Media Releases

Please be advised that effective 1 August 2020, West Coast Environmental Law's office address will be changed. 

Telephone and fax numbers remain the same.

OTTAWA, ON, Algonquin Anishnaabeg Territory – Environmental lawyers are welcoming improvements to the federal government’s Strategic Assessment of Climate Change (SACC), released today, but are also expressing frustration at its failure to establish an adequate “climate test” for assessing how in

Environmental lawyers vow to fight on as Court denies leave for Indigenous legal challenges

“The federal government investigating itself is clearly not an option,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC

Support crumbles when costs exceed $12 billion, new poll finds

Estimated cost jumps from $7.4B to $12.6B, prompting calls for government to abandon the project

Narrow Federal Court of Appeal decision is a blow for reconciliation and sustainability, lawyers say  

VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – BC is not doing enough to investigate, prepare for, and protect taxpayers from the looming costs of climate change, say 25 BC-based organizations and 4 leading academics.

Groups launch petition demanding full disclosure by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Amending legislation passed in Bill C-69 or C-48 would diminish public trust, say enviro lawyers

VICTORIA, BC – Territory of Songhees and Esquimalt Nations – Bill 38, the Climate Change Accountability Amendment Act 2019, introduced today in the BC Legislature, could transform how the Province works to achieve its climate goals.

VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – Climate campaigners at West Coast Environmental Law and the Georgia Strait Alliance responded to today’s announcement by the City of Victoria at the Union of BC Municipalities that one of Canada’s foremost legal minds, Joe Arvay of Arvay Finlay, will be p

Legislation loses points for regulations that exempt high-carbon projects from review

Today, Vancouver City Council voted 7-4 to take a series of actions demanding that global fossil fuel companies share in the climate change costs incurred by the City. 

VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – In an 8-1 vote, the City of Richmond voted last night to ask BC Premier John Horgan to enact a Liability for Climate-related Harms Act confirming the right of local governments to recover a fair share of climate costs from global fossil fuel comp

VANCOUVER, BC, Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territories – Environmental lawyers welcome the news that Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, has passed a final vote in the Senate and will become law.

West Coast Environmental Law reacts to federal government’s re-approval of the project

Government rejects Senate amendment that would add unneeded re-assessment of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act

Motion tabled in House of Commons today would restore key safeguards Canadians voted for in 2015, environmental lawyers say

Canada’s top court will be called on to resolve constitutionality of BC’s proposed law

Unelected Senate must honour government commitment to a B.C. North Coast oil tanker moratorium, groups say

WILLIAMS LAKE, Secwepemc Territory – Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, made the following statement in response to Resolution 21, passed today at the North Central Local Gove

Ottawa, Ont.

Williams Lake, Secwepemc Territory – Andrew Gage, a staff lawyer from West Coast Environmental Law, is attending this week’s North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) meeting to hear firsthand how wildfires and other climate-related impacts have affected northern communities – and how th

All projects that pose a climate risk must receive a rigorous assessment, say environmental lawyers