Whereas in 2019 BC enacted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found that Indigenous women and girls experienced violence as a result of industrial work camps in proximity to their communities; And whereas large infrastructure projects mandated or approved by the Province are in the planning, construction, operation and closure phases across BC; And whereas significant numbers of temporary workers are required to reside in or near communities to execute these projects, and the provincial government has committed to addressing the public safety concerns of British Columbians: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that provincial regulation of temporary workforce accommodation be expanded beyond basic servicing and environmental requirements, and that monitoring, evaluation and accountability be expanded for specific recommended mitigation measures to minimize impacts on local communities including but not limited to gender-based violence.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy While the Environmental Assessment Office EAO is not responsible for the industrial camp regulation, the EAO can add legally binding conditions to an Environmental Assessment Certificate to mitigate the effects of Temporary Workforce Accommodations TWA. As a result, the EAO has taken steps to introduce mechanisms for oversight, enforcement, and monitoring to improve health and safety at or near work camps. In response to reports on the risk of violence in industrial projects, which disproportionately impacts Indigenous women and girls, the EAO is undertaking a series of actions to support mitigating gender-based violence stemming from TWAs. This is supported by the changes made to the Environmental Assessment Act in 2018, which requires assessment of a projects potential effects on First Nations communities and rights and disproportionate effects on distinct populations to be considered, including gender-specific effects. In 2020, the Environmental Assessment Office EAO issued guidance on assessing how a project may affect communities and vulnerable populations. The EAO has made a series of commitments to the upcoming provincial Gender-Based Violence GBV Action Plan, which includes but is not limited to: - GBV Standard Conditions in Environmental Assessment Certificates: Developing a new GBV-related standard conditions for Environmental Assessment Certifications that will apply to any future industrial projects with a large temporary workforce accommodation, which are approved to proceed under the Environmental Assessment Act 2018. The condition will require a gender and cultural safety plan to be developed, to better protect the safety and security of women, girls and 2SLGTBQIA who live or work in nearby communities or in the temporary workforce accommodation. - Enhanced training for compliance and enforcement CE officers: Developing GBV-related training to increase CE officer knowledge of and ability to monitor new measures put in place to prevent gender-based violence when they are inspecting work camps will also be rolled out. - Researching Environmental Assessment and GBV: The EAO is initiating a research project into new approaches to mitigate gender-based violence through the environmental assessment process, which will include engagement and consultation with local communities that are impacted by temporary workforce accommodations. The Industrial Camp Regulation, under the Public Health Act, is limited to outlining basic health and safety requirements, such as sanitation standards and communicable disease prevention, for employer provided accommodation of workers. That said, the Ministry of Health works closely with the EAO and other partner ministries to develop polices to minimize unintended consequences of large infrastructure projects on communities through cross agency committees. As noted above, this collaborative work may be realized in specific permit conditions outlined by the EAO.