Registration for Tools Conference 2011 now open!

October 13th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLP

We’ve just launched our website for Tools 2011 and opened up registrations. Check out www.toolsconference.ca for all the details.

Tools 2011 promises top training opportunities for board, management, staff, community groups and citizen activists in 2011.

For more than a decade between the late 1990s and 2006, Iler Campbell and Prentice Yates and Clark sponsored annual Tools conferences. These were well attended and provided participants with a chance to learn from experts and share vital resources and information.

This year, we’re bringing Tools back. Our goal, as always, is to provide valuable, timely and practical information and training, to further enhance your organization’s effectiveness and help meet your goals. We continue to keep the fee as low as possible, so that cost is not a barrier for any organization.

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 Boutis

In 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

Continue reading “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”

Consultations on Approvals for the New Nuclear Plants at Darlington: what have we learned so far?

September 19th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLP

Construction of new nuclear plants at Darlington has been a controversial issue for the past five years and only more so after the tragic meltdown at Fukushima, Japan. The handling of the various consultation processes for the Darlington nuclear approvals has been an extremely complex, fascinating and frustrating odyssey thus far. It highlights some of the flaws and limitations in public consultations for environmental approvals processes for massive infrastructure projects involving expenditures of billions of dollars. This article provides a brief summary of some of the main public policy developments and related approvals processes to date and explores some of the lessons we have learned so far.

Read more (pdf).

Signing a commercial lease? Make sure you know exactly what you are getting into

September 6th, 2011 by Ted Hyland

Charities, non-profits and co-operatives often enter into commercial lease agreements without having first consulted with a lawyer.  By the time they arrive at our offices at Iler Campbell with a signed 50 or 60 page standard lease agreement (sometimes years after signing it) they often have made commitments that will have serious implications for their organizations, creating problems that likely could have been avoided if they had checked with a lawyer first.

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Funding for Public Participation and Access to Justice: Where Are We in 2011?

August 17th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLP

When 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.

Read the full article (pdf).

Duty to accommodate in Small Workplaces: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

August 9th, 2011 by Iler Campbell LLP

Small, non-profit employers frequently come to us with the impression that human rights laws do not apply to them. All employers, no matter how small or underfunded, have a duty not to discriminate and to accommodate individuals who may be experiencing discrimination in the workplace.

Continue reading “Duty to accommodate in Small Workplaces: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”