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Use of Pesticides Indoors: Differences in Risk, Regulation, and Necessary Precautions
The document highlights that pesticides persist longer indoors due to a lack of sunlight and microbial action, yet Canadian regulatory assessments for indoor use do not require the same persistence or environmental fate studies as outdoor uses. It notes that pyrethrins and pyrethroids are the most common indoor pesticides and are linked to neurotoxicity and endocrine disruption. The briefing emphasizes that low-income individuals face higher exposure due to poorly maintained housing and that current regulatory models fail to account for these socio-economic factors. It concludes that reliance on pesticide labels is insufficient due to poor communication of updates and high rates of non-compliance among professional pest control operators.
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Document type: Briefing
The Meaning of Do No Harm in a Planetary Health Crisis
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) criticizes the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) for attempting to use the pandemic to suspend environmental regulations. CAPE asserts that 'Do No Harm' in a planetary health context requires strengthening climate policies, investing in a net-zero transition by 2050, and addressing the ecological determinants of health to prevent future zoonotic and climate-related crises.
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Document type: Statement
Tracer notre voie
The report outlines the physical and economic risks Canada faces due to climate change, such as sea-level rise and the global shift away from carbon-intensive exports. It proposes a holistic approach to climate policy that integrates health, well-being, and economic competitiveness, moving beyond narrow emission targets. The document highlights existing Canadian subnational innovations in carbon pricing and coal phase-out while recommending that governments expand the scope and ambition of their climate actions to ensure long-term prosperity.
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Document type: Report
Charting Our Course
The report outlines the dual threats of physical climate impacts and global economic transitions facing Canada. It proposes a comprehensive framework that integrates health, wellness, and economic prosperity, moving beyond siloed mitigation and adaptation strategies. The document highlights existing sub-national policy successes and recommends that Canadian governments broaden their climate objectives, increase policy ambition, and leverage international leadership to ensure a resilient future.
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Document type: Report
An Online Environmental Scan of Right-wing Extremism in Canada
The report identifies a significant online presence of right-wing extremism in Canada, involving 6,660 accounts and channels across seven platforms with a collective reach of over 11 million users. While ethnonationalists are the most prevalent group on mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter, explicit white supremacist activity is concentrated on fringe sites such as Iron March and Fascist Forge. The study finds that RWE activity spikes around key events, specifically the Christchurch attack and the 2019 Canadian federal election, with anti-Muslim and anti-Trudeau rhetoric serving as primary drivers of conversation. Offline findings indicate a growth in RWE activity in the Maritime provinces and an increasing fascination with paramilitary training and weaponry among groups like the Three Percenters.
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Document type: Report
How Many Hours-of-Safety Do Our Homes Have in Extreme Weather?
The briefing introduces 'hours-of-safety' to measure how long a home remains at a comfortable temperature after power is lost during extreme weather. It highlights the life-threatening risks of heat waves and polar vortexes, particularly for vulnerable populations in poorly insulated housing. The author advocates for passive design strategies—such as improved insulation, tighter envelopes, and cool roofs—combined with islandable solar PV and battery storage to increase passive survivability and community resilience.
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Document type: Briefing
Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals
The document details how climate change affects Canadian health through extreme heat, air pollution, UV radiation, and the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases. It emphasizes that marginalized populations, including Indigenous peoples and low-income individuals, face disproportionate risks. Regional analyses highlight specific threats such as melting permafrost in the North, hurricanes in Atlantic Canada, and increased drought in the Prairies.
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Document type: Guide
Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals
The document outlines adaptation strategies for various climate-related health risks in Canada, including extreme temperature events, flooding, wildfires, food insecurity, vector-borne diseases, and water quality issues. It provides specific examples of municipal actions—such as Toronto's green roof bylaws and Vancouver's warming centres—and offers actionable tips for health professionals to support vulnerable patients and advocate for resilient community policies.
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Document type: Guide
Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals
The document outlines how health professionals can leverage their status as trusted messengers to drive climate action. It suggests clinical approaches like motivational interviewing to encourage plant-based diets and active transport, and professional strategies such as integrating climate change into medical curricula. It also details advocacy methods, including using media to build public support and collaborating with other organizations to influence policy-makers, citing specific Canadian examples like the coal phase-out in Alberta and the promotion of plant-based proteins in Canada's Food Guide.
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Document type: Guide
Leadership on Food Policies is Urgent
The letter calls for the swift approval of the Healthy Eating Strategy and a national food policy to address food insecurity and environmental degradation.
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Document type: Statement
Tracking Progress on SDG 8
The document evaluates the performance of Canadian cities against SDG 8, focusing on GDP per capita, labour productivity, median income, unemployment, and youth unemployment. While GDP and median incomes have generally risen, the report highlights persistent gender pay gaps and regional disparities in unemployment, particularly in Prairie cities.
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Document type: Briefing
Carbon-Free City Handbook: Transportation and Mobility
The transportation sector accounts for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in large cities. To address this, the handbook outlines several strategic actions: electrifying municipal fleets, reducing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles through bans or restrictions, managing urban freight emissions, expanding EV charging infrastructure, creating car-free downtown zones, and enhancing public transit and mobility alternatives like bikeshare and pedestrian-friendly streets.
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Document type: Guide
Tracking the SDGs in Canadian Cities: SDG 3
The document tracks health and well-being indicators for Canadian cities against UN SDG 3 targets. It finds significant progress in neonatal mortality, chronic disease mortality, smoking rates, and health worker density. However, it notes rising trends in heavy drinking and HIV mortality in specific cities like Regina and Saskatoon, and an overall national increase in suicide and self-inflicted injury mortality, despite declines in several major cities.
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Document type: Briefing
Analysis of missing links in Montréal’s cycling network
The report analyzes the Montréal cycling network, highlighting that while it is large, over half consists of low-protection painted markings. It identifies a high frequency of collisions at intersections along cycle tracks and a high collision rate in the West Island. The analysis reveals significant network discontinuities, with an average of one every 1.3km. To address these, the report proposes 24 strategic north-south and east-west connections totaling 175 km and recommends the city increase its construction target to 100km of new facilities per year.
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Document type: Report
Tracking the SDGs in Canadian Cities: SDG 1
The document tracks SDG 1 progress in Canadian cities, finding that while child poverty is declining and social assistance coverage is increasing, overall poverty rates have risen in most cities, deviating from 2030 targets. It highlights significant regional disparities in poverty rates and municipal budget allocations for social services.
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Document type: Briefing
Cities – The engines for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals
The briefing argues that cities are critical for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and presents an IISD tool that uses official Statistics Canada data to monitor SDG indicator trends in 13 major Canadian cities. Because global indicators cannot be directly applied to cities due to data limitations, the initiative identifies 12 specific indicators to track progress from 1995 to 2030. The tool aims to help policy-makers identify performance gaps, assess the feasibility of targets, and facilitate cross-scale coordinated action between municipal, provincial, and federal governments.
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Document type: Briefing
The fight for a bike and pedestrian highway overpass in Montreal
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is campaigning for the reinstatement of the Dalle-Parc, a green overpass designed to connect Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount and Verdun–Pointe-Saint-Charles over the Turcot Interchange in Montreal. While the overpass was part of the original 2010 renovation plans, it was removed from the 2015 version by the Quebec Ministry of Transport (MTQ) without explanation. The project is estimated to cost $40 million, representing 1-2% of the total $4 billion interchange refurbishment cost. Proponents argue the overpass would facilitate active transportation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and prevent cyclists from having to take a 10km detour to cover a 1km distance.
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Document type: Statement
Prescribing Active Travel for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet
The document argues that promoting active travel—defined as walking, cycling, and public transit—creates a 'quadruple win' by reducing chronic disease, improving air quality, slowing climate change, and increasing health equity. It provides a framework for health professionals to encourage patients to integrate physical activity into their daily routines and to advocate for urban planning policies, such as the '5 Ds' of community design (density, land use diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit). A significant portion of the guide focuses on the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe in Ontario, explaining how intensification and complete community planning can facilitate a shift away from automobile dependence.
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Document type: Guide
Building a Climate-Resilient City: The built environment
The document argues that current building codes often fail to account for climate change, leaving urban infrastructure vulnerable to increasing temperature variability and extreme weather. It advocates for the adoption of robust design protocols like PIEVC and CCHIP, the mitigation of the urban heat island (UHI) effect through strategic green space planning, and the use of resource-efficiency certifications such as LEED and the Living Building Challenge to create a more resilient urban fabric.
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Document type: Briefing
Building a Climate-Resilient City: Transportation infrastructure
The document outlines how urban transportation infrastructure in Alberta is vulnerable to rising temperatures and extreme weather, such as flooding and heat waves. It argues that resilience can be achieved through 'robustness' (using tools like the PIEVC protocol and green infrastructure), 'redundancy' (diversifying transportation modes and fuel sources), and 'resourcefulness' (engaging citizens via mobile apps and supporting shared mobility). The briefing recommends that Calgary and Edmonton undertake full vulnerability assessments, promote compact urban forms, and implement multi-modal networks to mitigate climate risks.
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This summary is written by a language model reading the source document. It is not the publisher's words and is not a substitute for the original.
Document type: Briefing