A group of Canadian lawyers have been advocating for small advances in Canadian immigration policy to accommodate the realities of climate impacts on human mobility. Like most countries, Canada does not recognize climate migrants under its current immigration law, but the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers points to past disasters – like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and 2004 South East Asian tsunami - as example of times the government offered special directives to persons seeking refuge.
As increasing numbers of Central Americans fleeing to US southern borders are denied access by the US government’s now two-year use of Title 42 - the Trump-era expulsion policy of asylum seekers - a smaller, but increasing number of migrants have continued onwards to Canada.
In November, CBC Radio’s The Current dedicated a special show to climate migrants, speaking to Climate Refugees’ own Amali Tower and Warda Shazadi Meighen, along with profiles of several migrants and climate change, migration and legal experts on the challenges and barriers to migrant protection.
Meighen is co-author of a report on climate migrants the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers released last year. In it, the association encourages legislation to adopt a legal definition of a ‘climate migrant’, and points to six policy options within existing Canadian immigration law that could be applied to persons fleeing climate impacts across borders.
Many of the policy options available would actually be within the bureaucratic domain of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, offering many attainable migrant protections outside of an arduous legislative process.
Domestically, Canada’s own populations are feeling the impacts of climate change as well. Canadian Indigenous populations have long suffered from colonization under the premise of development, and climate change presents lasting legacies of policies past. Even though Indigenous populations contribute the least to emissions, their strong ties to the environment mean they are among some of the first to feel the impacts of climate change.
As we’ve detailed in this previous Spotlight, climate change is threatening entire Indigenous communities across the US and the situation isn’t much better for Indigenous communities in Canada, where climate change further exacerbates deeply rooted inequities.
Indigenous communities like the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis know displacement all too well but displacement as a result of climate change is a new form which is quickly becoming common place. In 2021 hundreds of First Nations residents were displaced twice in British Colombia as a result of wildfires and floods which are both being attributed to climate change. Wildfires in Alberta also impacted the largest Métis settlement in 2019, temporarily displacing thousands. Elsewhere in Canada’s Arctic region, Inuit communities are struggling with the slow onset effects of climate change as thawing permafrost is forcing entire communities to relocate.
“Typically, First Nations are economically stressed at the best of times – so when a disaster comes along, they have no resources to help mitigate the impact.”
Watch Amali Tower at Simon Fraser University’s February panel discussion
Aside from displacement, climatic events like floods, landslides, wildfires and increasing temperatures within Canada are threatening food security and health for Indigenous populations. The previously mentioned flood in 2021 that impacted First Nations residents, is also expected to have affected wild salmon runs in the region. Salmon spawns were washed out of the river during the surge of water and it is feared logs and debris left behind after the flood will block seasonal migrations of the salmon this fall. With salmon both a staple of the First Nations diet and culture, food security and over all health start to become a pressing issue when Indigenous communities think of climate change. This same scenario of Indigenous communities losing their traditional food sources is playing out all across Canada and has begun to raise serious concerns over food security.
This notion that food security and health will be as pressing of challenges as natural hazards for Indigenous communities coincides with another Spotlight exposing the risks these communities face as a result of climate change. It is also supported by a recently published report from the Canadian government - Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action. The report assesses how climate change will affect the health of the Canadian population with a chapter dedicated specifically to analyzing Indigenous health.
Throughout the assessment a similar trend appears, climate change will disproportionately impact the health of Indigenous communities.
“The health impacts of climate change on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples are interconnected and far-reaching. They result from direct and indirect impacts of climate change that exacerbate existing inequities, and affect food and water security, air quality, infrastructure, personal safety, mental well-being, livelihoods, and identity, as well as increase exposure to organisms causing disease.”
While the Canadian government outwardly projects that it is seeking to ratify Indigenous inequity, thus far little progress has been made. To move forward in addressing the challenges climate change imposes on these communities, future initiatives, climate adaptation plans, and possible relocations must be Indigenous-led. A top-down approach by the Canadian government in these matters is simply a modern replication of colonialism that perpetuates these inequities. Indigenous people are widely acknowledged to be under represented in the Canadian government ultimately resulting in these communities having zero input in the policies that directly impact their lives and land. Until governments around the world recognize the wealth of traditional and local knowledge Indigenous communities have and empower them to shape policy, these inequities will continue to persist.