Air Pollution and Environmental Justice in the Peel Region

Abstract

There is a large body of research in the United States that demonstrates that social deprivation is associated with higher air pollution (NO2) exposure. In Canada, there is less research on the relationship between social deprivation and air pollution exposure. The Regional Municipality of Peel in Ontario is directly west of Toronto with a unique composition of dense urban, suburban, and rural geographies. Peel Region is also a major freight and transportation corridor, which contains a major international airport, and many industrial facilities, all of which are known NO2 sources. We hypothesize that individuals at a higher social deprivation level may be collocated or in proximity to these pollutant sources and are therefore disproportionately exposed to urban air pollution. We further hypothesize that these social deprivation measures (those who are most vulnerable to this exposure) will change over time. This analysis will be conducted using land use regression data of annual NO2 sourced from the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) as well as Canadian Census Data for the years (2016, 2011, 2006, 2001, 1996 and 1991). The analysis will employ time series models at the dissemination area level to determine if specific census variables indicate a higher vulnerability to urban air pollution over time. The results of this analysis may be used to inform planning and air pollution mitigation policy in the Peel Region.