Glyn Fox
Last updated on May 9, 2023
"My career highlight is being responsible for setting and continually improving the science-based environmental quality standards and risk assessment procedures of the Province's Contaminated Sites Regulation."
Dr. Glyn Fox received the Legacy Premier’s Award in 2016 and was inducted into the Hall of Excellence the same year. Dr. Fox provided expert toxicological and risk assessment advice and expertise to the ministry for over 27 years. He also led both the former Science and Standards Section of the Environmental Management Branch and the Science and Standards Unit of the Land Remediation Section for more than 20 years.
Dr. Fox has an unparalleled ability to make the complex understandable. He is a founding father of the Contaminated Sites Regulation that was introduced in 1997. One of the most contentious aspects was the development of environmental standards for identifying contamination and establishing remediation targets for soil and groundwater. Dr. Fox led the joint Ministry of Health/Ministry of Environment Contaminated Sites Standards Task group charged with developing novel, scientifically defensible ways to calculate these standards.
He subsequently explained the complex methodologies for the standards to non-technical multi-stakeholder audiences at dozens of consultation sessions in the lead up to the Regulation. His skill at communicating complex ideas in ways that are meaningful to his audience was instrumental in garnering support for the Province’s new Regulation.
Dr. Fox was also influential in the successful work of the Trail Blood Lead Task Force, which resulted in a targeted methodology for focusing available resources on the most significant risks and the most sensitive individuals, young children. The approach was unique and innovative using biometrics (children’s blood lead levels) as a remedial target for the regulation of contaminated sites and establishing risk management priorities and monitoring programs across Trail and surrounding areas. This led to significant reductions in lead exposure of area residents, including children, with a 300 percent decrease in children’s blood lead levels in Trail.
His respectful communication style combined with his tireless work with stakeholders and other levels of government resulted in British Columbia leading Canada in the remediation of contaminated sites. Those sites can now be safely repurposed for residential, commercial or industrial activity.