice”
  • Going beyond the narrow, medical definition of

disease

  • Impacts on quality of life, mental health, social morale
  • But both are problems in their own right!
  • Known as “compounded disadvantage” or the

“double burden” borne by marginalized communities

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SLIDE 29

The “Double Burden”

  • “Privilege people’s lived experiences of injustice”
  • Going beyond the narrow, medical definition of

disease

  • Impacts on quality of life, mental health, social morale
  • But both are problems in their own right!
  • Known as “compounded disadvantage” or the

“double burden” borne by marginalized communities

  • Environmental injustice can also manifest as limited

access to “environmental opportunities”

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Africville

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Africville

  • Shores of the Bedford Basin first settled by black

refugees after the war of 1812

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Africville

  • Shores of the Bedford Basin first settled by black

refugees after the war of 1812

  • Denied many basic services: paved roads, sewer

systems, water lines

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Africville

  • Shores of the Bedford Basin first settled by black

refugees after the war of 1812

  • Denied many basic services: paved roads, sewer

systems, water lines

  • Rezoned as industrial land in 1947
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Africville

  • Shores of the Bedford Basin first settled by black

refugees after the war of 1812

  • Denied many basic services: paved roads, sewer

systems, water lines

  • Rezoned as industrial land in 1947
  • Environmental hazards included a fertilizer plant, an
  • pen dump, and an incinerator
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Africville

  • Shores of the Bedford Basin first settled by black

refugees after the war of 1812

  • Denied many basic services: paved roads, sewer

systems, water lines

  • Rezoned as industrial land in 1947
  • Environmental hazards included a fertilizer plant, an
  • pen dump, and an incinerator
  • 1970: poor health of residents used to justify their

removal from the land

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Environmental Justice Analysis

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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
  • Disproportionate exposures
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
  • Disproportionate exposures
  • Exclusion from decision-making
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SLIDE 40

Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
  • Disproportionate exposures
  • Exclusion from decision-making
  • Halifax Human Rights Advisory Committee
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SLIDE 41

Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
  • Disproportionate exposures
  • Exclusion from decision-making
  • Halifax Human Rights Advisory Committee
  • Alternatives to relocation were never considered
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
  • Disproportionate exposures
  • Exclusion from decision-making
  • Halifax Human Rights Advisory Committee
  • Alternatives to relocation were never considered
  • No one asked why health outcomes were so poor
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SLIDE 43

Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Faced both distributive and procedural injustice
  • Disproportionate exposures
  • Exclusion from decision-making
  • Halifax Human Rights Advisory Committee
  • Alternatives to relocation were never considered
  • No one asked why health outcomes were so poor
  • Reports ignored the rich historical and cultural ties

residents had developed with their community

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Lincolnville

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Lincolnville

  • Striking similarities to Africville
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Lincolnville

  • Striking similarities to Africville
  • Early 2000s: Nova Scotia to amalgate 57 existing

landfills into seven second-generation landfills

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Lincolnville

  • Striking similarities to Africville
  • Early 2000s: Nova Scotia to amalgate 57 existing

landfills into seven second-generation landfills

  • Guysborough County saw an opportunity
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SLIDE 48

Lincolnville

  • Striking similarities to Africville
  • Early 2000s: Nova Scotia to amalgate 57 existing

landfills into seven second-generation landfills

  • Guysborough County saw an opportunity
  • 2006: landfill sited next to Lincolnville
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SLIDE 49

Lincolnville

  • Striking similarities to Africville
  • Early 2000s: Nova Scotia to amalgate 57 existing

landfills into seven second-generation landfills

  • Guysborough County saw an opportunity
  • 2006: landfill sited next to Lincolnville
  • Decision based purely on surface and groundwater

testing?

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Environmental Justice Analysis

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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
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SLIDE 52

Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
  • One of few black communities in Guysborough
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
  • One of few black communities in Guysborough
  • Long history of racial discrimination
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
  • One of few black communities in Guysborough
  • Long history of racial discrimination
  • Small and aging population
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
  • One of few black communities in Guysborough
  • Long history of racial discrimination
  • Small and aging population
  • “Multiple vulnerabilities”
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Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
  • One of few black communities in Guysborough
  • Long history of racial discrimination
  • Small and aging population
  • “Multiple vulnerabilities”
  • Also: had already hosted a first-generation landfill for
  • ver 30 years
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SLIDE 57

Environmental Justice Analysis

  • Can’t ignore the issue of race
  • One of few black communities in Guysborough
  • Long history of racial discrimination
  • Small and aging population
  • “Multiple vulnerabilities”
  • Also: had already hosted a first-generation landfill for
  • ver 30 years
  • Community members suffering from high rates of

cancer

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Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

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Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
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Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
  • Municipality: no active opposition
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SLIDE 61

Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
  • Municipality: no active opposition
  • Deacon & Baxter (2013): consultations not as

effective or inclusive as claimed to be

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SLIDE 62

Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
  • Municipality: no active opposition
  • Deacon & Baxter (2013): consultations not as

effective or inclusive as claimed to be

  • Poor advertising
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Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
  • Municipality: no active opposition
  • Deacon & Baxter (2013): consultations not as

effective or inclusive as claimed to be

  • Poor advertising
  • Inaccessible language used at consultations
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SLIDE 64

Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
  • Municipality: no active opposition
  • Deacon & Baxter (2013): consultations not as

effective or inclusive as claimed to be

  • Poor advertising
  • Inaccessible language used at consultations
  • “Lip service”
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SLIDE 65

Deacon & Baxter’s Findings

  • How did Lincolnville end up with another landfill??
  • Municipality: no active opposition
  • Deacon & Baxter (2013): consultations not as

effective or inclusive as claimed to be

  • Poor advertising
  • Inaccessible language used at consultations
  • “Lip service”
  • Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville ignored
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A Systemic Issue

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A Systemic Issue

  • Africville and Lincolnville are just two examples
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A Systemic Issue

  • Africville and Lincolnville are just two examples
  • Greater than 30 percent of African Nova Scotians

lived with 5 km of a landfill

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A Systemic Issue

  • Africville and Lincolnville are just two examples
  • Greater than 30 percent of African Nova Scotians

lived with 5 km of a landfill

  • Also affects Mi’kmaq and Acadian communities
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A Systemic Issue

  • Africville and Lincolnville are just two examples
  • Greater than 30 percent of African Nova Scotians

lived with 5 km of a landfill

  • Also affects Mi’kmaq and Acadian communities
  • A systemic issue
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SLIDE 71

A Systemic Issue

  • Africville and Lincolnville are just two examples
  • Greater than 30 percent of African Nova Scotians

lived with 5 km of a landfill

  • Also affects Mi’kmaq and Acadian communities
  • A systemic issue
  • Maintained by a legislative process that lacks

considerations of justice

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A Systemic Issue

  • Africville and Lincolnville are just two examples
  • Greater than 30 percent of African Nova Scotians

lived with 5 km of a landfill

  • Also affects Mi’kmaq and Acadian communities
  • A systemic issue
  • Maintained by a legislative process that lacks

considerations of justice

  • Affected communities tend to have a low degree of

political power to resist exploitation

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Legislative Loopholes

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Legislative Loopholes

  • Nova Scotia lacks a framework to address

environmental racism

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SLIDE 75

Legislative Loopholes

  • Nova Scotia lacks a framework to address

environmental racism

  • Landfills are not required to undergo EIA
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SLIDE 76

Legislative Loopholes

  • Nova Scotia lacks a framework to address

environmental racism

  • Landfills are not required to undergo EIA
  • Nova Scotia Environment Act makes no reference to

environmental justice

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SLIDE 77

Legislative Loopholes

  • Nova Scotia lacks a framework to address

environmental racism

  • Landfills are not required to undergo EIA
  • Nova Scotia Environment Act makes no reference to

environmental justice

  • Environmental justice too often an afterthought in EIA
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SLIDE 78

Legislative Loopholes

  • Nova Scotia lacks a framework to address

environmental racism

  • Landfills are not required to undergo EIA
  • Nova Scotia Environment Act makes no reference to

environmental justice

  • Environmental justice too often an afterthought in EIA
  • Public opposition to facility siting is difficult,

especially for already-vulnerable communities

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SLIDE 79

Legacies of the Loyalists

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SLIDE 80

Legacies of the Loyalists

  • Important to not forget about history as it still has

impacts today

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SLIDE 81

Legacies of the Loyalists

  • Important to not forget about history as it still has

impacts today

  • Long legacy of racism in Nova Scotia has kept

certain communities vulnerable to environmental degradation

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SLIDE 82

Legacies of the Loyalists

  • Important to not forget about history as it still has

impacts today

  • Long legacy of racism in Nova Scotia has kept

certain communities vulnerable to environmental degradation

  • Look back at arrival of Black Loyalists fleeing the

American Civil War at the end of the 18th century

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SLIDE 83

Legacies of the Loyalists

  • Important to not forget about history as it still has

impacts today

  • Long legacy of racism in Nova Scotia has kept

certain communities vulnerable to environmental degradation

  • Look back at arrival of Black Loyalists fleeing the

American Civil War at the end of the 18th century

  • Injustice today may be less overt, but residents of

Lincolnville could testify that environmental racism remains a pertinent issue in this province

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SLIDE 84

References

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SLIDE 85

References

  • Photo: [Untitled Image of Africville]. Retrieved November 5, 2016. http://markcarvery.org/wp-

content/uploads/2013/11/6000_1038_5000581_1.jpg

  • Bullard, R. D. (2001). Environmental justice in the 21st century: Race still matters. Phylon,

49(3/4), 151-171. Retrieved from http://jstor.org/stable/3132626

  • Deacon, L. & Baxter, J. (2013). No opportunity to say no: A case study of procedural

environmental injustice in Canada. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 56(5), 607-623. Retrieved from http://www.enrichproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ Leith-Deacon-Article.pdf

  • Devet, R. (2015, October 26). Facing environmental racism and white privilege. Halifax Media

Co-op. Retrieved from http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/facing-environmental-racism-and- white-privilege/34048

  • Fryzuk, L. A. (1996). Environmental justice in Canada: An empirical study and analysis of the

demographics of dumping in Nova Scotia. (Master’s Thesis). Retrieved from http:// www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/mq24966.pdf

  • Hill, L. (2011). A word about history. In Hill, The Book of Negroes. (pp. 10-13). Toronto:

HarperCollins.

  • Lewis, T. L. (2015). Environmental movements in the global south. In K. A. Gould & T. L.

Lewis (Ed.), Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology (pp. 300-314). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Masuda, J., Polland, B., & Baxter, J. (2010). Reaching for environmental health justice:

Canadian experiences for a comprehensive research, policy and advocacy agenda in health

  • promotion. Health Promotion International, 25(4), 453-463. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daq041.
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SLIDE 86

References

  • McGregor, D. (2009). Honouring our relations: An Anishnaabe perspective on environmental
  • justice. In Agyeman, J., Cole, P

., Haluza-DeLay, R., & O’Riley, P . (Eds), Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada. (pp. 27-41). Vancouver: UBC Press. Retrieved from http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2009/SpeakingforOurselves.pdf

  • Open House Nova Scotia. (2015). Debates of November 25th, 2015. Retrieved from http://

www.openhousens.ca/debates/debates-25-november-2015/single-page/#s53152

  • Taylor, D. E. (2011). The evolution of environmental justice activism, research, and
  • scholarship. Environmental Practice, 13(4), 280-301. Doi:10.1017/S1466046611000329.
  • The ENRICH Project. (2015). Background. Retrieved from http://www.enrichproject.org/

about/background

  • Wakefield, S. E. L. & Baxter, J. (2010). Linking health inequity and environmental justice:

Articulating a precautionary framework for research and action. Environmental Justice, 3(3), 95-102. doi: 10.1089/env.2009.0044

  • Waldron, I. R. G. (2015). Findings from the series of workshops “In Whose Backyard? –

Exploring Toxic Legacies in Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotia Communities.” Environmental Justice, 8(10), 1-5. doi:10.1089/env.2014.0034

  • Waldron, I. (2014). Report on the regional meetings & convergence workshop for: In whose

backyard? Exploring toxic legacies in Mi’kmaw & African Nova Scotian communities. Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health Project. Retrieved from http://www.enrichproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Environmental-Injustice- Report.pdf

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SLIDE 87

Thank You