Commission urged to examine health impacts
Several health, community, and environmental organizations has issued a statement urging the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to investigate the City of Ottawa’s continued routing of heavy trucks through the downtown core.
The call came from groups that previously highlighted concerns over health risks from truck emissions in an open letter to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe over a year ago. These include Ecojustice, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Friends of the Earth Canada, Action Sandy Hill, and the Lowertown Community Association.
According to their new statement, Ottawa’s trucking by-law allows heavy trucks to pass through densely populated areas, leaving thousands of residents exposed to truck pollution for extended periods.
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The groups went on to allege that routing heavy trucks through the downtown core disproportionately affects vulnerable communities and violates the Ontario Human Rights Code.
“An inquiry by the Ontario Human Rights Commission would allow for the development of human rights-based solutions and could compel action from the city, and potentially the Province of Ontario, to address the discriminatory impacts of truck pollution in Ottawa,” the groups said.
Health risks posed by heavy truck emissions
Diesel emissions from heavy trucks are said to be the most hazardous among vehicle emissions, posing severe health risks to those within 50-250 metres of the roadway.
Dr. Sehjal Bhargava, a physician and board member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said these risks include “cancers, cardiovascular disease and neurological effects.”
“Redirecting trucks away from heavily populated areas is a matter of human health and environmental justice,” she said.
Ecojustice lawyer Bronwyn Roe added that “dangerous air pollution is an everyday lived reality” for those living along Ottawa’s trucking route, with communities s
“Heavy emissions from the trucking route have posed unacceptable health risks to some of the most vulnerable in our community for decades,” said Roe. “It’s time the City of Ottawa cleaned up its act.”