Health Canada public consultation

Health Canada has initiated the development of health-based air quality objectives (HBAQOs) for pollutants that may be found in ambient air and that may be harmful to human health. HBAQOs are intended to assist all levels of government and other air partners in assessing and communicating risk, and in informing the need for risk management actions.

HBAQOs are non-regulatory values that represent a concentration of a pollutant, averaged over a recommended timeframe, below which health effects are not expected. They take into consideration short-term and long-term exposure to pollutants, and that specific populations may be disproportionally impacted due to their health status, the community they live in or other factors. For particular health effects, certain pollutants do not have concentrations that are considered without any health risk, in which case proposed values resulting in negligible health risk are provided.

This presentation by Julie Bourdon-Lacombe, Head of air quality assessment section at Health Canada, provides an overview of the sources of and exposure to arsenic from ambient air in Canada, reviews the most up-to-date information on the health effects of arsenic, and outlines the approach used to derive proposed short-term and long-term HBAQOs. HBAQOs undergo expert peer-review prior to public consultation to ensure that they are protective and based on sound science.

Link to the public consultation: Proposed health-based air quality objectives for arsenic - Canada.ca

View the event poster or presentation slides

Health Canada’s statement regarding the final report of the Rouyn-Noranda Arsenic Biomonitoring Program, published on June 9, 2026, by Intrinsik. A question asked by a participant concerns this statement.