On September 14, 2026, NDP Critic for Indigenous Affairs and the Environment Leah Gazan issued the following statement:
Prime Minister Carney’s recent announcement on rolling back the Impact Assessment Act is yet another ruthless attack on democratic processes, Indigenous constitutional rights, and critical environmental protections...
On September 14, 2026, NDP Critic for Indigenous Affairs and the Environment Leah Gazan issued the following statement:
Prime Minister Carney’s recent announcement on rolling back the Impact Assessment Act is yet another ruthless attack on democratic processes, Indigenous constitutional rights, and critical environmental protections - profoundly undermining every Canadian’s right to a safe and dignified life.
Just last week, Carney’s Liberal government continued to gut environmental safeguards that were put in place to protect the environment and human health from the risks posed by major development projects. They have removed some of the most pollution-intensive projects from the Impact Assessment Act, eliminating the federal government’s environmental oversight and allowing for projects of “national interest” like the West Coast Oil Pipeline to be fast-tracked. The Liberal government, along with Premier Danielle Smith, have identified the new pipeline without obtaining consent from the Indigenous peoples on whose lands these projects are being built. The lack of consultation is a direct violation of the government’s requirement to obtain Free, Prior and Informed Consent from Indigenous Peoples, and a breach of the international standards outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Aboriginal, Treaty Rights and Title that are protected in the Canadian Constitution.
This backslide on environmental protections and human rights comes after a summer of people across Canada choking on smoke, communities and homes being burnt to the ground, and evidence that First Nations people in Treaty 8 are facing deadly and disproportionate cancer risks from tar sands operations, tailings ponds and spills.
We cannot let this become the new normal.
Just last week, a federal report warned that Canada will face intensified and irreversible climate change under current climate policies and targets. Unfortunately, in response to this crisis, Carney dismantled the few remaining environmental protections, which will push us deeper into a climate catastrophe.
Carney stated that we cannot afford to respond to the climate crisis. But when Carney says “we,” he means his buddies in big oil who want to rake in profits without consequence, letting his friends in the corporate elite line their pockets while the rest of us are left behind to pay the costs.
These costs are not felt equally. Last month, Statistics Canada reported that Indigenous peoples withstand the worst of the climate crisis, facing disproportionate impacts of wildfires and overall higher rates of displacement from climate disasters like flooding.
During another summer of record-setting wildfires that burn down homes, displace families and fill our air with smoke, instead of dealing with the impacts to people across Canada, Carney slashed jobs at emergency response centres and chose to invest in war bombs instead of water bombs. The scientific evidence makes it clear that what we can’t afford is a climate crisis that poses infinite risk to our public infrastructure, health, and safety and the ongoing failure of the Liberal government to act.
How many more families will have to watch their homes burn and lose everything they’ve worked so hard for before this government puts people ahead of corporate interest?
What we know is that the energy economy is unstable and fuels short-term boom-and-bust jobs that are built on the violation of Indigenous people's constitutional rights. These resource extraction jobs rely on man camps, which have been shown to increase the risk of gender-based violence against Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse peoples.
Make no mistake: the backsliding on Indigenous rights and environmental protections are interconnected and undermine human rights and our ability to ensure that we have a liveable planet for future generations. We must stand together in the face of these escalating attacks and defend everyone’s right to a safe and dignified life in a liveable world that puts people over the interests of the richest one percent in Canada.
I write today in response to the Indigenous Liberal Caucus Official Statement from September 3, 2026, regarding the spread of residential school denialism through an online campaign. I share the concerns outlined in the statement, and I too am deeply concerned about the terrifying and escalating attacks that endanger survivors, our families and our nations who continue the hard work of truth-telling.
On July 23, 2026, NDP Critic for Indigenous Affairs and for the Environment Leah Gazan Issued the Following Statement:
The outbreak of the fires in Northern Ontario last week is a visceral reminder of the immediate Canada-wide threat posed by the climate emergency, as another devastating wildfire season is ravaging dozens of communities, especially First Nations communities.
On July 20, 2026, NDP Critic for Indigenous Affairs Leah Gazan Issued the Following Statement: