Environment and Climate Change Canada
Canada Updates Environmental Act, Boosts Chemicals Safety
Recent amendments of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) required the Government of Canada to develop a framework for the right to a healthy environment under CEPA. They also required the Government to publish a plan to address chemical substances and to guide efforts to replace, reduce, or refine vertebrate animal testing. The Government delivered on these commitments by publishing the Implementation Framework for the Right to a Healthy Environment under CEPA; the Plan of Priorities; and the Strategy to Replace, Reduce, or Refine Vertebrate Animal Testing.
The Implementation Framework elaborates on the meaning of the Right to a Healthy Environment (the Right) under CEPA. It provides guidance for CEPA decision-makers on how to consider the Right in the administration of CEPA.
As per the Framework, the Right to a Healthy Environment under CEPA includes substantive and procedural elements. The substantive elements build on the definition of a healthy environment and include the right of every individual in Canada to live in an environment that is protected from harmful substances, pollutants, and waste; and where actions under CEPA contribute to clean and healthy air and water, a sustainable climate, and healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. The procedural elements of the Right include access to information and participation in decision-making.
The Framework elaborates on three new principles, namely environmental justice, intergenerational equity, and non-regression and describes how they will be considered in the administration of the Act to fulfil the duty to uphold these principles.
Additionally, the framework elaborates on how respect for Indigenous rights informs CEPA decision-making and recognizes the role of Indigenous knowledge in informing decisions about protecting the environment and human health. In collaboration with Indigenous peoples, guidance on bridging, braiding, and weaving Indigenous knowledge with western science will be developed to support CEPA decision-makers.
The Framework also describes five of the relevant factors-environmental, scientific, social, health, and economic-that can be considered in interpreting and applying the Right and in determining the reasonable limits to which it is subject.
In the administration of CEPA, the Government of Canada will aim to fulfill its duty of protecting the right to a healthy environment, as it relates to the substantive elements, through consideration of the procedural elements, CEPA principles, and relevant factors described above, recognizing the Right is subject to reasonable limits.
The Government of Canada engaged with the public, Indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations, and industry stakeholders during consultations in the spring and fall of 2024 to help inform the development of the Implementation Framework.
A new web portal
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2025/07/protecting-the-right-to-a-healthy-environment-under-the-modernized-canadian-environmental-protection-act-1999-and-enhancing-chemicals-management.html