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

This election, who we vote for matters more than ever. Not just for our country, but for our children’s future and the health of our planet.

Zero charges, one recent conviction, two overdue reports – the numbers tell the story on fish habitat protection law enforcement in Canada

The last week in June was a big week for those of us who would like to see BC communities hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the costs of climate change.

Law reform is our specialty at West Coast Environmental Law.  We work at all levels of government to transform the legal landscape and strengthen the laws that affect land, air and water.

The latest cabinet approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline came less than a day after the federal government declared a climate emergency.

Support a motion to make fossil fuel polluters pay a share of local climate costs

We need your help!

Tell Vancouver Council to vote next week to hold Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other global fossil fuel companies responsible for a share of Vancouver’s climate costs.

Canada’s approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline project this week is a glaring reminder that the endangered orcas of the Salish Sea may still go extinct. People concerned about a southern resident killer whale population that has dipped to 76 should keep fighting this bad decision, which could push these beloved orcas over the edge.

This is a guest post by Kathleen Ruff, Director of RightOnCanada.ca. With support from our Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund (EDRF), Kathleen sought a legal opinion to determine whether Canada’s refusal to bring back Canadian wastes exported to the Philippines violated international law.

Efforts to protect BC’s northern coast go back half a century and are not to be taken lightly as the Senate considers killing Bill C-48.

At Confederation, Sir John A. Macdonald famously referred to Canada’s Senate as a chamber of sober second thought. One, he said, that “will never set itself in opposition against the deliberate and understood wishes of the people.”

Sir John A. should be turning in his grave.