Friday, October 18, 2013 As anyone who has worked in environmental or social justice knows, sometimes change takes a very, very long time, somewhat like a glacier carving out a valley. Little, incremental changes take place that you don’t notice at the time, but that add up to earth-shattering differences
Continue readingTag: aboriginal law
Environmental Law Alert Blog: First Nations warn Enbridge against trespass as BC moves to grant preliminary work permits
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 The Yinka Dene Alliance (YDA), composed of six Carrier Sekani First Nations, is ramping up the enforcement of its own laws in the face of Enbridge’s efforts to begin preliminary work in YDA traditional territories to prepare for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. Meanwhile, the BC
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Fight Against FIPA
Monday, June 17, 2013 “We stand together! We stand together! We stand together!” On June 5th, 2013, West Coast Environmental Law’s Executive Director Jessica Clogg and three legal interns joined the hundreds of voices chanting “We stand together!” outside the Federal Court in downtown Vancouver. The crowd was gathered to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Fight Against FIPA
Monday, June 17, 2013 “We stand together! We stand together! We stand together!” On June 5th, 2013, West Coast Environmental Law’s Executive Director Jessica Clogg and three legal interns joined the hundreds of voices chanting “We stand together!” outside the Federal Court in downtown Vancouver. The crowd was gathered to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Guest post: The Beaver Lake Cree Judgment: The Most Important Tar Sands Case You’ve Never Heard Of
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 This is a guest post from Carol Linnit, and was originally published on DeSmog Blog. To see the original post, click here. Sure they’re bad for the environment, for human health, and for wildlife, but we rarely stop to wonder if the Alberta tar sands are
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Guest post: The Beaver Lake Cree Judgment: The Most Important Tar Sands Case You’ve Never Heard Of
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 This is a guest post from Carol Linnitt, and was originally published on DeSmog Blog. To see the original post, click here. Sure they’re bad for the environment, for human health, and for wildlife, but we rarely stop to wonder if the Alberta tar sands are
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Wanted: strong provincial action to protect our coast and rivers from tar sands oil
Thursday, May 9, 2013 On Earth Day (April 22nd) we joined many other environmental organizations in applauding Adrian Dix and the NDP for standing up for our coast, and expressing opposition to the expansion of the KinderMorgan Pipeline. Although the NDP’s position is a bit less precise than the BC
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Wanted: strong provincial action to protect our coast and rivers from tar sands oil
Thursday, May 9, 2013 On Earth Day (April 22nd) we joined many other environmental organizations in applauding Adrian Dix and the NDP for standing up for our coast, and expressing opposition to the expansion of the KinderMorgan Pipeline. Although the NDP’s position is a bit less precise than the BC
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: ”Fighting not just for our children, but for your children too …”
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 A snow storm that blew through central Canada made this year’s March 19 Ottawa’s snowiest on record. But there was more than weather to distinguish this as a historic date. In the evening, nine First Nations from across North America came together in a ceremony to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Appointment of Federal Representative on Energy Infrastructure: Too Little Too Late?
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 As the Yinka Dene Alliance and their allies were gathering in Ottawa to renew their opposition to Tar Sands Pipelines on March 19th, Natural Resource Minister, Joe Oliver, was in Terrace, BC, to announce the appointment of Vancouver-based lawyer, Douglas Eyford, as a “Special Federal Representative
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Jessica Clogg explains Bill C-45, First Nations Rights, FIPA
Monday, March 4, 2013 This interview was originally published by Digital Journal and was written by Grace C. Visconti. Click here to go to the article as it was originally published. Vancouver – West Coast Environmental Law Executive Director and Senior Counsel Jessica Clogg explains ramifications of Bill C-45, First
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: #IdleNoMore and the future of Canada
Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Idle No More raises questions about both the past and future of Canada itself. It goes to the reality that we are a nation with a colonial history, and that we have not yet come to grips with that history. And it raises the possibility of
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: From Oolichan to Enbridge: Getting to the Heart of Cumulative Impacts Management in the Northwest
Monday, January 14, 2013 In November 2012, 170 resource management practitioners, scientists, academics, and community members came together at a conference in Smithers, BC entitled “Adding it All Up: Balancing Benefits and Effects of Resource Development”. The conference, organized by the Bulkley Valley Research Centre, focused on the issue of
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Yukon court decision could force BC to overhaul its antiquated mining laws
Thursday, January 10, 2013 The decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in Ross River Dena Council v. Government of the Yukon – delivered just days before the end of 2012 (on Dec 27th) – may force governments across Canada – including in BC – to rewrite their mining laws.
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: First Nations and BC Mayors stand together against threat of oil tankers and pipelines
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 In December 2010, representatives of sixty-one Indigenous nations came together in an historic alliance to protect the Fraser watershed and our coastal waters from the threat of oil spills.The result was the Save the Fraser Declaration, which bans tar sands projects, like the Enbridge pipeline and
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: First Nations lead the charge against Canada-China Trade deal
Friday, December 14, 2012 First Nations in BC are playing a national leadership role in pushing back against the controversial Canada China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA), and are hooking up with some non-Aboriginal allies in that fight. A press release issued today by the Union of BC
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: CEAA 2012 – On the Ground
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Jay Nelson has a unique perspective on the new Canadian Environmental …
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Is Canada-China Investment Treaty (FIPA) an attack on Aboriginal Rights?
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 The Canadian government is preparing to ratify the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) possibly as early as tomorrow (November 1st) – an agreement which many individuals and organizations, including West Coast Environmental Law, have grave and deep concerns about. But one clear legal
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Upholding the Law, Protecting the Land, Sharing the Wealth
Friday, October 12, 2012 A recently announced agreement between the Province of British Columbia and the Gitanyow Nation is of deep significance not only for the people, the land, and the water of the Gitanyow territories in the mid-Nass and Skeena (upper Kitwanga and upper Kispiox) watersheds, but for all
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Squamish Nation sign Save the Fraser Declaration
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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