Secrecy Is Toxic

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City of Toronto

The City of Toronto’s adoption of a local Community Right To Know (CRTK) strategy and bylaw is a major recommendation left unfulfilled in Council’s Environment Plan Clean, Green and Health outlined in 2000.

In 2007, following research and consultation with stakeholders, Toronto Public Health has developed a framework for an environmental reporting program that would require institutional, commercial and industrial operations in the city to report use and emissions of 25 priority chemicals. These 25 chemicals occur in the Toronto environment at levels that pose a risk to health. They include carcinogens such as cadmium, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.

The Medical Officer of Health will report to the Board of Health on a draft reporting bylaw and implementation plan in late spring 2008. A proposed bylaw that:

a) requires reporting to the City the use and emissions of specified substances of priority health concern;

b) requires reporting for the following 25 substances:

particulate matter (PM) 2.5

manganese

mercury

nickel

nitrogen oxides (NOx)

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs,)

c) identifies reporting thresholds for the specified toxic substances;

d) identifies categories of facilities to which reporting requirements will apply;

e) enables facilities to report data using existing web-based mechanisms, such as the system used to collect data for Environment Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI);

f) makes reported information accessible to the public, except where access is limited under applicable laws such as the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (MFIPPA); and

g) allows reporting facilities to provide specified contextual information with the data, such
as pollution prevention activities.

Once the draft bylaw is complete and accepted by the Board of Health it will then be forwarded to City Council for their consideration and vote. Write or email (pdf 26 KB) your local councillor and Mayor Miller and demand that they support the Community Right to Know bylaw!

Toronto Public Health – Community Right to Know Link (Accessing Environmental Information)

Toronto Public Health Reports

CRTK Resources (pdf 71 KB)