Thursday, June 8, 2017 Twenty-five years after Canada proposed the idea of World Oceans Day to the United Nations, people around the world are still celebrating on June 8. It's also a time to reflect. Twenty-five years after Canada proposed the idea of World Oceans Day to the United Nations,
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Kinder Morgan’s IPO: Risk > Reward
Thursday, June 1, 2017 Kinder Morgan’s risky Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion just got a whole lot riskier, just as the company was taking steps to offload some of that risk onto Canadian investors. That is why this week, we released a new legal brief outlining the legal risk for the
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Wading into the science on sea level rise – BC lags behind
Thursday, May 18, 2017 If you’ve been following BC’s sea-level woes extra closely, you’ll know that planning for a sea-level increase of “1 metre by 2100” has become a kind of mantra for local governments and others responsible for planning and readying our communities. While a one metre increase in
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: What’s your vision for Canada’s ocean in 2020?
Thursday, May 18, 2017 Oceans Day 2017 is approaching, and like many Canadians, we think it’s the perfect time of year to celebrate the seas. To pump up the excitement for West Coast’s marine program and for Oceans Day this year, we’re launching our #Oceans20 initiative. Oceans Day 2017 is
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Why the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act is worth celebrating
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 On May 12, 2017, the federal government introduced Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, for first reading in Parliament. You could say that the Act has been almost half a century in the making. So, is it a win? Keeping in mind the old adage,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: #BCElxn2017 is good news for the environment
Wednesday, May 10, 2017 There will be a lot of discussion for weeks, maybe months, about who won the 2017 BC election (and who lost). But regardless of which party won, we think we can say that the environment is a big winner. Yawn. Late last night, I watched the
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: What does it mean for Chevron when glaciers have the right to sue?
Wednesday, May 3, 2017 Last month, several major natural features were recognized – by governments and courts – as legal persons. First, the New Zealand government enacted a new law declaring the Whanganui River a legal person. A couple of days later, the Uttarakhand High Court, in India, granted personhood
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Reigniting a spirit of outrage on Earth Day
Saturday, April 22, 2017 In honour of Earth Day, Staff Counsel Linda Nowlan looks at how the green movement can – and must – do more to keep the planet alive and thriving, as proposed by Peter Dauvergne in his book, Environmentalism of the Rich. Today, April 22, we
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Expert Panel report on environmental assessment review – an overview
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 On April 5th, the federal government released the report of its Expert Panel that has been reviewing Canada’s environmental assessment (EA) processes. The report, Building Common Ground: A new vision for impact assessment in Canada, sets out a bold new vision of how the government should
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Climate in the 2017 BC Election
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 In an earlier post we compared the BC Liberal and BC NDP Climate plans in advance of the upcoming election. Now that the BC Green Party has released its climate plan, Staff Counsel Andrew Gage provides an update to our scorecard evaluating the platforms of all
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Will the Canadian government “restore lost protections” for navigable waters?
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 The Liberal Party of Canada was elected in part on the basis of a promise to restore lost environmental protections – including reviewing the “elimination of the Navigable Waters Protection Act” in order to “restore lost protections and incorporate more modern safeguards.” On March 23rd the
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: United we beat Enbridge: Celebrating the defeat of Northern Gateway with the people of Haida Gwaii
Monday, April 10, 2017 West Coast Environmental Law was happy to accept an invitation to attend a celebration in Gaaw (Old Massett) on March 25, co-hosted by Haida Gwaii CoAST and the Council of the Haida Nation, to mark the defeat of the Enbridge Northern Gateway project. Staff Counsel Gavin
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Solidarity with the Secwepemc: Yes to a healthy environment, no to Ajax Mine
Friday, April 7, 2017 On April 1st, the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund team had an opportunity to visit some of our grantees in Secwepemc territory/Kamloops and participate in a declaration of solidarity and support for the Secwepemc decision to reject the proposed Ajax mine. The ceremony brought together Indigenous communities,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Wresting authority from the regulators: The proper role of the National Energy Board in environmental assessments
Friday, March 31, 2017 It is not every day that we have an opportunity to effect transformative legal change. It is natural, then, that when last summer a number of cabinet ministers announced the review of four key federal environmental laws, West Coast Environmental Law – along with other lawyers,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Where there’s a will, there’s a way – Canada’s commitment to marine protected areas
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 “Canadian governments can and must do much more to protect Canadian ecosystems and biodiversity,” says the latest report from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development – a must-read for anyone concerned about biodiversity protection in Canada. Staff Counsel Linda Nowlan breaks
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Identifying Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Areas – a red herring?
Thursday, March 23, 2017 Baynes Sound and Lambert Channel – the marine area between Vancouver Island, Denman Island and Hornby Island – has been identified as an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) because of its importance as spawning habitat for herring. But does that mean it gets any extra
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: A solemn promise: Indigenous perspectives on the Douglas Treaties
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 West Coast's RELAW Project Lead Maxine Hayman Matilpi shares stories from a recent conference that brought together historians, legal scholars and Indigenous people who are direct descendants of the signatories to the Vancouver Island Treaties (aka Douglas Treaties). The topic spurred rich conversations about the ways
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Back to schools: Canada’s fish happy with new report, look forward to amended law
Monday, March 13, 2017 Fish across Canada breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the top recommendation from the Parliamentary Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ report reviewing the Fisheries Act: to reinstate strong habitat protection for fish. Fish across Canada breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: A Kinder Morgan snapshot
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 It’s been a while since we’ve updated you about Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker expansion project (KMX). A lot has happened in the past few months, so here’s a snapshot of where we’re at. It’s been a while since we’ve updated you about Kinder
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Inviting local governments to demand climate accountability
Friday, March 10, 2017 On Thursday, February 23, Staff Counsel Andrew Gage appeared before the City of Victoria’s Mayor, Lisa Helps, and its Council to talk about climate accountability. This is just one of many conversations we’re having with city councils, councillors, municipal staff and others following up on our
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