HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia government is refusing to release recommendations from a panel tasked with examining environmental racism in the province, and the minister responsible isn鈥檛 saying why.
Justice Minister Becky Druhan, who is also responsible for the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism, avoided giving an explanation when pressed by reporters after a provincial cabinet meeting Thursday.
Druhan did say the province's Progressive Conservative government is committed to addressing issues of equity and racism and she said the panel鈥檚 work will 鈥渋nform鈥 those efforts.
鈥淥ne of the important insights that the panel provided to us 鈥 is that systemic and foundational change is needed to address racism around environmental issues,鈥 the minister said.
Druhan wouldn鈥檛 answer when asked whether she had seen the panel鈥檚 recommendations, saying its work had predated her time as minister.
The eight-member panel was appointed in June 2023 to look at how racism affects a community鈥檚 natural environment and it was expected to submit its recommendations by the end of that year. It was chaired by Augy Jones, who is now the government鈥檚 executive director of African Nova Scotian Affairs.
When he was appointed to the panel in December 2022, Jones was clear about how he wanted its work to be perceived.
鈥淲e want this process to be an example to Canada on how you engage with marginalized communities who have been traumatized in an intergenerational way,鈥 he told 好色tvin an interview.
The idea for the panel came from the opposition New Democrats, who proposed an amendment to climate change legislation that was passed in the fall of 2023.
Examples of environmental racism include instances where landfills, trash incinerators, coal plants, toxic waste facilities and other environmentally hazardous activities are located near communities of colour, Indigenous territories and the working poor.
Opposition NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it was 鈥渄isheartening鈥 that the government has sat on the panel鈥檚 findings for more than a year. She said the report should be released to the public.
鈥淭he promise made when this panel was established was to bring some clarity and truth and recommendations to what is a really shameful legacy in this province of environmental racism,鈥 Chender said.
Interim Liberal leader Derek Mombourquette said the government was sending a 鈥渄isgraceful鈥 message in not releasing the panel鈥檚 recommendations.
鈥淭he minister has the absolute obligation to release that report so communities and Nova Scotians can read it,鈥 he said.
Examples of environmental racism in Nova Scotia include the toxic dump and landfill that operated for decades near the historic Black communities of Shelburne and Lincolnville.
As well, the cleanup continues at Boat Harbour, N.S., near the Pictou Landing First Nation, where a once pristine body of water served for decades as an effluent lagoon for a nearby paper mill.
Liberal critic Iain Rankin, a former environment minister and premier, once referred to Boat Harbour as one of the worst cases of environmental racism in Canada.
This report by 好色tvwas first published May 29, 2025.
