7:29am, Thursday, August 30th, 2018:
We’re in a boardroom high above downtown Vancouver, not far from Robson Street where I’m told there used to be a great hunting path. I’m on the Federal Court of Appeal’s website, refreshing my web browser obsessively.
Union of BC Municipalities to vote on sending letter to Chevron, Shell, ExxonMobil
In July 2018, the federal government published a discussion paper, “Developing a Strategic Assessment of Climate Change,” which proposes key processes and questions to guide an assessment of how to better consider climate in environmental assessments.
Ruling confirms that Canada acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally in approving controversial project
VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – West Coast Environmental Law is thrilled with the decision released today by the Federal Court of Appeal, which overturns the federal approval and stops construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline and tankers project.
In August 2018, the BC government asked for public feedback on their “Clean Growth” intentions papers, which set out next steps in addressing climate change through “Clean, Efficient Buildings,” “Clean Transportation” and “Clean Growth for Industry.”
The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) represents all BC’s local governments. In just a few weeks at its annual conference (September 10-14), local governments will vote on whether to demand that Chevron, Exxon and 18 other fossil fuel companies pay their fair share of climate change-related costs facing BC communities.
Canada claims to care about climate change, but the reality is that we have missed pretty much every climate promise that the federal government has set to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Why? One reason is that those promises are not meaningfully considered when it comes time to decide whether to approve new pipelines, highways or power plants.
The government wants to hear your thoughts on its three recently released “Clean Growth” intentions papers, which set out next steps in addressing climate change through “Clean, Efficient Buildings,” “Clean Transportation” and “Clean Growth for Industry.”
Unfortunately many of those plans were first proposed by BC’s Climate Action Team a decade ago. We need to tell the government to get on with it already … but also to put in place accountability measures to bind future governments to fight climate change.
Each summer at West Coast brings a new cohort of law students from across the country, eager to learn and gain experience in environmental and Indigenous law. This year, we welcomed five enthusiastic summer law students who contributed greatly to our legal programs – including assisting with legal research, attending forums and meetings, contributing to reports and educational resources, and more.
Here's what our 2018 summer law students had to say about their experiences:
Dan Cheater
In 1997, facing mounting health-care costs from cigarette-related death and illness, B.C. did something unexpected. It became the first Canadian province to enact a Tobacco Damages Recovery Act, setting the rules for lawsuits against Big Tobacco to recover health-care dollars. Instead of continuing to pass on cigarette-related, health-care costs to taxpayers, the provincial government took action to hold international tobacco companies accountable.