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302 documents from Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Bill S-5 and the Modernization of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA)
The document outlines recommendations from environmental and health groups to enhance Bill S-5 and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). Key proposals include reinforcing the right to a healthy environment, improving public disclosure of chemical ingredients in products, establishing strict timelines for chemical assessments, and limiting the use of Confidential Business Information (CBI) claims to increase transparency regarding health and environmental risks.
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Document type: Briefing
Backgrounder Transit, Active Transportation, and Public Health
The document outlines the public health benefits of shifting from car-dependency to active transportation (walking and cycling) and public transit. It links these modes of travel to reductions in cardiovascular risk, improved mental health, and lower rates of traffic fatalities. Environmentally, it highlights the role of transit and active travel in reducing traffic-related air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to meet climate goals. Finally, it discusses how transit-supportive infrastructure reduces the financial burden of transportation for low-income individuals and improves access to essential health services.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Patient Factsheet Get Healthy & Fit with Active Transportation
The document promotes active transportation—human-powered travel like walking and cycling—as a way to integrate physical activity into daily life. It highlights health benefits, including reduced risks of chronic diseases and obesity, as well as mental health improvements. Economically, it notes that active transport is a low-cost alternative to car ownership, which can cost approximately $10,000 annually. Environmentally, it argues that active transport produces no greenhouse gases or air pollution, unlike cars. Finally, it emphasizes that active transportation increases community access for the 20-40% of people who cannot drive.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Backgrounder: Alberta Coal Plants, Climate Change & Human Health
The document details Alberta's heavy reliance on coal for electricity, noting that in 2014, 68% of the province's electricity came from coal, with six plants emitting approximately 43 megatonnes of greenhouse gases in 2011. It links these emissions to broader climate trends in Canada, where average temperatures rose by 1.7°C between 1948 and 2012. The text outlines severe global health risks, including an expected 250,000 additional annual deaths between 2030 and 2050 due to heat, malnutrition, and disease. Specifically for Albertans, it predicts increased heat waves, smog, and extreme weather, citing the 2013 floods that displaced over 100,000 people and cost over $5 billion.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Backgrounder: Phasing Out Alberta's Coal Plants
The document details the environmental and health impacts of Alberta's coal-fired power plants, noting that in 2014, 68% of the province's electricity was generated from coal. It highlights that these plants are significant sources of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter, mercury, and greenhouse gases, with 2011 emissions totaling 43 megatonnes of GHG. The authors propose a transition plan to reach 0% coal reliance by 2030, increasing renewable energy to 40% and reducing electricity demand through energy efficiency by 20%. The strategy discourages increased reliance on stand-alone natural gas due to production-related GHG emissions and suggests mechanisms for phase-out such as legislated closures, lifespan caps, or carbon pricing.
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Document type: Fact sheet
What doctors want you to know about gas-powered data centres and human health
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment warns that gas-powered data centres in Alberta pose significant health risks, including air pollution from nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, noise pollution, and contamination from PFAS. The document highlights that these facilities place additional strain on water security and already overburdened rural healthcare systems, particularly affecting vulnerable populations such as children, older adults, and those with chronic illnesses.
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Document type: Fact sheet
DivestInvest for Health
The document argues that continued investment in fossil fuels contradicts the medical commitment to 'do no harm' and provides a five-step process for health organizations to transition their assets. It highlights the financial risk of 'stranded' carbon reserves and the economic opportunity of renewable energy, citing the fossil fuel sector as the worst performing in the S&P500 since 2007. The guide recommends using the Carbon Underground 200 to identify divestment targets and suggests reinvesting at least 5% of portfolios into climate solutions.
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Document type: Guide
Factsheet: Why Phase-Out Alberta’s Coal-Fired Power Plants?
The document outlines the environmental and health risks associated with Alberta's reliance on coal-fired power plants, noting that in 2014, 68 per cent of the province's electricity was generated from coal. It highlights that these plants are major sources of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and mercury, leading to increased respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Using the Illness Cost of Air Pollution (ICAP) model for 2008, the document estimates that coal plant pollution caused over 100 deaths and cost approximately $300 million per year in health impacts. Additionally, it links coal plants to climate change, noting they were responsible for 18% of Alberta's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2011, and warns of future climate-related health risks for Albertans, such as increased heat waves and flooding.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Briefing note: Future-proofing BC buildings toward net-zero
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment calls for British Columbia to update its Building Code and Energy Step Code to prohibit new gas connections by 2022 and set deadlines for existing buildings to switch to clean energy. The briefing highlights that buildings cause 12% of the province's greenhouse gas emissions and that natural gas use contributes to health risks, including childhood asthma from indoor nitrogen dioxide and lung disease linked to hydraulic fracturing in the Peace region. It notes that retrofitting a home from gas to electric currently costs over $20,000, making the 'future-proofing' of new buildings a cost-effective necessity to meet the province's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
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Document type: Briefing
Global Health Professionals Call for Transition Away from Coal
Health professionals from 30 countries call on G7 nations to phase out coal power to reduce air pollution and climate-related health risks. The document highlights that coal plants release sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury, contributing to millions of premature deaths and significant healthcare costs. It advocates for renewable energy and energy efficiency as viable alternatives, noting successful phase-outs in regions like Ontario and the UK.
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Document type: Statement
Green Offices Toolkit
The Green Offices Toolkit offers a comprehensive framework for Canadian health care providers to implement sustainable office practices. It outlines a phased approach to 'greening' a clinic, starting with the establishment of a 'Green Team' and the definition of a vision and mission. The document provides specific technical advice on reducing energy and water consumption, managing toxic substances like mercury and pharmaceuticals, and minimizing waste through recycling and composting. It also emphasizes the role of physicians as community leaders who can influence patient health and environmental behavior through education and by modeling sustainable lifestyles.
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Document type: Guide
TAKE ACTION AGAINST FOSSIL FUEL GREENWASHING
The document outlines a strategy for challenging fossil fuel misinformation in Canada by filing complaints with Advertising Standards Canada and the Competition Bureau of Canada. It provides a detailed comparison of these two avenues, step-by-step filing instructions, and templates for writing complaints. Additionally, it offers guidance on reporting deceptive ads to social media platforms and Google, while highlighting common 'red flags' of greenwashing such as vague language and misleading imagery.
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Document type: Guide
HEALTH AND TAILINGS PONDS THE TARSANDS ARE A HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CRISIS
The document highlights the severe health and environmental risks associated with the 300 square kilometers of tailings ponds in northern Alberta, noting unusually high cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan and the presence of toxic chemicals like arsenic and benzene. It criticizes the industry for underestimating air pollution and failing to report spills, while calling for an Indigenous-led health study and a moratorium on tailings pond growth.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How environmental policies lower health costs
The report estimates that the Coal Phase-Out Regulations, Clean Electricity Regulations (CER), Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Regulations, and Methane Regulations will provide between $18 billion and $21 billion in direct health benefits by 2050. These savings, primarily derived from respiratory benefits of reduced emissions, are equivalent to the cost of 2,200 to 2,500 doctors over a 36-year period. The regulations target pollutants including particulate matter, benzene, mercury, lead, NOX, SOX, PM2.5, and VOCs.
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Document type: Executive summary
CAPE’s Healthy Recovery Plan
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and other health organizations call for a green and just economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. They advocate for investments in renewable energy, sustainable transportation, and nature protection to meet Paris Agreement targets, arguing that such actions would save over 112,000 lives by 2050 and increase clean jobs to 1.5 million. The letter emphasizes the need for a recovery that addresses the disproportionate impacts of climate change and systemic racism on Indigenous Peoples.
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Document type: Statement
integrity-survey_meo-89185b6bfb6bf8c5.pdf
The survey indicates high levels of public concern regarding disinformation and hate speech on social media, with strong support for government and corporate interventions to ensure accuracy during extreme weather events and increase algorithmic transparency.
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Document type: Report
Modernizing the Canadian Environmental Protection Act — Canada’s pollution and toxics law
The document calls for the modernization of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999, through an improved Bill C-28. It emphasizes the need for stronger regulation of toxic substances, including bans on carcinogens and hormone disruptors, and the implementation of chemical labelling for consumer products. The briefing highlights the disproportionate impact of toxics on marginalized groups, such as Inuit women and children, and lower-income Canadians, arguing that a strengthened CEPA is essential for a green and just recovery from COVID-19.
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Document type: Briefing
LNG, Fracking and Healthcare System Costs in British Columbia
The document argues that the LNG and fracking industries in British Columbia increase healthcare costs by exacerbating climate change, causing local health issues, and contributing to physician shortages in regions like Dawson Creek. It calls for a moratorium on new fracking, stricter pollution regulations, and a phase-out of natural gas in buildings by 2025.
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Document type: Statement
Health Advisory — LNG and Fracking in British Columbia
A group of doctors and nurses issued a health advisory to the British Columbia government, warning that the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) poses severe risks to public health. They highlight the acceleration of climate change via methane leaks, air pollution causing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, water depletion and contamination, and adverse community impacts including mental health issues and human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. The advisory calls for a moratorium on new fracking, stricter pollution regulations, an end to natural gas tie-ins in buildings by 2023, and support for workers and Indigenous communities transitioning to a clean-energy economy.
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Document type: Statement
Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals Factsheet: Climate Change – Science, Drivers & Commitments
The document details the role of human activity in increasing atmospheric CO2 and the resulting global temperature rise, which reached 1oC above pre-industrial levels by 2017. It compares the projected impacts of 1.5oC and 2oC warming, noting that 2oC would expose over one third of the world's population to severe heatwaves and increase water stress by 50%. To limit warming to 1.5oC, the text argues for a 45% reduction in emissions from 2010 levels by 2030 and a transition to net zero by 2050. While the Paris Agreement establishes a framework for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the document states that current targets are insufficient and would likely lead to 3oC of warming by 2100.
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Document type: Fact sheet