PHOTO - Ecojustice

FALL 2014 | issue 74
PHOTO: Jasper Environmental Association
IN THIS ISSUE
Mining & our
environment Page 3
The right
Protecting
Canada’s
national parks
are not for sale.
Canada’s
national
Maligne herd has
dwindled to just
four individuals,
one female and
three males.
parks
That’s why
Ecojustice lawyers are
going to court to stop
commercial encroachment
in Canada’s national parks.
We are seeking a court order
to quash a concept approval
by Parks Canada that would
allow a tourism company to
construct up to 15 tent cabins at
Maligne Lake in Jasper National
Park — the kind of overnight
commercial accommodations
that are strictly prohibited by
the park’s management plan.
The commercial proposal has
the potential to put park wildlife,
including the endangered Maligne
caribou herd and local grizzly bear
populations, at further risk. The
Both the caribou and
grizzly bear are sensitive to
human use and development
within their habitat, and if they
are to survive and recover, they
need less development — not
more — in their habitat.
In order to allow this commercial proposal to go ahead,
Parks Canada says it intends
to consider changing Jasper’s
management plan, which was
finalized in 2010 after several
rounds of public consultation.
The move would set a troubling precedent where Parks
Canada is allowed to change
the rules put in place to protect
Canada’s national parks when
to a healthy
environment Page 4–5
PAGE 7 OFFSHORE DRILLING IN
THE ARCTIC
they stand in the way of commercial development.
This is unacceptable and
cannot go unchallenged.
And thanks to donors like
you, it won’t.
Your continuing support
means that we have the necessary resources to represent the
Canadian Parks and Wilderness
Society and Jasper Environmental
Association in this important
Federal Court lawsuit and take
a strong stand for Canada’s
national parks.
– Fraser Thomson, staff lawyer
LEARN MORE
about Fraser
STAFF profile PAGE 6
Letter from the
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Noted Canadian jurist F.C.
Cronkite describes the law
as an accumulation of rules,
enforceable in the courts,
incorporating the ideals of
right and justice in the
community. Right now,
Canada’s environmental
laws are falling short.
That’s what I told the crowd
at the Toronto stop of David
Suzuki’s Blue Dot Tour. David
is travelling across the country
to introduce Canadians to the
next frontier of environmental
protection: A Charter right to a
healthy environment.
It was exciting to share a stage
with the Barenaked Ladies, Chantal
Kreviazuk, Raine Maida, Shane
Koyczan, Stephen Lewis and, of
course, Dr. Suzuki. But Ecojustice
partnered with the David Suzuki
Foundation to promote the need
for stronger environmental laws
to protect the air, water and land
that our health depends on.
Study after study shows that
Canadians deeply value nature.
But our laws do not enshrine this
value. A new report by Global
Forest Watch found that Canada
leads the world in degrading intact
forest. This discrepancy between
our beliefs and our environmental
record is tied to Canada’s weak
environmental laws.
And yet, we’re optimistic.
Over 110 countries have formally
recognized their citizens’ right
to live in a healthy environment with very real results.
learn more about
the right to a
healthY environment.
SEE pages 4 & 5
Canada could be next. For many
Canadians, the Blue Dot tour
will explain how making environmental rights part of our country’s highest law could enhance
environmental protection.
Looking at the audience, I was
inspired to see so many people
supporting this transformational
idea. There’s an environmental
rights revolution taking place
around the world. It offers a vision for a future where our laws
reflect our beliefs about what is
right and what is just. It’s time
for Canada to join.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Board of Directors
Contact us
214-131 Water Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 4M3
1.800.926.7744 x295
[email protected]
FEEDBACK
Contact editor Pierre Hamilton at
[email protected] or 1.800.926.7744, x526
Graphic design by Christa Ledding
www.christaledding.com
Charitable Business Number: 13474 8474 RR0001
Page 2 | ecojustice
Cathy Wilkinson (President), Stuart Rush, Q.C. (Vice-President), Deborah Curran
(Secretary), Ron Pearson (Treasurer), Tricia Barry, Martha Butterfield, Valerie Langer,
Murray Duncan McCaig, Judge William A. Newsom, Doug Rae, Madeleine Redfern,
Will Roush, Leonard Schein, Trip Van Noppen.
HONORARY DIRECTORS: Margaret Atwood, Robert Bateman, Doug Chapman (In
Memoriam), Honourable Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, Gregory J. McDade, Q.C.; Buck Parker,
John Rich, Clayton Ruby, Dr. David Suzuki, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
By choosing 100 per cent post-consumer recycled fibre instead of virgin paper for this
printed material, the following natural resources will be saved or reduced this year:
41 trees; 10,698 kg of wood; 131,312 litres of water; 1,668 kg of landfill; 3,236 kg of net
greenhouse emissions; 47 million Btu energy.
SOURCE: UNISOURCE.CA
Safeguarding Canada’s environment
from mining projects
This August 10 billion litres of tailings
contaminated waterways in British Columbia
at the Mount Polley mine. More than a month
after the disaster, the B.C. government had
to order Imperial Metals Corporation to stop
discharging effluent into a local creek.
This unsettling event reminds us that we need
better environmental enforcement and regulation of
mines. But there’s also good news to share, made
possible by your support.
The court’s decision means the Minister of
Environment must reconsider, with input from
the TRTFN, whether the project’s environmental
assessment certificate has expired. If it has, B.C.
must complete a new environmental assessment
before the project continues. Ecojustice continues to
represent the TRTFN in the reconsideration process.
Our lawyers have assisted groups opposing this
mine since the mid-90s. Securing a precedent took
many years and was made possible thanks to your
ongoing monthly support.
In July, Ecojustice represented the Taku River
Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN) and set an important
precedent for mining projects. The case involved
a project that may endanger one of B.C.’s most
significant watersheds.
The B.C. Supreme Court found that a decision
that construction at Tulsequah Chief Mine had been
substantially started was flawed because the province had failed to properly consult with First Nations
and violated requirements to hold a fair process.
The project would include construction
of a road that would disrupt the watershed’s
ecosystem and likely unleash a flood of other
industrial development.
B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office approved
the project in 2002, giving Chieftain Metals 10 years
to start construction. But after 12 years, the company
has done very little physical work on the mine.
The 10-year limitation prevents companies from
building projects using outdated environmental
assessments. A company shouldn’t win approval for
a project today only to build it 20 or 50 years later
when environmental factors may have changed.
Tailings pond from copper mining.
ecojustice | Page 3
THE
RIGHT
TO
A
H E A LT H Y
C
E N V I RO N M E N T
hange is afoot. Around the world,
countries are being forced to adapt to
the realities of climate change, water scarcity
and deteriorating air quality. In the last 50
years, the right to a healthy environment
has gained recognition faster than any
other human right.
It starts with you. And it ends with Canada
enshrining the right to a healthy environment
in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Now it’s time for Canada’s most powerful law to
recognize that environmental rights are human rights.
Here are three reasons why Canada needs
environmental rights.
The Charter gives each and every Canadian inalienable
rights. It ensures freedom of expression and protects
us from discrimination. It also guarantees each of
us the right to life, liberty and security of person.
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1 2
2
2
2
PROTECT
PROTECT
PROMOTE
OTE
HEALTH
HEALTH
PROMOTE
OTE
EQUALITY
HEALTH
EQUALITY
PROMOTE
OTE
EQUALITY
Canada’s patchwork of
environmental laws means that
thousands of First Nations people
across the country do not have
access to clean running water. It
also means that communities near
toxic hotspots, like Sarnia’s notorious Chemical Valley and Alberta's
Fort McMurray, disproportionately
bear Canada’s pollution burden
because governments continue
to authorize industrial sprawl in
these areas without considering
cumulative environmental impacts.
In some cases, pollution is not
even being monitored.
w w The
right to a healthy
environment could fix these
inequities by compelling
governments to recognize
that — regardless of who
they are or where they live
— every Canadian is entitled
to a minimum standard of
environmental quality.
Page 4 | ecojustice
PROTECT
Canada has surprisingly weak
rules about air pollution, drinking water safety and the use of
toxic substances. For example,
even though the Canadian
Medical Association reports
that air pollution contributes to
more than 20,000 premature
deaths each year, Canada
— unlike the United States,
Australia and the European
Union — has no legally-binding
national air quality standards.
w w The
right to a healthy
environment could
mandate the creation of
new environmental laws,
or require existing ones to
be strengthened. This will
have an immediate, direct
impact on the quality of
the air, water and land that
our health depends on.
STOP
STOP
SPTP
STOP SSTTOO
ATTA
ATCK
T
ATTACKS
ATTACKS
ATTACKS
ON ENVIRONMENTAL
ON ENVIRONMENTAL
ON ENVIRONMENTALENVIRONMENTAL
ENVIRON
ENVIRONMENTA
Rights
LAWS
RIGHTS
Rig
RIGHT
Rights
LAWSLAWS RIGHTS
FUTU
FURE
ON
Federal, provincial, territorial
and municipal environmental
laws in Canada can be rolled back
at any time. But in countries that
recognize their citizens’ environmental rights this is not the case.
Courts in many of these countries
have recognized the “standstill
principle,” which interprets the
right to a healthy environment to
mean that existing environmental
laws are a baseline that can be
improved, but never weakened.
w w The
right to a healthy
environment could stop
harmful law rollbacks —
like the sweeping changes
buried in the 2012 federal
omnibus budget bills —
before they happen, and
ensure that efforts to
protect the air, water and
land on which we all depend
stand the test of time.
ON
TURE
FU
ON
THE
PHOTOS / COLLAGED / KRIS ARNOLD / SIMON STEINBERGER / CC BY 2.0
3
PATHWAY
FOR
CHANGE
OUR SHARED VISION
All Canadians
have the Charter right to a healthy environment.
Laws and policies at all levels of government adapt to recognize this new right.
2
TOOLS FOR CHANGE
Strategic litigation
A NEW RIGHT
Individuals or public interest groups
Adding a new right to the Charter is
make the case that a government
difficult, though not impossible. It would
action or decision that resulted in
require Parliament’s approval and the
dangerous levels of air pollution,
support of seven of the 10 provinces,
contamination of a water supply, or
accounting for 50 per cent of the
another form of environmental degradacountry’s population. If that consent
tion is unconstitutional because it violates
is secured within a three-year period,
an existing Charter right (e.g. s.7: the right
the federal government could add a
to life, liberty and security of the person). A
section to the Charter recognizing
legal victory would establish that existing Charter
the right of every Canadian to live
rights encompass the right to a healthy environment.
in a healthy environment.
Judicial reference
1
Any federal, provincial, and territorial government can ask the Supreme Court to answer
important legal questions, such as whether the right to a healthy environment is implicit in the right
to life, liberty and security of the person. This process, known as a judicial reference, has been used
over a hundred times and the results are binding on lawmakers.
IT STARTS WITH YOU
Large-scale legal change starts in our own backyards. When we come together
to demand that our right to a healthy environment be recognized, we will create
a groundswell too great for our decision-makers to ignore.
Canadians from coast to coast to coast are already leading grassroots campaigns
urging their local communities to make declarations of support for environmental
rights. Learn more at www.bluedot.ca.
Some provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, already have provincial bills of
environmental rights. And as more communities join the call for action, there will be
pressure on the other provinces to follow suit. While these bills do not have the same
force as a Charter right, they send a strong signal that Canadians are ready for change.
Thank you to the Catherine Donnelly Foundation for their generous
and continuing support of the Right to a Healthy Environment campaign.
ecojustice | Page 5
Staff profile:
Fraser Thomson
When I tell people that I work at Ecojustice,
I also tell them that I couldn’t picture
myself working anywhere else.
And why would I want to? During the last three
years, I’ve received a first-class, crash-course
education in environmental law.
As a Dalhousie law student, I referenced papers
written by Will Amos and Lynda Collins. Will is
the director of the Ecojustice Environmental Law
Clinic at the University of Ottawa and Lynda is one
of Canada’s preeminent toxic tort experts and a
former Ecojustice lawyer. As an articling student,
I worked beside them – and had the opportunity
to contribute to a Supreme Court of Canada case.
Now I’m a staff lawyer in our Calgary office,
which the incredible Barry Robinson leads.
From Barry, I learn something new almost every
day. Together, our team is holding polluters
accountable and ensuring that regulators do
their job properly.
The law is a powerful way to affect change.
There's nothing quite like using the courts to
challenge multi-billion dollar corporations on a
more level playing field. That’s what the law allows
me, and my colleagues at Ecojustice, to do.
Sometimes the scale of our challenge seems
insurmountable. But then I see signs that we’re
starting to change the status quo.
You can see cracks forming in the oilsands
juggernaut. Unprecedented public opposition,
and legal intervention, has stalled pipeline projects. Many companies have delayed or cancelled
their oilsands projects. Meanwhile, British Columbians are opposing coal exports on the Pacific
coast and Ontario has phased out coal-fired power
plants. Coal, one of the world's dirtiest forms
of energy and once a staple of North American
electricity generation, is on its way out.
We’re winning. And I believe that my colleagues
and clients will continue to succeed thanks to the
generous support of people like you. We’re people
whose passion and will to exist and survive is
stronger than any force we may face.
We have one planet, and one chance to fix
things. So let’s get to it.
Protecting the Arctic environment
from offshore drilling
Since 1976, the same-season
relief well requirement has
protected Arctic wildlife
and wilderness from a
catastrophic offshore oil spill.
Energy companies must
prove they can stop a ruptured
oil well by drilling a relief well
in the same season. Otherwise,
a spring or summer spill could
release oil under the winter ice
for months and there would be
no way to stop it before the next
year’s thaw.
Without proof that they can
drill a relief well, companies
can’t get permission for their
offshore projects.
But Chevron and Imperial
Oil want to drill for oil in the
deep waters of the Beaufort Sea.
And they’ve asked the National
Energy Board to exempt them
from this long-standing requirement. Worrisomely, the Board
is considering their request and
could decide to abandon this
important requirement.
Representing WWF-Canada
this past August, we told the
Board to maintain this regulatory requirement. Our objective
is to help WWF-Canada show
the Board why the same-season
relief well cannot be replaced
with an “equivalent”.
In our letter to the Board,
we explained how removing
this requirement would erode
environmental protections in
the Arctic. We also provided
some historical context on the
same-season relief well issue,
which was reviewed in 1991 and
2011. Both times the government decided the environmental
risks of abandoning the policy
were too grave.
In 2010, oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon well leaked into
the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days.
The damage ravaged marine
and wildlife habitats. A relief
well was required to stop the
blowout. Chevron and Imperial
Oil want to drill what could
become the world’s deepest
Arctic offshore wells. Doing so
without the same-season relief
well requirement endangers
the conservation of a fragile
environment.
The Board’s decision on
same-season relief wells alone
is not permission for Chevron or
Imperial Oil to drill in the Arctic.
There are still more regulatory
hurdles. We’ll be there on behalf
of WWF-Canada, helping them
present evidence about this
IN
2010
OIL FROM BP's DEEP
WATER HORIZON WELL
Leaked into the
gulf of mexico for
87 DAYS
PHOTO / SPERM WHALE / BY: STRANGE ONES / CC BY 2.0
The damage
ravaged
ma r ine & wildlife
habitats
proposed project’s possible
environmental impacts.
There’s still time for Canada
and northerners to decide that
these projects present too
great a risk to such a unique
environment.
— Will Amos, staff lawyer, and
Delaney Greig, summer student
ecojustice | Page 7
DONOR SPOTLIGHT: William Bocock
Bill Bocock and his family were dairy
farmers in Sturgeon Country, Alberta, on
the same land his grandfather farmed in
1921. Together with his brother John, and
their families, Bill worked with the University
of Alberta in 2008 to establish the St. Albert
Research Station to ensure that their land
would remain in agriculture and contribute
to a better awareness of providing healthy
food. For Bill, the health of our environment
is directly linked to the health of people,
animals and plants that support us.
– at one time common place – have been replaced
by capital intensive high input farming, which has
negatively affected the quality of our food and the
land we use to grow it.
A believer that both farmers and Canadians play
an important role in stewarding the environment,
wildlife and the habitats that surround them, Bill
is concerned about the rate at which family farms
Bill made his first tribute gift to Ecojustice a few
years ago and considers it his way of honouring
people who really care about the environment.
Now retired and in his 80s, Bill still looks to the
future. He counts on Ecojustice to defend our air,
water and land so that the importance he places on
the environment is ensured through our country’s
laws. Bill has been regularly donating to Ecojustice
for over 15 years and enjoys making gifts in tribute
of family and friends, like his most recent gift in
honour of his godson Neil.
Discover how you can make a Tribute Gift
To learn more about how you can honour your family and friends around this
holiday season, please contact Haven Lurbiecki at 1-800-926-7744 ext. 295 or
[email protected]. You can also learn more by visiting our website at
ecojustice.ca/support/tribute-gift.