Environmental Health Policies and Issues in Canada

In a little more than three years the world’s environmental health movement has transformed several nations’ public health and environment in many significant ways (WHO, 1999). Perhaps the most troubling of instances, however, is the pollution of Canada’s air quality. Ambient concentrations of sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates-all associated with serious human health disorders-have been reduced significantly, but the nation has more work to do. As a result, climate change in Canada, the consequences of rapid population growth in some cities, the spread of toxic and hazardous chemicals, the loss of biological diversity, and air and water pollution all require diverse action by the national and provincial governments. Despite some improvement from what the nation used to be three decades ago, Canada, like several other countries in the world, continues to pollute its environment with toxic chemicals, pesticides, sewage contamination, and overfishing.