Ingrid Waldron

Waldron was born in Montreal. Her parents are from Trinidad.[1] She studied psychology at McGill University.[1] She moved to the United Kingdom for her graduate studies, earning a master's degree in Intercultural Education: Race, Ethnicity and Culture at the UCL Institute of Education.[1] Waldron earned her doctoral degree in sociology and equity studies at the University of Toronto in 2002.[1][2] Her PhD research examined the impact of inequality and oppression on the mental health of Black women, help-seeking, and African indigenous knowledge in mental health.[2] In 2003 she was awarded an Ontario Women's Health Scholars Award to conduct research at the University of Toronto's Centre for Women's Health.[1] After completing her postdoctoral research. Waldron spent several years as a lecturer at the University of Toronto and McMaster University.

In 2008 Waldron joined Dalhousie University as an assistant professor. She was promoted to associate professor in 2016. Waldron studies the impact of discrimination on the physical and mental health of African Nova Scotians, Miꞌkmaq and refugee communities in Canada. She has studied the health impacts of environmental racism in these communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since 2012 she has directed the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health Project (ENRICH) project.[3] She started the project after hearing about how a landfill in Lincolnville, Nova Scotia was impacting residents' health.[4] ENRICH uses community engagement, multi-disciplinary partnerships, training and government consultations to support local people in addressing the health effects associated with environmental racism.[5] ENRICH addresses both aspects of environmental racism; spatial (i.e. the inequitable health risks associated with living close to environmentally hazardous activities) and procedural (i.e. the mechanisms that perpetuate these activities). ENRICH developed a research team composed of members across Nova Scotia, hosted a series of workshops entitled “In Whose Backyard? – Exploring Toxic Legacies in Mi’kmaw & African Nova Scotian Communities” and consulted with communities on existing policies.[6][7]

In 2015, Waldron worked with Lenore Zann to develop a bill that addressed Canadian environmental racism. The bill, An Act to Address Environmental Racism in Nova Scotia (#111) was introduced into Canadian legislature in April 2015.[8][6] A second bill, Redressing Environmental Racism, was introduced in 2018.[9]

Waldron's 2018 book There's Something In The Water explored environmental racism in indigenous and black communities.[10] It considers settler colonialism as the overarching theory, and explores how environmental racism is compounded by other forms of oppression.[10] The film version was directed by Elliot Page[lower-alpha 1] and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[11] The film had three screenings at the Atlantic International Film Festival.[12] Variety said the film "makes a very convincing case for protections against environmental harm being applied equally to all members of society".[13]

Waldron is Chair of the Dalhousie University Black Faculty and Staff Caucus. She is researching how women of colour in Halifax deal with mental health issues.[14] She has identified that black women feel that white doctors and mental health practitioners do not understand how racism impacts their lived experience.[14]