Wednesday, July 11, 2012 On Saturday, July 7 2012 the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Squamish Nation signed onto the Save the Fraser Declaration. In doing so, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish joined more than 100 First Nations in asserting their own Indigenous Laws which effectively ban Tar Sands projects throughout their territories, and
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Burns Bog, Strathcona Park cases ask: who owns BC’s protected areas?
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 Two legal cases are underway, funded by West Coast Environmental Law, argue that the government has a responsibility to manage protected areas for the benefit of BC's public and future generations. Burns Bog v. Canada, which challenges the impact of the South Fraser Perimeter Road on
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Six Questions for your MP about Bill C-38
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 With Bill C-38 before the Senate, Members of Parliament (MPs) have gone home from Ottawa. There they will doubtless receive a warm welcome from their constituents, as well as questions about the Budget and why attacks to Canada's environment and the laws that support it were
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Canada’s Fisheries Act after Bill C-38
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Postmedia reporter, Mike DeSouza, has recently released several slides from Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff explaining how the current Canadian Fisheries Act is intended to protect fish habitat, including a slide clearly setting out the current legal protection for fish habit. Bill C-38, if fully implemented,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Time to turn our transportation pyramid right-side up
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Copenhagen is the world’s poster-child for bicycle-friendly transportation. But that’s partly because they have aggressive goals for what transportation should look like. Check out Copenhagen’s Transportation Pyramid, which prioritizes biking and walking over all other modes of transportation. In essence the Copenhagen Transportation Pyramid turns North
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Will Bill C-38 offload fisheries to the provinces?
Friday, June 15, 2012 Bill C-38, the Budget Implementation Bill, with its various amendments to Canada’s environmental laws, is a complicated statute, with many long-term implications that have not been fully explored. One of the most significant, however, has to be the possibility that the Bill may have the effect
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Groundswell of Citizen Action for Nature and Democracy
Wednesday, June 13, 2012 On June 4th, the Black Out Speak Out day of action, over 550 organisations, representing millions of citizens, darkened our websites in a symbolic show of support for nature and democracy, while tens of thousands of Canadians tweeted, blogged, signed petitions and wrote their decision-makers. Media
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The rise and fall of the Animal Health Act
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Campaigns to ensure that BC’s environmental laws protect the environment and allow democratic voices to be heard can take years. Or, as we saw last week, they can result in a win for the environment in a matter of weeks. The government has dropped its Bill
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Two reports on pesticide risks
Thursday, May 31, 2012 When a politician says that his report is about the science, and not about the politics, it’s probably wise to take that claim with a grain of salt. That’s made crystal clear by two studies released in the last month about the risks of pesticides –
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: On importing U.S. “Job-Killing” rhetoric
Monday, May 28, 2012 The phrase “job killing regulation” is beginning to enter Canadian discussions about environmental laws and Bill C-38 – the Budget Implementation Bill which would repeal several laws that protect nature, democracy and marginalized society. This phrase has been embraced by politicians in the U.S. who are
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Who is silenced by the animal health law?
Friday, May 25, 2012 You may have read about a provision in the proposed Animal Health Act which would make it illegal for journalists or scientists to report on animal illnesses at fish farms or other agricultural operations. But the Minister of Agriculture, who is responsible for the Bill, insists
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Pesticide Incidents confirm that domestic pesticides pose risks
Friday, May 11, 2012 As the BC Legislature’s Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides grapples with the question of whether to ban the use of cosmetic pesticides, a recent report by Health Canada seems to confirm that humans, pets and the environment have something to fear from such pesticides. The Pesticide
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: When the Landman is forced to pay legal costs
Thursday, May 10, 2012 In northeastern BC, the “Landman” is a representative of an oil and gas company, who shows up at your door when the company wants to drill an oil or gas well on your property. Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of say in it. Even the
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Why we should all Black Out and Speak Out
Monday, May 7, 2012 The Black Out Speak Out campaign wants to mobilize concerned citizens, businesses and organizations across the country to speak out for Canadian democracy and our environment on June 4th. Our websites will be going black for a day as a symbolic start of a major online
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Special treatment for oil industry means poor environmental laws
Thursday, May 3, 2012 The roll-back of Canada’s environmental laws – legal environmental protection that Canadians have worked for decades to put in place – give the oil and gas industry a host of changes that they've been asking for for years. While other industries will benefit, It may be
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Limiting fish protection to “serious harm” is a serious problem
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 The federal government’s Budget Implementation Bill, Bill C-38, recently introduced in Parliament, is self-servingly called the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act 2012, which is ironic because most Canadians recognize that you can’t have long-term prosperity by destroying wild stocks of fish. If you agree, you’re
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Who is silenced under Canada’s new environmental assessment act?
Friday, April 27, 2012 With the release of the proposed new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, we can say a bit more about the possible impact of changes to environmental assessment on the right of the public to participate in assessments. Our initial analysis of Bill C-38 suggests that there
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: “Directly affected” silences hunters, fishers, landowners … and environmentalists
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, recently stated that proposed changes to Canada’s environmental laws will (if passed) prevent anyone who is not “directly affected” from speaking at environmental reviews. But public participation has always been central to environmental assessment. "Directly affected" is a narrow legal test
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The goal: “One process” that complies with Canada’s international commitments
Friday, April 20, 2012 20 years ago Canada signed the Rio Declaration, committing us to carry out "environmental impact assessment, as a national instrument … [on] proposed activities that are likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent national
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: How should we slap back at SLAPPs?
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 In the wake of recent David vs. Goliath lawsuits by Taseko Mines against the Wilderness Committee and Mainstream Canada against Don Staniford, it's timely to ask how we can best defend freedom of speech. Staniford's lawyer, David Sutherland, proposes a legal change that would prevent corporations
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