40 years of protecting the environment through law
- Details
- Published on Friday, 21 November 2014 10:44
- Written by editor
In this Issue:
WCEL Nets Environmental Award | Flawed Site-C Decision Leads to Law Suits | Paying for Climate Change | Leading Haida Lawyer and Gitanyow Hereditary Chief receive Andrew Thompson Award | New at West Coast
Dear PAOV,
Wow - West Coast is 40! Reflecting back as one of the first organizations of its kind in Canada, it’s clear that what West Coast does today remains... as important as when we opened our doors in 1974. Be sure to check out our 40th Anniversary video – we think you will find it inspiring.
This month we encourage everyone to vote on who should pay for climate change (and ask your friends to vote too), and invite any lawyers looking for last minute professional development credits to sign up for our Dec 16th Conservation Covenants 101 webinar. We also celebrate West Coast's winning the prize for Best Environmental Idea in SFU’s RISE competition.
West Coast nets award for proposal to protect shorelines and communities
RISE, a recent competition organized by Simon Fraser University, asked entrants to come up with a visionary solution to make the greater Vancouver area more resilient to sea level rise. West Coast Environmental Law teamed up with DG Blair from the BC Stewardship Centre and Cathy LeBlanc, a senior planner at the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development to propose that natural shorelines can be a buffer zone for seaside properties and protect communities from the impacts of rising seas if applied on a regional scale. We were awarded the prize for Best Environmental Idea. Congratulations to all the other winners, and all the competitors.
- Click here to read about West Coast’s work to protect our coastal ecosystems from the impacts of climate change.
Site C lawsuits illustrate flaws in environmental decision-making
Four legal challenges to last month’s approvals of BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam demonstrate the risks associated with the erosion of legal mechanisms for meaningful public participation, transparency and accountability in environmental assessments under British Columbian and Canadian federal law. An $8 billion hydroelectric project in northeast BC, Site C would flood thousands of hectares of Treaty 8 territory and some of BC's most important agricultural lands, displacing residents and destroying wildlife and rare species habitat.
- Click here to read about how the federal and provincial decisions to approve Site C ignore the finding of their own expert review panel that the project’s impacts are not justified.
With climate change already causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage each year, West Coast Environmental Law believes that a conversation about who should pay is long overdue.
- Who do you think should pay? Climate victims? Fossil fuel companies? Taxpayers? Click here to hear our thoughts and to vote.
- Suncorp took the time to respond to our recent report, Payback Time?, arguing that we’re all responsible for climate change. In our response we point out that some of us are more responsible than others – and that companies are legally responsible for the use of their product.
- We’re pleased that Greenpeace International profiled Payback Time? in a recent blog post.
- In other climate news, our articling student, Robyn Raymond, reports on her visit to the BC Supreme Court – where Voters Taking Action on Climate Change argued that the BC government made a mistake when it approved a dramatic expansion of a coal export facility on Texada Island.
This year, West Coast is proud to celebrate our 40th anniversary and the many accomplishments the organization has achieved over the past four decades. Our achievements would not be possible without the support of our supporters, volunteers, community partners and allies. Earlier this month we hosted a 40th anniversary celebration where we also presented this year’s Andrew Thompson Award – details in the links below!
- Leading Haida Lawyer and Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Joint Winners of 2014 Andrew Thompson Award.
- Happy 40th birthday, West Coast Environmental Law.
West Coast welcomes David Bremner! David joined the West Coast team in October as our new Donor Relations Officer, bringing with him more than 15 years of fundraising experience. Welcome David, we are delighted to have you on our team!
- To read David’s full bio, click here.
- In other West Coast news, any lawyers looking for last minute professional development credits may want to check out our December 16th
