The tragic events that transpired in this community resulted in a provincial inquiry that led to the introduction of new laws strengthening drinking water protections in Ontario.4 The Walkerton Inquiry In October 2001, following public outrage over the lack of transparency and accountability for the events that transpired in the community, the province launched the Walkerton Inquiry to investigate. [...] Making the Links in Southwestern Ontario 4 At its conclusion in the summer of 2001, Justice O'Connor published a two-part report outlining the causes of the tragedy and provided recommendations to ensure the safety of drinking water in Ontario. [...] They also emphasize greater consultation with the public in doing so: "Consultation with the public needs to be full, open, and continuous … to address the gaps and failings in process, the overlapping authorities among various ministries which results in less than best practice, the declining value of aggregate in the marketplace likely due to oversupply, the health impacts of every stage of the. [...] In 2019, the UN's Special Rapporteur, Baskut Tuncak, visited Canada and made several stops in municipalities, and rural and Indigenous communities across Ontario to understand the implications for human rights of the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes in the country. [...] On September 3, 2021, the Ontario Divisional Court held that the Government of Ontario broke the law when it failed to comply with the public consultation requirements of Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights.164 However, the Court found the changes to the Environmental Assessment Act were lawful due to a “statutory exception” in Bill 197, which retroactively exempted the changes from the consult.
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