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

This summer, we’ve been thinking a lot about the people across BC – and throughout the country – who support West Coast in the work that we do.

It’s been encouraging to see reports that three federal ministers have been leading internal discussions about “green” COVID-19 stimulus funding for infrastructure: the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, and the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Three is nice, but four would be better. Wouldn’t it be great to see the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Honourable Bernadette Jordan, at the table?

Here at West Coast, we rarely take on lawsuits – instead, we aim to protect the environment through building stronger environmental laws, bridging Canadian and Indigenous law, and empowering communities to harness the law for a more just and sustainable future.

By Rayanna Seymour-Hourie – on Canada’s 153rd birthday

Oil spills, plastic waste, sewage, dumping, ocean heating and acidification, overfishing, whaling, harmful fishing, anchoring, engine noise, pile driving, submarine cables, seismic surveys, offshore oil drilling and wind development, wave energy, container shipping, and cruise ships. If you were the ocean, wouldn’t you want a break?

The events of the past two weeks have forced people around the world to confront some uncomfortable truths about our society.

This pandemic is a stark reminder of how our economies and societies are interdependent, and how the well-being of humans, other living beings, and ecosystems, are deeply connected. Only a healthy planet can support healthy people.

Last week, a barge belonging to Taan Forest spilled 4,500 litres of diesel into Dinan Bay (Diinan Kahlii) in Masset Inlet.

Earth Day is a time for us to reflect on all that our planet has given to us and to celebrate those who have worked tirelessly to strengthen our relationship with the environment.

As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of first Earth Day in 1970, here’s a look at what things looked like then and now.