Health Canada has followed up the climate change impact assessment carried out by Natural Resources Canada with a report of their own: Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity. For some bizarre reason, they have decided not to post it on their website. Rather, it is available through email upon request. To simplify matters, here it is:
- Cover
- Synthesis
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Assessment Methods
- Chapter 3: Vulnerabilities to Natural Hazards and Extreme Weather
- Chapter 4: Air Quality, Climate Change and Health
- Chapter 5: The Impacts of Climate Change on Water-, Food-, Vector and Rodent-Borne Diseases
- Chapter 6: Health Impacts of Climate Change in Quebec
- Chapter 7: Health Impacts of Climate Change in Canada’s North
- Chapter 8: Vulnerabilities, Adaptation and Adaptive Capacity in Canada
- Chapter 9: Conclusion
- Glossary
When I have the chance, I will merge them all into one file and post it.
[Update: 19 August 2008] Here is the whole thing as one 9 megabyte PDF: Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity.
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What Report?
August 2, 2008 · Filed Under Politics
So the Conservatives quietly released a Health Canada report on the effects of climate change. Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity gives an in depth assessment of the potential threats to Canadians. So why isn’t the government giving the release of this report proper presentation? Instead of simply posting the report (or at least the summary) on the Health Canada website, citizens have to contact the department to have a copy delivered to them. Further, while other publications are available free of change, it’s unclear whether this is the same for the climate change report.
Canadian government mimics US “quiet release” method for major climate and health report
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Health report to get ‘low-profile’ release
BILL CURRY
OTTAWA — The Conservative government is planning a quiet release for a major Health Canada report that warns of the harmful impact of climate change on the health of Canadians, particularly the young, elderly and aboriginals.
Tories deny burying release of climate-change report
By Steve Rennie, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - The Harper government is dismissing suggestions that it tried to play down the release of a major report warning about serious health effects from climate change.
Are the health impacts analysed for the whole of Canada, or merely for Quebec and the North? If the latter, then what was the rationale for selecting those cases to investigate?
In the synthesis, it says:
“Chapter 6, Health Impacts of Climate Change in Quebec, and Chapter 7, Health Impacts of Climate Change in Canada’s North, are assessments of vulnerabilities to health in two regions of the country; both cover the full scope of the issues addressed in this Assessment. These regions were selected because of the availability of data, case studies and research expertise.”
That still seems very vague. Is there reason to believe that these cases are representative of the health impacts elsewhere in Canada? If not, then it seems that the government still lacks the information required to properly assess what they purport to have analysed i.e. the relationship between human health in Canada and climate change.
I expect that the federal government is largely reliant upon the provinces for data, as in so many other matters.
Under Canadian constitutional law, health is primarily the responsibility of the provinces.
Re: Photo for this post,
This was a photo taken of us after a cranky lady demanded we “get out of her garden”. The incident was spurred by my eager recruit of the boys into her backyard to see the pond behind it.
Pwnd by the bitchy neighbourhood hag.
(her “garden” consisted of a couple white boring flowers that we were neither in, nor on).
She was indeed uncharitable to unexpected visitors.
Canada’s “world class” census and data agency is operating in a leaking, power-failure-prone building that faces “severe” new challenges due to climate change, according to an engineering report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.
The report says the main Statistics Canada building, a 56-year-old two-storey brick building housing 1,700 workers at the Tunney’s Pasture government complex in Ottawa, is already suffering weather-related failures that will eventually threaten its structural integrity.
It says there is a “strong probability of a severe effect due to climate change” including failure of outer brick walls due to moisture penetration as rainfall increases in both frequency and severity in a changing climate.
Published by authority of the Minister of Health.
Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity
Également disponible en français sous le titre :
Santé et changements climatiques : Évaluation des vulnérabilités et de la capacité d’adaptation
au Canada
This publication can be made available on request on diskette, large print, audio-cassette and braille.
For further information or to obtain additional copies, please contact:
Publications
Health Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9
Tel.: 613-954-5995
Fax: 613-941-5366
E-Mail: info@hc-sc.gc.ca
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Health, 2008
This publication may be reproduced without permission provided the source is fully acknowledged.
HC Pub.: 4038
Cat.: H128-1/08-528E
ISBN: 978-0-662-48365-6
Emily, I’m sorry your unexpected host was “bitchy,” but it is generally considered good form to politely ask permission before trespassing.
What you saw as a delight to share, a lawyer might see as an “attractive nuisance,” should some trespasser drown themselves. Landowners are constantly aware of the legal risks our litigious society exposes them to.
In a perfect world, we could all wander wherever we wished, we would all be respectful of each other’s use of land, and we would all take responsibility for the consequences of our actions.
However, it’s an imperfect world, strewn with abuse of commons, which resulted in these inconveniences called “property” and “boundaries.”
Your “cranky lady” might have simply been a jerk, or might have had visions of boys drowning in her pond and her ending up in court, or might have been thinking the area would be strewn with litter after your departure. Cut her some slack, and ask permission next time before trespassing.