Media Releases

West Coast Environmental Law event marks 30 years of environmental legal aid in BC

VICTORIA, BC – Territory of Songhees and Esquimalt Nations – Bill 38, the Climate Change Accountability Amendment Act 2019, introduced today in the BC Legislature, could transform how the Province works to achieve its climate goals.

VICTORIA, BC, Lekwungen Territories – West Coast Environmental Law Association is celebrating today’s introduction of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which will bring the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UN Declaration”) into provincial law.

VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – Climate campaigners at West Coast Environmental Law and the Georgia Strait Alliance responded to today’s announcement by the City of Victoria at the Union of BC Municipalities that one of Canada’s foremost legal minds, Joe Arvay of Arvay Finlay, will be p

Legislation loses points for regulations that exempt high-carbon projects from review

OTTAWA — The Canadian government has surpassed its commitment to protect at least 10 per cent of its oceans before 2020. This achievement is the result of significant collaboration between Indigenous communities, the Canadian government, conservation organizations, communities and industries.

VICTORIA/VANCOUVER, BC - As Taseko Mines once again attempts to force its way with an injunction to start drilling in Tŝilhqot’in ancestral

Today, Vancouver City Council voted 7-4 to take a series of actions demanding that global fossil fuel companies share in the climate change costs incurred by the City. 

VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – In an 8-1 vote, the City of Richmond voted last night to ask BC Premier John Horgan to enact a Liability for Climate-related Harms Act confirming the right of local governments to recover a fair share of climate costs from global fossil fuel comp

OTTAWA/VANCOUVER – Late yesterday evening Senators voted to pass Bill C-69, which contains important changes to Canada’s laws pertaining to impact assessment, energy regulation, and protection of navigable waters.

VANCOUVER, BC, Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territories – Environmental lawyers welcome the news that Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, has passed a final vote in the Senate and will become law.

Environmental and conservation groups respond to modernized Fisheries Act

West Coast Environmental Law reacts to federal government’s re-approval of the project

Government rejects Senate amendment that would add unneeded re-assessment of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act

Motion tabled in House of Commons today would restore key safeguards Canadians voted for in 2015, environmental lawyers say

OTTAWA – Over 90 per cent of Canadians support the call to protect 30 per cent of the country’s oceans by 2030, according to a survey released today by Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, David Suzuki Foundation, West Coast Environmental Law and World Wildlife Fund Canada.

Federal bill renewing Canada’s Oceans Act receives Royal Assent

Canada’s top court will be called on to resolve constitutionality of BC’s proposed law

Unelected Senate must honour government commitment to a B.C. North Coast oil tanker moratorium, groups say

OTTAWA - Members of the Senate committee reviewing Bill C-69 have unleashed a tsunami of 240 amendments that threaten to destroy the integrity of the bill, say environmental groups.

WILLIAMS LAKE, Secwepemc Territory – Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, made the following statement in response to Resolution 21, passed today at the North Central Local Gove

Ottawa, Ont.

Williams Lake, Secwepemc Territory – Andrew Gage, a staff lawyer from West Coast Environmental Law, is attending this week’s North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) meeting to hear firsthand how wildfires and other climate-related impacts have affected northern communities – and how th

All projects that pose a climate risk must receive a rigorous assessment, say environmental lawyers

VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – Environmental lawyers are delighted that City of Toronto staff will examine how the city’s massive climate change-related costs can be recovered from the fo