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.
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.
By Rayanna Seymour-Hourie – on Canada’s 153rd birthday
In mid-April, as BC was ramping up its response to COVID-19, a wildfire burned through more than 200 hectares north of Squamish, leading to the evacuation of about 30 homes.
On Friday June 12, the Trans Mountain pipeline spilled an estimated 190,000 litres of oil at the Sumas Pump Station near Abbotsford, BC. This is the 85th oil spill from the nearly 70-year-old pipeline, confirming the fears of many that oil spills are inevitable.
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.
The Great Bear Sea, also known as the Northern Shelf Bioregion on the north coast of BC, is an area of profound beauty, ecological diversity and cultural richness. Rich ecosystems support an abundance of life – from salmon, herring, humpback whales and orcas to seabirds, bears and wolves.
After COVID-19, let's build BC back better – in ways that fight climate change, inequality & injustice.
An update from a unique flood season in Ashcroft, BC, on the territories of the Nlaka'pamux and Secwépemc Nations.
Exploring some federal and provincial frameworks that could guide stimulus in the wake of COVID-19 to support a more food-secure future