ARCHIVED - Scoping The Issues: Preparation for the Parliamentary Review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

Section 7: Education - Promoting Understanding

7.1 Overview and Key Objectives

Education is essential to enable decision makers within governments, the private sector, civil society and members of the public to better understand and communicate concepts involving risk, and to make informed judgments and choices. Effective education requires going beyond the ongoing and relevant generation of information to the sharing and communicating of that information in an understandable, timely manner.

The authority and activities required to fulfill this function extend well beyond the scope of any single government or piece of legislation. Within the context of CEPA 1999, therefore, it is important to ensure that the various educational activities under the Act function as effectively as possible and that they fit into a coherent overall effort to effectively communicate and promote understanding and capacity for informed environmental decision making

7.2 What CEPA 1999 Does

As Section 4 of this Paper outlines, CEPA 1999 both mandates and authorizes the generation of a wide range of information to help support informed decisions. These include the various research requirements and the monitoring provisions. The Act also provides numerous mechanisms for sharing knowledge. These include, for example, the NPRI, the CEPA Environmental Registry, the requirement in Part 3 of the Act to develop environmental quality objectives, environmental quality guidelines, release guidelines and codes of practice, the requirement in Part 4 to develop guidance material on pollution prevention planning and the authority to develop and publish a model pollution prevention plan and a national clearinghouse for information on pollution prevention.

Much of what CEPA 1999 authorizes and many of the activities undertaken by Environment Canada and Health Canada to implement the Act go beyond the generation of information to encompass educational functions intended to ensure that affected and interested parties understand issues, activities, requirements, objectives and best practices. For example, as Section 6 of this paper outlines, Environment Canada undertakes extensive compliance promotion and technical assistance activities to ensure that all relevant parties understand their obligations under the Act and are enabled to comply with them in the most efficient and innovative manner possible.

7.3 Should CEPA 1999 Be Implemented Differently? Should The Act Be Changed?

The type of enhanced policy coherence that lies at the heart of the goal of a competitive economy anchored by a sustainable environment outlined in Sections 2 and 3 of this document will go a long ways towards improving public awareness and understanding. Clear, national standards and harmonized approaches to risk management will enable decision makers across all sectors to better understand and communicate issues and obligations.

One of the key requirements for effective environmental policy is the capacity to understand and explain the impact of various policies. Environment Canada is in the process of enhancing its capacity to assimilate the wide range of information to which it has access through its monitoring, science and other activities under CEPA 1999 to enable it to track and report on the impacts of the various risk management measures it implements under the Act. It will be important to ensure that the department also develops the capacity to communicate this information so that affected parties throughout Canada can make informed judgments about the value-added of CEPA 1999 risk management measures.

Q. What are your views on this issue?

• Indicators and Environmental and Health Prediction

Common, standardized indicators and scenarios which predict or forecast environmental and health quality are important tools in helping support informed decisions. They can support judgments about the state of the environment and health and about the need for or impact of risk management measures. They can also help clarify the linkages between environmental and health impacts and economic development. CEPA 1999 supports the generation of a wide range of information that could be helpful to decision makers beyond those for whom it is primarily generated if it was linked to indicators and prediction.

Q. What are your views on this issue?

• Risk communication

The goal in communicating information related to risks is to enable decision makers in government, industry and the public to make better decisions based on the best available information. Clear descriptions of known risks can also ensure that incomplete evidence is not misinterpreted as evidence of no effect. To accomplish these objectives, descriptions of risks identified or assessed under CEPA 1999 should:

• clearly describe the Departments' assessment of the risk and of its significance;
• explicitly acknowledge and communicate the nature and significance of uncertainties; and,
• identify opportunities and possible costs and timelines associated with further work to reduce uncertainties.

Effective risk communication, including transparency and public engagement is particularly important to the application of the precautionary principle. As the federal Framework emphasizes, where the public has low tolerance for serious or irreversible harm characterized by scientific uncertainty, a greater degree of transparency, clearer accountability and meaningful public involvement can enhance credibility of and trust in Government decisions, as well as resolve conflict or facilitate joint problem solving. Effective risk communication requires risk assessors and managers to provide understandable information about their findings, their assumptions and the associated judgments and uncertainties.

Q. What are your views on this issue?