Health Caucus

Environmental Sensitivities Month 2011

May is environmental sensitivities month! With over 1 million Canadians diagnosed with environmental sensitivities, members of the Health Caucus are committed to raising awareness around this growing issue. 

Events:

May 12, Montreal - Environmental Health: Seeds of Change
Conference organized by the Environmental Health Association of Quebec and the Institut des sciences de l’environnement, UQAM
Keynote Speaker: Richard Nahas MD CCFP

May 28, Montreal - Toxic Trespass: Effects on Human Health
Conference organized by the Environmental Health Association of Quebec
Speaker: John Molot MD CCFP

Petition: Sign the Environmental Health Association of Quebec's petition to have the Quebec National Assembly declare the month of May as Environmental Sensitivities awareness and education month and May 12 as Environmental Sensitivities Day in Quebec.

Fifth World Urban Forum

In March 2010, UN Habitat hosted the Fifth World Urban Forum (WUF5) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The theme, Right to the City: Bridging the Urban Divide, was richly reflected in hundreds of educational sessions with ongoing opportunity for cross‐cultural exchange of ideas and best practices from almost every country in the world.

Sheila Cole, Co‐Chair of the Health Caucus, attended WUF5 and also presented a session on Community Engagement in Local and National Decision‐Making. This event focused in depth on the subject of Multi‐Stakeholder Decision‐Making Processes. See the delegate reports from WUF5 below:

• WUF5 - An overview
• Highlights from sessions attended at WUF5
• Report: Community Engagement in Local and National Decision‐Making session

RCEN-Safe Environments Programme Consultation on Stakeholder Engagement

In cooperation with Health Canada, the RCEN coordinated a consultation and ENGO position paper on stakeholder engagement within Health Canada’s Safe Environments Programme (SEP). The consultation took place in Ottawa on January 16, 2007.

This Consolidated ENGO Report on the outcomes of the consultation provides input on SEP priorities and gives feedback on specific policies and initiatives in the SEP program areas.

Fourth World Urban Forum

The World Urban Forum (WUF) was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. Since WUF3 in 2006, the world population has shifted from being in majority rural to a majority urban.

Recognizing the success of the RCEN Health Caucus at WUF3, the caucus was selected to host a networking event at the Fourth World Urban Forum, which took place in November 2008 in Nanjing, China. In addition to hosting a Networking Event, entitled A Culture of Sustainability: Multi-Stakeholder Process and morning NGO sessions, Arciris Garay-Arevalo was chosen to be part of the official Canadian delegation to WUF4 and the small delegation of Health Caucus members took part in multiple conferences, many of which are discussed in the reports found below:

• WUF4 Delegate Report (Sheila Cole)
• WUF4 Delegate Report (Jim Elliott)
• WUF4 Delegate Report (Arciris Garay Arevalo)

Third World Urban Forum

In June 2006, the WUF3 Secretariat (Human Resources and Social Development Canada) and Environment Canada sponsored 18 ENGOs to participate in the Third World Urban Forum (WUF3) that took place in Vancouver, BC. In addition to participating fully in the many activities and events scheduled during the week, these delegates also organized several RCEN events at WUF3:

• Full Synopsis of WUF3
• Visit our WUF3 web page for more information