PoPNB Highlights New Brunswick's Push for Clean Indoor Air at World Health Network Clean Indoor Air Expo
by Ryan Murphy
Last week, the World Health Network hosted “the world’s first all-virtual Clean Indoor Air Expo,” highlighting innovative technologies and the people that are working to expand access to clean indoor air.
The list of presenters was a “who’s who” of air quality and epidemic experts.
An epidemiologist, health economist, Chief of COVID Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, and member of the Covid-19 Mortality Expert Committee for the World Health Organization.
A Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, Fellow of ASHRAE and the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate, and Chair of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force.
A Branch Chief of the Research Branch at the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A professor of Chemistry; and Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, of the American Association for Aerosol Research, and of the American Geophysical Union.
An Assistant Professor at the Institute of Civil Engineering at University of the Philippines - Diliman; and Research Fellow for the UP Building Research Service, and for the UP Centre for Air Research in Urban Environments.
An engineer with a Ph.D. in Thermodynamics and Fluids, and a Master's in Applied Sciences; Adjunct Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at McGill University; and Independent International Contractor for the United Nations Office of Project Services.
A librarian and a high school teacher from New Brunswick.
How did we get to the point where two New Brunswick parents - educated, but not experts - found themselves in such esteemed company? What led the organizers of an international conference to invite a librarian and a teacher from our small province to join world-renowned speakers on a worldwide stage?
I think we answered those questions during our presentation. I hope to do the same here, for you.
On March 29, 2023, Gilles LePage, MLA for Restigouche West, rose in the New Brunswick Legislature and introduced Motion 36 - urging the government “to modernize New Brunswick’s air quality laws and standards with a goal of bringing forward a strengthened Clean Air Act and modernized regulations.” Some jurisdictions had introduced - or spoken of someday introducing - motions or legislation or other governmental-things to codify the lessons (some of us have) learned from the last few years.
But to have New Brunswick lead the way? Incredible.
We needed to make that motion so popular that no one could object to it.
So we did.
Nearly 200,000 people have seen that post. It was covered by provincial media. It attracted international attention. A lot of folks had done a lot of work to bring the importance of clean air to the population of New Brunswick, and the significance of this Motion to the world.
On June 8, 2023, Motion 36 passed. Unanimously.
And on top of that, we now had over an hour of video of New Brunswick politicians from all parties discussing the importance of indoor air quality as it relates to airborne transmission.
That started with regular citizens - parents, educators, and community members. Many of us were mentioned by name during that Motion’s debate. It really did start with folks who knew we could do better, and realized that we must.
Seeing all MLAs standing in support of improving indoor air quality was a huge milestone in our fight. (I wish “fight” was not the right word, but it is. Many of us have gone up against institutional and bureaucratic blockades that actively prevent folks from helping to clean the air in this province.)
We celebrated that day, but we woke up the next morning and kept pushing.
Thankfully, others joined.
The New Brunswick Teachers’ Association is in a special position where advocacy on behalf of their Membership and profession can also improve the lives - and, in this particular case, health - of New Brunswick children, and those children’s families.
At the request of the NBTA, I wrote a brief outlining what schools, and the NBTA membership within those schools, could be doing to further the ideals contained in Motion 36 and support the relevant recommendations in the “Post-Covid-19 Condition in Canada” report published by the Office of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada.
Much of the brief drew on a previous report commissioned by the Government of New Brunswick. That report (“Recommendations on the Use of Portable Air Filtration Systems in New Brunswick Classrooms: A COVID-19 Focus,”) - often cited to teachers, parents, and media as the reason HEPA donations are banned and Corsi-Rosenthal boxes must be removed - actually recommends, several times, that supplementary filtration should be added to all rooms.
One week after I submitted that brief, the NBTA Executive passed the following motion:
THAT NBTA WORK WITH RELEVANT PARTNERS TO LOBBY GNB TO MAKE TRANSPARENT HOW AIR QUALITY IN SCHOOLS IS CURRENTLY MEASURED AND MAKE REPORTING AND TRANSPARENCY AROUND FINDINGS READILY AVAILABLE.
In September, the New Brunswick Medical Society joined the fight. Dr. Linda Dalpé introduced a motion at their Annual General Meeting, which read:
THAT THE NBMS LOBBY THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW BRUNSWICK TO SUPPORT HEALTHY LIVING IN SCHOOLS BY ADVOCATING FOR IMPROVED VENTILATION SYSTEMS WITHIN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.
It passed.
And still we keep pushing.
This week, the NBTA hosted its first provincial session on School Air Quality as part of the NBTA NetworkED initiative. I hope, as I believe the NBTA Executive hopes, that this program will continue to push for improved air quality in New Brunswick schools and increased transparency on - and accountability of - the people, systems, and policies that govern it.
In the New Brunswick Legislature, Robert Gauvin, MLA for Shediac Bay - Dieppe has introduced Motion 6, urging the government to table a strengthened Clean Air Act this session, and to present a formal plan of capital investment to bring air quality in all nursing homes up to current departmental design standards. Only 27% of nursing homes now meet the decade-old requirements.
New Brunswick has gained international recognition. Motion 36 did that. Parents, and educators, and doctors, and engineers, and researchers, and communications folks, and a whole bunch of citizens working together did that. We will continue to put New Brunswick in an international spotlight.
We are up against systems bigger and more powerful than even our mightiest Right To Information request. We need those with power over budgets and policies and planning committees to realize that our children should not get sick from the air in schools, and our elderly should not get sick from the buildings that become their homes.
We will keep pushing.
If you would like to view our presentation at the World Health Network’s Clean Air Expo, you can find that video here. There are many other interesting and informative presentations available at the same link.
Resources mentioned in our presentation are available on our Virtual Exhibit webpage, available here.
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