Getting to the Kvai River Lodge, located in the Great Bear Rainforest deep in the heart of Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) Territory, is no simple matter. The journey presented many pedagogical opportunities for reflecting upon the importance of relationships.
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.
Each summer at West Coast brings a new cohort of law students from across the country, eager to learn and gain experience in environmental and Indigenous law.
Cooperative actions to explore and protect the deep sea
Perhaps the best-known examples of cooperative marine governance agreements in Canada are in Haida territories on the north Pacific coast, where the exciting deep sea Northeast Pacific Seamounts Expedition just concluded.
The Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) is back in court fighting to protect its lands and waters – Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), Yanah Biny (Little Fish Lake), and Nabas (the surrounding area) – from Taseko’s mining activities.
We are St’át’imc. We speak St’át’imcets (also referred to as Ucwalmícwts or the language of the people). Created by the Transformers, our home is situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Northwest Coast Mountains, now referred to as British Columbia.
Has the north coast oil tanker ban stalled in Parliament?
On March 20th, 2017, the New Zealand government enacted legislation recognizing the Whanganui River as a legal person, holding rights and responsibilities equivalent to a person.
As neighbouring US jurisdictions like Washington State move to ban fish farming on the Pacific coast and ‘Namgis First Nation
When it comes to implementing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, lawyers have unique responsibilities; Calls to Action 27, 28, 29 and 50 are particularly instructive. Today, my colleague Maxine Hayman Matilpi and I reflect on what this means for us as legally trained individuals, our public interest law organization and legal pluralism in Canada.
“Politicians grant the permits, but communities grant permission.” – Justin Trudeau