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 federal government is preparing to introduce its 2022 budget, considering funding decisions that will have major implications on Canada’s ability to address key environmental and social justice priorities in the coming years.

Last month Imperial Metals agreed to relinquish its mineral claims in the Skagit River Headwaters, about 37 kilometres east of Hope, BC, near the Canada-US border.

The start of a New Year is a time for reflection as much as it is a time for celebration.

Shortly after the federal election, we reviewed the Liberty Party of Canada’s election platform. This post follows that post by analyzing the federal mandate letters, released on December 16, 2021.

Lawyers urge incoming federal government to apply a “climate justice lens” to all statutes

As the recent COP26 UN climate negotiations in Glasgow drew to a close, we were heartened to hear new announcements made there on protecting marine spaces. Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama announced a new “Mega-MPA” spanning from the Galápagos to the Pacific coast of Central America, protecting some of the most productive fisheries in the world.

In late October, the BC government unveiled its long-awaited climate plan, Roadmap to 2030, to tumultuous … criticism.

Take action: Show your support for a new BC law to safeguard nature and ecosystem health

West Coast has reviewed the party’s ocean commitments in its election platform and assessed how they measure against the work that needs to be done. We identified a few glaring holes, many important and encouraging commitments, and several high-level statements whose effectiveness will depend on the details.

The election is over, subject to the counting of mail-in ballots in a handful of close races.* The new Parliament looks very much like the old Parliament, and many people are asking: did this accomplish anything?