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

5 Ways to Support your Staff on Indigenous Peoples Day and Every Day

**TRIGGER WARNING**

I am a staff lawyer at West Coast and I work with our Access to Justice and RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water) Programs. I am a mother, I am a daughter, and I am the granddaughter of Lottie and Isaac Lindley, who both attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Secwépemc Territory. I also work in the building and my office is #215.

From Consultation to Recognition and Respect: Creating Space for Indigenous Laws in Conservation

“Our ancestors knew that their survival depended on clean water and taking only what was needed. Indigenous peoples lived by the natural laws of the land and waters, and that allowed our societies to thrive.” - Bev Sellars, Elder and former chief, Xat’sull Nation

Revitalizing Indigenous Law with the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance | The LFFA-RELAW Team’s experience so far

All of us can benefit from respectfully learning about Indigenous stories on the territories we live, work and play on. Whether you are Indigenous or not, this blog is for you.

Indigenous law in action: Gitanyow launches its groundbreaking Wilp Sustainability Assessment Process

By Tara Marsden/Naxginkw and Gavin Smith

Canadian decision-makers must redress environmental racism

Soon, your Member of Parliament will debate whether to move forward with the National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism Act (Bill C-230). This is a chance that Canada cannot afford to miss.

Canada’s budget must support a Green and Just Recovery
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It’s not too late for a Site C exit strategy

Lately, my colleague Georgia Lloyd-Smith and I have been thinking a lot about the Site C dam.

West Coast's 2020 Year in Review

This year will live in our memory as one of surprises, uncertainty, kindness, and the power of community.

What will be on the environmental to-do list of BC’s new ministers?

In the coming days, BC Premier John Horgan will appoint his cabinet.

Unravelling the colonial thread: a look at the lobster fishery dispute in Mi’kma’ki

Indigenous peoples, including the Mi’kmaq, have been on Turtle Island for millennia, living in complex societies, sustainably governing their territories and ‘resources’, including fisheries.