The Emergencies Act sets a dangerous precedent- as does Bill 1 in Alberta, and we should not be encouraging their precedent-setting use. It is clear that the systems and leaders have not been listening. Legislation that allows the system to reproduce the same old issues is not going to bring
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Northern Currents –: Leftists should abandon the term “Anthropocene” in discussing the climate crisis
With the facts in front of us — with even further evidence that corporations overwhelmingly produce the majority of our global greenhouse gas emissions — it’s clear that responsibility for the effects of climate change is not universal like the Anthropocene narrative claims. The post Leftists should abandon the term
Continue readingNorthern Currents: Freedom stops when work starts
Share this article: Dmitri Sotnikov Dmitri Sotnikov is a software developer with an interest in progressive politics. Dmitri believes that we must strive for a world with justice and equality for all. Find Dmitiri on Twitter Freedom can be seen as the measure of personal agency an individual enjoys within
Continue readingNorthern Currents: Conspiracy Theories and Conservatism: A Love Affair (Part 2)
Share this article: Daniel Collen Dan Collen is a freelance writer who covers fringe political movements and conspiracy theorists. Lately, he’s been writing about Canada’s growing anti-mask movement.Find Dan on Medium and Twitter dancollen.medium.com/ Read part one here. Suspending Your Beliefs is Partisan The way that I see it with
Continue readingOttawa’s Mandate to Promote Fish Farming at Odds with Tough Regulation
Does Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFOs) science advisory process have integrity when tasked with answering questions on salmon farming? Tags: salmon farming DFO fisheries and oceans canada Cohen Commission scams kristy miller Alexandra Morton
Continue readingB.C.’s Narrow Fracking Review Doesn’t Serve the Public Interest
By Amy Lubik, Ben Parfitt and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip Just two days before B.C. Energy Minister Michelle Mungall announced a completely inadequate “independent scientific review” of fracking in our province, an international team of scientists issued a stark warning about the human health risks associated with the natural gas industry’s
Continue readingThe Myth of the Echo Chamber
Elizabeth Dubois, University of Ottawa and Grant Blank, University of Oxford “Information warfare” may be a top concern in the next Canadian election cycle, as a report on a workshop by CSIS suggests, but some fears about how people get their political information and the impact of social media are overstated. In
Continue readingViolence Against the Land Begets Violence Against Women
By Melina Laboucan-Massimo, David Suzuki Foundation Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change Fellow. This piece originally appeared on the David Suzuki Foundation website. On International Women’s Day, I doubt industrial projects like Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline are top of mind for most. But there is a direct link between natural
Continue readingHow the Media Failed Colten Bushie
By Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Journalism, University of British Columbia and Mary-Lynn Young, Associate professor, Graduate School of Journalism, University of British Columbia What can the events surrounding Colten Boushie’s death, the trial verdict and its media coverage tell us about the role of journalism and
Continue readingThe Pitfalls of Short-Circuited Project Reviews
Mark Winfield is professor of environmental studies at York University and co-chair of the university’s Sustainable Energy Initiative. This piece originally appeared on Policy Options. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball announced in late November a public inquiry into how the economically disastrous Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project was approved. In reality, there is
Continue readingWe Exposed Sockeye Salmon to Diluted Bitumen. Here’s What We Found.
Amid continued controversy, Kinder Morgan is poised to break ground on its $7.4 billion Trans Mountain Expansion Project. When the pipeline is complete, it will triple the volume of diluted bitumen, or Dilbit, that reaches Canada’s Pacific shoreline to 890,000 barrels per day. Tags: Trans Mountain Pipeline Kinder Morgan diluted bitumen
Continue readingCanada’s North Needs Many Things, But Oil and Gas Drilling Isn’t One of Them
By Edward Struzik This article was originally published on The Conversation Canada. Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod was right when he issued a “red alert” in November and called for an urgent national debate on the future of the Northwest Territories. His peers, the premiers of Nunavut and the Yukon Territory,
Continue readingHow Legal Is the “Bloodwater” Dump in B.C.?
By Maryann Watson, Marine Campaigner and Stephanie Hewson, Staff Counsel at West Coast Environmental Law Clouds of blood pumped straight from a fish plant in B.C. made worldwide headlines last week after diver Tavish Campbell published a shocking video revealing the practice. Since then, people from all over the province have
Continue readingCatherine McKenna Says Canada Has a Climate Plan. Prove It.
By Ross Belot for iPolitics. “The first thing you have to do is have a plan; you have to implement your plan, and then you have to ratchet up ambition. That’s part of the Paris agreement, and that’s what we’re absolutely committed to doing.” That’s Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in an interview she
Continue readingWhat Does the Future Hold for Vancouver Island’s Last Standing Old-Growth Forests?
By Torrance Coste and Mark Worthing Last March, we travelled to northern Vancouver Island and hosted four public meetings about logging in the span of five days. The topics? The loss of old-growth rainforests, raw log exports, and how unsustainable forestry is impacting ecosystems and communities up and down the Island. The
Continue readingFreedom of Information Seriously Suffered Under BC Liberals’ Last Years: Report
By Andrew MacLeod for The Tyee. For two years leading up to the May election, the government of British Columbia regularly broke its own law for responding to freedom of information requests, a report from the province’s information and privacy commissioner found. “Overall, I am frustrated to see that government routinely
Continue readingB.C.’s Last Climate ‘Leadership’ Plan Was Written in Big Oil’s Boardroom (Literally)
By Shannon Daub & Zoë Yunker. Newly uncovered documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveal the cozy relationship between the fossil fuel industry and the last B.C. government went even further than suspected — all the way to inviting industry to directly craft the province’s climate “leadership” plan. Let’s rewind for
Continue readingSite C to Test B.C. NDP’s Commitment to Indigenous Rights
By Zoë Ducklow for The Tyee. Recent experiences with the federal government have left Prophet River First Nation member Helen Knott wary of government promises. So while she and other Indigenous people are excited about NDP provincial government commitments to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, words
Continue readingWhy We’re Taking Canada to Court Over That Promise of ‘World-Class’ Oil Spill Response
By Chief Councillor Marilyn Slett and Councillor Jaimie Harris, Heiltsuk Nation. This piece first appeared on The Tyee. On Oct. 13, 2016, shortly after 1 a.m., Kirby Corporation’s tug the Nathan E. Stewart and its barge ran aground in the heart of Heiltsuk territory. Less than eight hours later it had sunk, and 110,000 litres of
Continue readingWhat’s Up with LNG in B.C.? Three Things You Need to Know
By Maximilian Kniewasser and Stephen Hui. Under Premier John Horgan and the NDP, British Columbia’s government is no longer promoting liquefied natural gas exports as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to snag 100,000 jobs, a $100-billion Prosperity Fund, and more than $1 trillion in economic activity. Nevertheless, proposed LNG development remains a thorny
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