黄色直播

In March 2020 Netflix subscribers will have a chance to see the documentary聽There's Something in the Water聽that moved audiences and critics at the聽聽(Toronto International Film Festival ) and FIN (Atlantic International Film Festival) last fall.

Shelburne activist Louise Delisle speaks with Ellen Page (R) (Photo: still from There's Something in the Water)

黄色直播 Faculty of Health associate professor Ingrid Waldron co-produced the documentary with聽 actress/filmmaker Ellen Page, Ian Daniel, and Julia Sanderson.

The film is based on Dr. Waldron's book of the same name which聽examines the legacy of environmental racism and its health impacts on Indigenous and Black communities across Canada

Page and Dr. Waldron connected on social media after the actress had tweeted an endorsement of the book 聽while the Nova Scotian-born Page, was researching environmental racism in her home province. 10 months later, that collaboration turned into a powerful documentary which was viewed at sold-out shows at international film festivals and received standing ovations.

Dr. Waldron has collaborated with Mi'kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities and their allies to create awareness about and address cases of environmental racism in Nova Scotia through research, publications, legislation and other means.

While she sees these聽 efforts as moving closer to the goal of achieving environmental justice in Nova Scotia, the Netflix release of the film will serve to magnify and connect on a larger scale. 聽

"It will not only elevate and amplify the voices of affected communities in Nova Scotia on a global scale, but will also help to build bridges and solidarity between affected Nova Scotians and communities around the world that are on the frontlines of environmental justice struggles and movements," said Dr. Waldron.

Dr. Waldron draws connections to environmental racism and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The rural Black and Indigenous communities that I work with in Canada are already suffering worse health outcomes related to respiratory illness like asthma and higher rates of chronic disease like cancer because where they are living, in many cases next to toxic waste sites," Dr. Waldron said."The corona virus crisis is highlighting a similar phenomenon to environmental racism where those who are marginalized based on income, socio-economic status, disability, age and other factors聽 are going to be disproportionately impacted by the 聽pandemic ," she continued.

Ingrid 聽Waldron is an associate professor in Dal Health鈥檚 School of Nursing with a cross appointment to the Department of Psychiatry. Her book聽There鈥檚 Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities聽is published by聽. It was awarded the 2020 Society for Socialist Studies Errol Sharpe book prize and the 2019 Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing.

Find out more:

聽Dr. Ingrid Waldron鈥檚 website
聽(Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health)

Media:
Washington Post:聽
Halifax Examiner:聽Time Magazine online:聽