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

Last month, I attended a gathering to discuss Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), co-hosted by the Bear River First Nation in Mi’kmaw territory.

B.C.’s new government is already seeing proof that it made the right move when it committed to reform environmental assessment and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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.

Is this the beginning of something new? Are governments finally challenging the so-called “right” of fossil fuel companies to make unlimited profits from products that cause climate change while expecting taxpayers to pay for the impacts of those products?

This June – 18 months after Prime Minister Trudeau issued mandates to six Cabinet Ministers to fix four of Canada’s environmental laws, and after two Parliamentary Committee and two expert panel reviews – the federal government released its

Ask Canadians whether we should protect our oceans, and chances are they’ll say "yes." According to a recent WWF-Canada survey, 98% of Canadians support creating marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect our waters.

[Update 24 July 2017 - As of yesterday (23rd of July) the BC Wildfire Statistics page reports that 372,719 hectares have been burnt so far this year.  That means that in terms of area burnt this year is now worse than the massive

In the global economy, each region looks for its competitive advantage. Why should businesses locate in BC, instead of (for example) Argentina? What industries will do well in BC, giving us jobs?

It's a beautiful morning and I'm walking in my small Gulf Island community with my wee grandson. Birds chirping, flowers blooming, wee grandson cooing. It's all open-hearted love and happiness as I push the baby stroller through the island's downtown area, sometimes pausing to play with the wee one's impossibly soft feet.

West Coast is proud to ally with the Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation (SSN) in their use of their own laws to determine the future of Pípsell (also known as Jacko Lake and environs), a sacred area threatened by the proposed open pit Ajax mine.