By Krystal-Anne Roussel, Co-Director and Legal Counsel, AEL Advocacy; Lead Author, CPCHE-CELA Environmental Scan
As the evidence continues to mount about the harmful health effects of poor indoor air quality (IAQ), especially on children, attention is turning to the environments where children spend much of their day: schools and child care settings, whether facility or home-based. From mould and radon to volatile organic compounds and diesel fumes from idling buses, the air students, educators, and staff breathe indoors is often far from healthy.
To better understand available legal and policy tools to ensure healthy IAQ in learning settings, the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment (CPCHE) and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) undertook an “Environmental Scan of Indoor Air Quality Support Programs for Schools and Child Care Settings in Canada.” Released as part of the 2024 Healthy Environments for Learning Day (HELD) campaign, this scan sheds light on what tools are available—and how they’re being (or not being) used to protect indoor air in educational settings.
This blog highlights key findings from the CPCHE-CELA scan and explores how existing legal and policy mechanisms, if better leveraged through equity-focused, intersectoral action, can help ensure healthier indoor air for all children in Canada.
Why Indoor Air Quality Matters in Learning Settings
Children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution. Their lungs are still developing, and they breathe more air relative to their body weight than adults. Exposure to indoor pollutants—such as dust, mould, and chemicals—can impair respiratory function, worsen asthma, and impact cognitive development.
The consequences are not just personal but systemic: poor IAQ can lead to a range of health issues, including respiratory problems, allergies, and reduced cognitive function, with negative implications for academic performance and attendance rates. Vulnerable communities and individuals, such as children from low-income families and those with respiratory conditions, are at a higher risk of experiencing IAQ-related health challenges.
What the CPCHE-CELA Scan Found
The CPCHE-CELA scan confirmed what many families and educators already suspect: while we have a growing body of science and clear public health guidance about the risks of poor IAQ, our policies and programs are not keeping pace.
However, tools to address IAQ risks do exist—and many fall within current legal and regulatory frameworks. The challenge lies in using these tools and doing so in ways that are effective, consistent and equitable.
A Patchwork of Jurisdictions
Responsibility for ensuring IAQ in schools and child care settings is split across various levels of government:
- Federal: Under the Constitution Act, the federal government can regulate IAQ through criminal law powers that protect public health and the environment. It also has jurisdiction over schools and child care settings on First Nations reserves. Health Canada plays a leading role in setting IAQ guidelines and conducting research, while federal funding programs can support infrastructure improvements. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety also provides resources and guidance on IAQ issues in workplaces.
- Provincial/Territorial: Provinces and territories are primarily responsible for health, education, and child care services, and thus play a critical role in regulating IAQ in schools and child care settings under their jurisdiction.
- Municipal: Local governments often enforce building codes, property standard bylaws, and public health legislation. They may also play a frontline role in inspections and responding to complaints.
- Indigenous: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis governments oversee education and child care services in their communities—often under conditions of chronic underfunding, remote infrastructure, and jurisdictional complexity.
This shared responsibility makes collaboration essential—and highlights the need for clarity, coordination, and capacity at all levels of government.
Legal and Regulatory Tools: What’s in the Toolbox?
CELA and CPCHE identified five main legal and policy mechanisms that could be better used to improve IAQ in learning settings:
1. Occupational Health and Safety Laws
Workplace safety laws exist in every province and territory and apply to workers in schools and child care settings. These laws often include a “general duty clause” that requires employers to provide a safe and healthy work environment. IAQ falls within this scope, and measures such as proper ventilation and mould prevention may be mandated under these rules. While not designed to protect children, the robust application of these laws would improve IAQ for everyone in learning settings, including staff and children.
2. Public Health Legislation
Public health laws may recognize IAQ as a public health concern, and often grant public health authorities the power to investigate hazards, issue orders, and work with institutions to remedy concerns. These laws can be especially powerful when IAQ affects vulnerable populations such as children.
3. Building Codes and Regulations
Provincial/territorial building codes and regulations may include requirements pertaining to IAQ, such as ventilation standards and guidelines for construction and renovation.
4. Education Laws
Education legislation in some provinces includes explicit provisions about maintaining safe and healthy learning environments, including mandates for maintaining IAQ. For example, in Prince Edward Island, principals are legally responsible for ensuring students’ health and safety—potentially creating enforceable obligations related to IAQ.
5. Human Rights Legislation
Poor IAQ may disproportionately affect individuals with asthma, allergies, or other disabilities protected under human rights laws. If IAQ issues result in unequal access to education or services, families and workers may have legal grounds to seek accommodation or enforcement action.
Key Gaps and Challenges
Despite the availability of legal tools, the CPCHE-CELA scan identified significant gaps:
- Lack of tailored guidance: Most IAQ programs offer general advice that fails to address the specific needs of learning environments—such as high occupancy rates, use of art and science supplies, and young children’s higher susceptibility to harm.
- Funding gaps: No dedicated funding streams exist for IAQ in child care settings, especially home-based care. Schools must often choose between IAQ upgrades and other urgent needs.
- Limited technical support: Few provinces offer accessible monitoring programs, staff training, or public outreach tailored to educational facilities.
- Equity concerns: Indigenous communities and socio-economically marginalized groups often face the highest IAQ risks and receive the least targeted support. Child care settings—especially unlicensed or home-based—are often overlooked.
Toward an Equity-Focused, Intersectoral Response
A core message of the CPCHE-led national HELD campaign is that improving IAQ in learning settings requires coordinated, cross-sectoral action. Solutions must ensure no child is left behind. That means:
- Prioritizing funding and support for under-resourced schools, Indigenous communities, and child care settings at highest risk.
- Ensuring that First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities have the means to design and implement IAQ initiatives that meet their specific needs and are culturally aligned.
- Proactively supporting informal and home-based child care providers with resources tailored to their settings and capacity.
- Aligning strategies across public health, education, labour, infrastructure, and environmental agencies to avoid siloed responses.
What Can Be Done Now: Opportunities for Action
Poor IAQ puts children’s health, learning, and overall well-being at risk. In classrooms and child care settings—particularly in communities facing systemic barriers—the quality of the air children breathe can have lasting impacts on their future.
As echoed in the Collective Call to Action to Ensure Healthy Indoor Air Quality In Schools and Child Care Settings, endorsed by over 40 partner organizations nationwide, the CPCHE–CELA scan identifies five key opportunities that governments, agencies, and communities can take immediately:
- Develop IAQ guidelines tailored for schools and child care, including home-based settings, with specific attention to operational realities and children’s vulnerabilities.
- Create dedicated funding streams to support IAQ improvements, especially in under-resourced and socio-economically marginalized communities.
- Expand technical assistance through training, monitoring programs, and hands-on support for administrators, educators, and caregivers.
- Integrate equity into all programs and policies, ensuring that those facing the greatest IAQ risks get prioritized support.
- Improve communication and accessibility by ensuring that funding opportunities, resources, and guidance documents are easy to find, understand, and use—especially for small or informal child care providers and remote communities.
Everyone can play a role in creating change. Concerned parents, teachers, child care professionals, and community members can take meaningful action by:
- Raising awareness about the health impacts of poor indoor air quality and the importance of clean air in children’s spaces
- Advocating for investment from municipal and provincial governments to improve indoor air quality in learning environments
- Connecting and collaborating with schools and child care settings to identify and implement air quality solutions
- Championing equity to ensure no community is left behind in efforts to improve indoor environments, for example by prioritizing under-served communities that often face the greatest environmental health risks and have the least access to resources for improvement
CPCHE and CELA encourage educators, parents, policymakers, and public health professionals to stay engaged and prepared to participate in upcoming opportunities—such as the anticipated public consultation on draft federal indoor air quality guidelines for schools—to help ensure that future standards reflect the needs of children and learning environments across Canada.
Improving indoor air quality is not just about cleaner air—it’s about giving all children the best chance to learn, grow, and thrive in safe and healthy environments. The tools are already in the toolbox. Now it’s time to use them.
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