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Follow us on TwitterOn January 10, 2011, the Environmental Commissioner’s released his special report “Biodiversity: A Nation’s Commitment, an Obligation for Ontario.” The Commissioner’s Press release is aptly titled “Ontario Government Missing in Action to Halt the Loss of Biodiversity.”
Environment
The Politics of enforcing laws protecting Polar Bears in Canada
January 11th, 2012 by Laura BowmanThe U.S. Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a petition at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, that Canada is not effectively enforcing the Species At Risk Act (SARA) by failing to list and protect the Polar Bear as an endangered or threatened species. Currently, the Polar Bear is listed as a species of special concern. SARA sets up a process for listing that is intended to be based on objective science (the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada or COSEWIC). Although COSEWIC’s last evaluation raised alarm bells about the future of Polar Bears, the Minister has not listed them. There are continued controversies over which population units of the Bears should be protected and how.
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Uncertain environmental impacts remain difficult to challenge
December 14th, 2011 by Laura BowmanLiard First Nation v. Yukon Territory (Minister of Energy, Mines & Resources), 2011 YKSC 55 (pdf)
The Liard First Nation is in the southeast Yukon. The First Nation participated in the territorial environmental assessment (EA) of a proposed quartz mine by Selwyn Chihong in the Howard’s pass area near Watson Lake. After consultations with Liard FN the Yukon designated office approved the environmental assessment report. There were numerous outstanding environmental questions at the end of the environmental assessment process. The main dispute in the case was the deferral of controversial water and pollution issues to licensing. The Liard FN alleged that the approval of the environmental assessment was unreasonable and breached the duty to consult and accommodate.
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Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation makes application to the Environmental Commissioner under the Environmental Bill of Rights for review of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act and Plan
October 3rd, 2011 by Paula BoutisIn 2001, the Ontario government passed legislation protecting approximately 190,000 hectares of land known as the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Moraine is estimated to provide approximately 250,000 people with clean drinking water. It forms the headwaters of 65 streams flowing south the Lake Ontario and north to Lake Simcoe, Lake Scugog, Rice Lake and Georgian Bay.1
- See The Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation Fact Sheet (pdf). ↩
Funding for Public Participation and Access to Justice: Where Are We in 2011?
August 17th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLPWhen the Intervenor Funding Project Act (IFPA) expired in 1996 there was concern that access to environmental justice would be seriously affected in Ontario and there is growing evidence that this has happened. Under IFPA, environmental groups and individuals were able to better contribute to tribunal hearings under the Environment Assessment Act and other laws because of financial assistance provided to them. We argue that participant and intervenor funding for participation in approval processes such as those created by the Environmental Protection Act, Environmental Bill of Rights, the Planning Act, the Endangered Species Act, 2007 and the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 would be beneficial and promote better decision making by government ministries and proponents. Early participation in planning can avoid surprises and controversies for decision-makers at later stages in the approval process.
Paula Boutis in the OBA’s Environews
July 14th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLPPaula Boutis has an article, written with David McRobert, in the July issue of the Ontario Bar Association’s Environews newsletter. In it, they describe the arguments recently put before the Divisional Court in a judicial review of a decision of the Ontario government to grant a permit under the Endangered Species Act, 2007 for a controversial bridge project at the Detroit-Windsor border crossing.
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