Right to a healthy environment

“right to a healthy environment”

References:

The Guardian Newspaper – Feb 19, 2015 – Citizens have right to healthy environment, ECO-PEI says:

A campaign to convince politicians to give citizens the right to a healthy environment is being started by a group on P.E.I. 

Canada is one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t provide the right to clean air, water and soil. 

Islanders deserve a say in their health, says Don Mazer who is on the board of the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island.

“For example, if we had an environmental bill of rights, and there were fish kills and there were concerns about the fact that action wasn’t being taken to remediate the conditions that contributed to the fish kills, then I think that citizens would have some sort of legal basis to be able to compel that kind of action or encourage that kind of action, rather than just requesting it,” said Mazer.

ECO-PEI’s first step is to engage environmentalists across the Island, says Mazer.

The group says it will then focus its campaign on municipalities, with the hope of having at least one community with an environmental bill of rights by Earth Day on April 22.

ECO-PEI also plans to question candidates on the issue in the upcoming provincial election.