The election is over, subject to the counting of mail-in ballots in a handful of close races.* The new Parliament looks very much like the old Parliament, and many people are asking: did this accomplish anything?
This election, vote for a healthier, more just and sustainable future.
No matter where you live, it’s likely that the climate crisis has been top of mind this summer – especially with the August 9 release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. With wildfires ravaging the West Coast and the heat dome that traversed the country last month, to droughts and water shortages across most of Western Canada and the Prairies – it’s clear that we must tackle the twin climate and biodiversity crises from all angles.
**TRIGGER WARNING**
I am a staff lawyer at West Coast and I work with our Access to Justice and RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water) Programs. I am a mother, I am a daughter, and I am the granddaughter of Lottie and Isaac Lindley, who both attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Secwépemc Territory. I also work in the building and my office is #215.
Old-growth logging in British Columbia is just as controversial today as when the “War of the Woods” hit international headlines in the 1990s. The way the RCMP is continuing to use legally-questionable “exclusion zones” to restrict access in the Fairy Creek area protests is fueling the public’s confusion about these important issues.
In 1992, Canada first proposed the idea of a World Oceans Day at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, as a day to encourage protection of the ocean and the sustainable management of its resources. Twenty-nine years later, on World Oceans Day 2021, the message of World Oceans Day is needed now more than ever in British Columbia.
In November 2020, the federal government introduced new legislation to help ensure that Canada meets its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (Bill C-12) has been stuck in Parliament for months, but it is now before the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development – a crucial phase for amending and improving the bill.
Are you concerned about the health of your local shoreline, and wondering what your government(s) can do to help? Curious about the complex web of laws, policies and regulations governing the BC coast and ocean? Interested in learning how different authorities and jurisdictions can work together?
Originally published in 2020, our Guide to Marine Conservation Law in BC is a comprehensive resource that covers the wide array of legal tools available to Indigenous, federal, provincial and local governments to protect the coast and ocean in BC.
In many ways Bill C-12, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, is the culmination of years of work for West Coast Environmental Law. We have been pressing for climate accountability legislation since our 2015 report A Carbon Budget for Canada set out our vision in detail.
It has been a busy few months in the ongoing Trans Mountain saga.
As the world economy sputtered due to disruptions caused by COVID-19, major changes started to emerge that make it clear that the post-pandemic world will not look like the pre-pandemic world.