With an August 28, 2017 deadline for final submissions on its Environmental and Regulatory Reviews Discussion Paper fast approaching, the federal government is
Environmental Law Alert Blog
Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:
- proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
- stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
- emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.
If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.
West Coast's 2017 Summer Law Students (left-right): Don Couturier, Nico McKay, Mari Galloway, Karyn Leslie, Matt Hammer.
Last month Michael Sawyer (with funding from our Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund (EDRF) won a major victory against liquefied natural gas (LNG) development – and for environmental oversight of oil and gas pipelines.
Last month, I attended a gathering to discuss Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), co-hosted by the Bear River First Nation in Mi’kmaw territory.
B.C.’s new government is already seeing proof that it made the right move when it committed to reform environmental assessment and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In June 2016, the federal government announced a major review of Canada’s environmental laws and processes – including environmental assessment (EA), the Fisheries Act, Navigation Protection Act and the National Energy Board. It's critical that we make the most of this opportunity, and we need some help from you.
Is this the beginning of something new? Are governments finally challenging the so-called “right” of fossil fuel companies to make unlimited profits from products that cause climate change while expecting taxpayers to pay for the impacts of those products?
This June – 18 months after Prime Minister Trudeau issued mandates to six Cabinet Ministers to fix four of Canada’s environmental laws, and after two Parliamentary Committee and two expert panel reviews – the federal government released its
Ask Canadians whether we should protect our oceans, and chances are they’ll say "yes." According to a recent WWF-Canada survey, 98% of Canadians support creating marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect our waters.
[Update 24 July 2017 - As of yesterday (23rd of July) the BC Wildfire Statistics page reports that 372,719 hectares have been burnt so far this year. That means that in terms of area burnt this year is now worse than the massive