If the rights and obligations declared within UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples cannot be enforced in court, are they anything more than words on a page? This issue is squarely on the table in the BC Court of Appeal proceedings in Gitxaała Nation v BC (Chief Gold Commissioner).
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.
In this blog, we return to our pre-election analysis of key issues (“Five questions to ask your candidates in BC’s 2024 Election”) to assess how well the government’s new directions outlined in the mandate letters stack up against important priorities for land, air, water, climate action and healthy communities.
As I write this, Los Angeles is on fire, with destruction of property, mass evacuations and human casualties. These are the latest victims of climate change.
The new year is a perfect time to look forward; it’s also an opportunity to see how far we’ve come. Let’s review our 2024 progress toward a class-action lawsuit demanding that major polluters pay a fair share of climate costs.
Throughout 2024, the RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air, and Water) Program has been privileged to support and witness incredible examples of Indigenous law in action. Here are some highlights that we may celebrate on the shortest day and longest night of the year.
The federal government has published its draft Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations. These regulations will be critical for helping ensure Canada meets its climate targets, but only if they are strengthened and passed as soon as possible.
During the latest UN climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, climate-induced migration was one of the key issues in the spotlight for world leaders and climate experts.
If the federal emissions cap deserves any criticism, it is that it is not enough. Despite the urgency of climate change and the lack of adequate action by provincial governments or the oil and gas sector, the federal government has bent over backward to accommodate provincial and industry interests.
In 2024, West Coast Environmental Law is celebrating our 50th anniversary – marking five action-packed decades of legal research, advocacy and action in service of nature and communities.
From October 21-November 1, 2024, world leaders are going to be gathering in Cali, Colombia for the 16th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity – also known as COP16, or NatureCOP. We are excited to have two West Coast staff lawyers joining them. Keep reading to learn why and take action for nature.