Land use is the visual echo of the inequalities present in the city.
For many people living in Montreal and other cities across Canada, being able to spend time at local parks has been a saving grace since COVID-19 and public health regulations emerged. Parks have served as spaces where people can connect with nature and their social networks at a safe distance, while enjoying some semblance of normalcy during the ongoing pandemic. The social, mental, and physical benefits of city parks have been crucial during a time of such uncertainty and restriction. But what if access isn’t so simple?
While data shows that access to urban green spaces in general has a significant effect on health outcomes, it also shows that inequitable access to these green spaces tends to overlap with race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. This echoes research on inequities in urban park access across countries in the “global north,” which argues that racial and ethnic minorities, along with people of lower socioeconomic status, generally have less park space as well as parks in poorer conditions. This is an issue of environmental injustice, as one’s access to community green spaces shouldn’t be affected by race and social conditions.
To give an example of how city parks are linked to health equity, these green spaces help counter the urban heat island (UHI) effect whereby urban infrastructure absorbs and retains heat. This poses a public health risk during heatwaves, which data shows are increasing in cities, including in Montreal. The burden of these adverse conditions often falls upon lower-income urban neighbourhoods, as they are generally subject to higher temperatures, poorer housing quality, and less access to social and material resources (including air conditioning and public cooling centres). Despite this, recent climate plans proposed by the Montreal and Quebec governments do not address the needs of low-income or racialized communities.
Montreal describes itself on its official website as: “a thriving metropolis with a heart of green, Montreal balances big-city comforts and culture with an abundance of sublime parkland.” While many are fortunate to experience the city in this sense, this glowing claim overlooks the fact that the city doesn’t distribute resources among boroughs equally, including access to “sublime parkland.” Unsurprisingly, these are the poorest neighbourhoods of the city, with the largest concentration of racialized persons, such as Montreal Nord. These are also the communities which have been at the epicenter of COVID-19 infection and deaths.
We can’t discuss the issue of green space inequity in the context of COVID-19 without also touching upon policing. In 2021, the municipal government ignored citizen campaigns to reduce funding for the police in favour of community services such as mental health resources and chose to instead allocate more money for the SPVM than the previous year. The result of this decision can be observed in the significant police presence in parks across the city as they seek to enforce social distancing rules. This raises concerns as racial and social profiling by the SPVM was already a pervasive issue and, given how covid-related fines have been found to disproportionately impact black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities in Montreal and other Canadian cities, this has evidently amplified. The surveillance and lingering presence of the Montreal police in community spaces are what many living in poorer communities in Montreal were already subjected to prior to the pandemic.
Research has shown how racialized youth in poorer neighbourhoods are frequently targeted and regarded with suspicion by police just for existing in these spaces, even though they may provide an escape from cramped housing. In the context of the ongoing pandemic and social distancing rules, layered with inadequate housing and inadequate government investment in community green spaces in low-income neighbourhoods, these conditions exemplify systemic discrimination whereby the health and well-being of Montrealers are affected on the grounds of their race and socioeconomic status.
The municipal government has a duty to address this, and recommendations have emerged from those living and working in these communities as to how to begin. The OCPM report on racism and systemic discrimination calls for collaboration between the City and representatives from the boroughs, relevant municipal services, civil society members and researchers to address issues relating to territorial disparity. Namely, the interconnected issues of food deserts, deficient public transportation, and green space inequity in low-income neighbourhoods. This is crucial as environmental justice doesn’t just involve the equal distribution of resources but also procedural justice, in terms of fair and inclusive decision-making, and interactional justice, such as the provision of culturally appropriate amenities which enable positive engagement with community green spaces for marginalized groups. Montreal en Action and the OCPM call on the City of Montreal to act on these issues which perpetuate health inequity and environmental racism and ultimately contribute to a system of inequality.