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.

2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

The headlines were enough to make you wonder if you’d stepped into an alternate universe: a mining corporation suing the Crown for transferring land interests to First Nations without adequate consultation.

A crowd of over 300 community members, First Nations leaders, scientists, politicians, commercial and sport fishermen, and other concerned citizens gathered at the Salmon Nation Summit in Prince Rupert in January to talk wild salmon, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and ocean protection. The Summit ended with the signing of the

In September, the Fort Nelson First Nation won a major legal challenge at the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) that overturned a long term water license issued to gas giant Nexen Inc for hydraulic f

WCEL welcomes today's public release of mandate letters from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for newly appointed federal Cabinet Ministers.

I recently traveled to Whitehorse to present on a panel at the Yukon North Slope Conference. I had been invited to talk about the treatment of Indigenous knowledge in the courts and by environmental decision-making bodies.

The sixth and final day of the Enbridge hearing was as charged and exciting as the first. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) was up first to make submissions on whether or not the Enbridge pipeline is in the ‘public interest’.

It was another exciting day down at the Federal Court of Appeal. The day started with Northern Gateway seeking to introduce fresh evidence to the Court. Yesterday, the judges instructed Northern Gateway to seek an agreement with the applicants with respect to the admissibility of this evidence. No such agreement was reached.

Spirits remained high in the 8th floor courtroom even as a dense fog settled on downtown Vancouver. The courtroom was jam-packed all day long while lawyers representing the Nak’azdli, Nadleh Whut’en, Gitga’at and Gitxaała Nations made their cases.