Sheila Cole honoured by
Nova Scotia Environmental Network
UPdate Summer 2007

Receiving an award is an honour. Having an award created in your name is doubly so. Sheila Cole, a long time environmental health activist, received both honours in January when the Nova Scotia Environmental Network (NSEN) presented her with the first Cole award for Excellence in Environment and Health. The award was named in recognition of Sheila’s dedication to environment and health over several decades. It was presented at a NSEN Roundtable in January 2007.

Sheila has been a strong and persistent voice in the environmental movement, urging both politicians and environmentalists to recognize the importance of environmental impacts on human health.

In presenting the award, Veronica Sherwood, past executive director of NSEN noted, “I have known Sheila for approximately eight years and she has an environmental record as long as my sleeve. She is absolutely vigilant about what she cares about and believes in: social justice, equity, the environment and, in particular, the relationship between the environment and human health.”

Sheila is presently a board member of the Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia (EHANS). Sheila serves as EHANS’ representative to the Nova Scotia Environmental Network and co-chairs the Canadian Environmental Network’s Health Caucus. In February 2007, Sheila Cole and Sandra Madray of Chemical Sensitivity Manitoba, made a joint presentation to the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources on approaches to chemical regulation under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).