It has been over two years since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued mandates to a handful of cabinet ministers to review, modernize and strengthen four important environmental laws.

Shocking video footage released this week by BC photographer Tavish Campbell and replayed by media across the country shows a disturbing torrent of bloody wastewater from fish farm processing plants pumping directly into the ocean. The video captures the bloodwater streaming into the sea from two sites: the first near Brown’s Bay on Vancouver Island, next to a wild salmon migration route in Discovery Passage, and the second, into fish habitat in the Tofino harbour.

When Randy Saugstad realized that clearcut logging by forestry giant Tolko was probably going to affect the water he uses to raise cattle on his ranch, he went to the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. “We know,” they told him. “But we don’t have the power to stop them logging.”

This week I had the opportunity to listen to the story of how the Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake came together to demand accountability from Mount Polley Mining Corporation in the aftermath of the Mount Polley mine disaster. On August 4, 2014, a breach in the tailings pond of the Mount Polley Mine unleashed almost 25 million cubic metres of toxic mine wastewater into Quesnel Lake.

Last century, law turned the tide on many plummeting whale populations through a ban on most commercial whaling.

As the project lead for the RELAW Project (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water), I often reflect upon the importance of our work – especially this summer, as I was feeling the effects of the wildfires in BC, hearing about the floods in Asia and the destruction from hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

In June 2016, the federal government announced a major review of Canada’s environmental laws and processes – including environmental assessment (EA), the Fisheries Act, Navigation Protection Act and the National Energy Board. It's critical that we make the most of this opportunity, and we need some help from you.