“But You Never Know in These Kind of Things”: Contingent Factors for Environmental Justice at the Beare Wetland, Scarborough, Canada

Abstract

Abstract Critics have reproached conventional environmental justice research for a limited conceptualization of justice that discounts structural factors as a primary cause of environmental injustice. This article reiterates and strengthens the structural critique by focusing on the corollary of structural environmental injustice, instead exploring the confluences, difficulties, and uncertainties of achieving environmental justice amidst an indifferent political and social environment. Drawing on examination of historical, planning, and promotional documents combined with analysis of two semi-structured interviews, the article explores the contingencies, negotiations, and unexpected events that led to the partial achievement of environmental justice at the Beare Wetland in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada while noting the structural challenges to environmental justice that remain. The article ends with a discussion of the wider implications for social and environmental justice.