This morning, on Parliament Hill, legislation was introduced that would, if passed, permanently ban crude oil tankers from the Pacific North Coast. This caps an exciting few weeks. First, Coastal First Nations led a delegation to Ottawa, organized by West Coast and allies, to push for a tanker ban. Then, a majority of Canada’s MPs voted on a motion to support our call to ban tankers. With this much support in the House of Commons, it should be a national priority to get today’s bill passed.
- Read more about today’s promising development and what it means for communities and ecosystems of the coast.
- Click here to read the press release on this legislation to permanently protect BC's coast from oil spills.
- Click here to click here to read how Indigenous leaders applaud federal politicians for support of tanker ban on north coast (pdf).
On November 25-26 West Coast Environmental Law was invited to participate in the Save the Fraser Gathering of Nations meeting in Williams Lake. This unique gathering of nations came together and issued a declaration banning pipelines from crossing the headwaters of the Fraser River - a river that would be threatened by an oil leak if the Enbridge project moves ahead.
- Click here to read a first-hand account of the Save the Fraser Gathering in Williams Lake.
On December 1st the BC Supreme Court ruled that a lawsuit brought by the Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation can proceed as a class action. This precedent setting decision – the first class action based on Aboriginal Rights in Canada – allows the Kwicksutaineuk’s claims that the province has mismanaged fish farms to go ahead and will put the impact of fish farms on wild salmon stocks before the courts for the first time.
- Read about this precedent-setting class action against fish farms.
You can make a difference:
Citizens can and do have an impact on achieving strong legal protection for the environment. From time-to-time West Coast identifies time-sensitive opportunities for citizens to make their voices heard on important environmental law matters, including with our fellow members of Organizing for Change (OFC), a coalition project of leading environmental organizations in BC with whom we jointly select policy priorities each year. We then let our friends and supporters know how they can become involved. Sometimes these just can’t wait for the next regular edition of Legal e-Brief and you may receive a time sensitive update from West Coast via the OFC. You can let us know at any time if you don’t want to receive these additional time-sensitive updates by emailing Jeanette at
jageson@wcel.org or by following the directions at the bottom of any updates received from OFC.
- Click here to learn more about Organizing for Change.
West Coast is delighted to welcome Communications Intern, Marc Paquin. These last few weeks since Marc joined our team have been crazy with excitement, and he has hit the ground running and supported our communications efforts already on countless fronts. West Coast is very grateful to have received funding for Marc's position at this critical time, which will run until March 2011.
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