25AC-Report-en

CIAJ Annual Conference Report

Environment and the Law Protect or Develop—Is There a Choice?

October 28–30, 2025 | Vancouver, BC

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Introduction: Title Page

4. Environmental Assessment & Management

1. Key Themes

3. Environmental & Climate Justice

B. Indigenous-Led Processes

A. Environmental Assessment

C. Fast-Tracking in the National Interest

D. Bridging Worldviews

B. Climate Justice

B. Striking a balance

A. Environmental Justice

A. Pluralism and Inclusion

2. Is Environmental Law Dead?

C. Polluting Industries

D. Disaster Relief

5. Keeping Industry in Check

E. Environmental Racism

A. Anti-Greenwashing Legislation

B. The Envrionment & the Court

A. What is Environmental Law?

B. The Crime of Ecocide

C. Comission for Enviro Cooperation

D. Environmental Mediation

Conclusion: Wrap-Up

Key Themes

B. Striking a balance

A. Pluralism and Inclusion

Section 2: Environmental Law

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Pluralism & inclusion

“…we take an inclusive approach where environmental policies, practices, and laws are respectful and responsive to Indigenous peoples and a pluralistic approach where Indigenous knowledge, practices, and traditions related to the environment are restored.” - The Honourable Leonard Marchand, Chief Justice of British Columbia

B. Striking a Balance

Return to Section 1

According to Chief Justice Marchand, 2 key principles are necessary to engender meaningful change in our relationship with the environment:

Inclusion

Pluralism

making space in Canadian legal traditions for the implementation of Indigenous legal orders

integrating Indigenous voices, knowledge, traditions, and laws into the fabric of society at large.

And underlying these principles is Canada’s commitment to reconciliation.

Section 2: Environmental Law

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Striking a Balance

“[P]rosperity is highly correlated with better environmental performance. That is, at least considered through this lens, environment and economy must go hand in hand.” - Kevin Jardine, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment and Parks

The climate crisis is harming people all around the world.

A chief impediment to addressing this crisis is a resurgent focus on economic growth.

Is it possible to balance environmental protection with economic sustainability?

Return to Section 1

Over the years, massive consumption of fossil hydrocarbons (or fossil fuels) has

Listen as Kevin Jardin, Deputy Minister of Environment and Parks (Victoria, BC), explains the relationship between GDP and energy use.

• increased life expectancy,
• raised billions out of poverty,
• enabled increased resources to dedicate to environmental protection, and
• provided for flourishing democracies

“We have a growing population that is interested in increasing its living standards. You don’t get there without using resources.” - Roy Millen, Partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Section 2: Environmental Law

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Is Environmental Law Dead?

A. What is Environmental Law?

B. Taking Government to COurt

Section 3: Enviro/ Climate Justice

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What is Environmental Law?

Karen Campbell explained that “[t]he core environmental principles…remain largely unused. Mainly due to judicial timidity and the ongoing legislative ‘tugs of war’ between economic and environmental priorities. “ - Ignacia Méndez, Articling Student, BC Law Institute

“Is environmental law dead?” asked Karen Campbell, Executive Director of the BC Law Institute.

Over the years, environmental decisions have been caught between economic priorities and ecological needs.

And environmental law has not delivered the strong protection needed to balance these competing priorities.

B. Taking The Government to Court

Return to Section 2

Environmental law consists of a series of 4 principles:

Polluter Pays Principle

Precautionary Principle

Access to environmental Justice or Public Participation

Principle of Sustainable Development

Section 3. Enviro. & Climate Justice

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Taking the government to Court

“[A]s environmental issues become more politically divisive (think of the proposed pipeline between Alberta and BC, as well as federal and provincial laws that ‘streamline’, or speed up, approvals of major projects), the courts play an increasingly important role in safeguarding the public interest.” - Ruby Pyke, Law Student, University of Calgary

Return to Section 2

Courts can:

Environmental law can show up in court as:

Encourage paths forward to operationalize environmental law principles

Public Interest Standing

Deference / Administrative law

Encourage novel approaches, which may come through interventions

Justiciability / Threshold Issues

Costs

Engage with international law

Example of a high-level Judicial Approach to climate Change

Examples of Climate Action in Canadian Courts

Section 3. Enviro. & Climate Justice

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Return to previous slide

Return to Section 2

Mathur, et al v. His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario

La Rose v. His Majesty the King

Facts

15 children and youth across Canada claimed that the federal government's response to climate change violated their ss. 7 and 15 Charter rights.

7 children and youth in Ontario claimed that the province’s emission reduction target violated their ss. 7 and 15 Charter rights

Remedy Sought

Declaration and order for a climate recovery plan consistent with scientific targets to stabilize the climate system

Declaration that the weaker target is unconstitutional and an order for a science-based plan to address emissions

Trial Level

Federal Court 2020 FC 1008: Canada brought a motion to strike the claim as not justiciable, which was successful

Ontario Superior Court 2020 ONSC 6918: The province’s motion to strike was dismissed 2021 ONSC 1624: The province’s leave to appeal the motion to strike decision was rejected 2023 ONSC 2316: Applicants won on facts and justiciability, but the court did not find any ss. 7 or 15 violation because this was a positive rights case

Federal Court of Appeal (2023 FCA 241): Applicants won on justiciability and s. 7, but not on s. 15

Appellate Level

Ontario Court of Appeal (2024 ONCA 762): Court ruled this was a negative rights case and sent for rehearing

Trial scheduled for October 2026

SCC rejected appeal—new trial to be scheduled

Upcoming

Section 3. Enviro. & Climate Justice

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Return to Section 2

Courts can:

Environmental law can show up in court as:

Encourage paths forward to operationalize environmental law principles

Public Interest Standing

Deference / Administrative law

Encourage novel approaches, which may come through interventions

Justiciability / Threshold Issues

Costs

Engage with international law

Example of a high-level Judicial Approach to climate Change

Examples of Climate Action in Canadian Courts

Section 3. Enviro. & Climate Justice

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Environmental & Climate Justice

A. Environmental Justice

B. Climate Justice

C. Polluting Industries

D. Environmental Racism

E. Disaster Relief

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Section 4: Enviro. Assess. & Mgmt.

Environmental Justice

“Environmental justice is a movement seeking to ensure fair and meaningful inclusion of affected peoples and equal sharing of benefits and costs when making decisions about the environment. Environmental justice aims to recognize and seek to address the existing inequalities faced by Indigenous, racialized, or otherwise marginalized communities throughout the decision-making process.” - Environment and Climate Change Canada

The GIVING TREE

Listen to how Micaela Martinez, Environmental Justice Officer at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), used Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree to explain Environmental Justice.

B. Climate Justice

Return to Section 3

In “Taxonomy of Environmental Justice”, Robert Kueh proposes categorizing aspirational targets of environmental justice into 4 key principles:

Procedural

Distributive

informed and inclusive decision-making processes

fair allocation of the benefits and burdens of natural resource exploitation among and within nations

Social Justice

Corrective

environmental struggles are inextricably intertwined with struggles for social and economic justice

compensation for historic inequities and refraining from repeating the conduct that caused the harm

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Section 4: Enviro. Assess. & Mgmt.

Climate Justice

“Climate Justice recognizes the disproportionate impacts of climate change on low-income communities and communities of color around the world, the people and places least responsible for the problem. It seeks solutions that address the root causes of climate change and in doing so, simultaneously address a broad range of social, racial, and environmental injustices.” - University of California Center for Climate Justice

C. Polluting Industries

Return to Section 3

Climate justice solutions can be organized into 6 pillars:

Just Transition

Natural Climate Solution

Indigenous CLimate Action

Social, Racial, and Environmental Justice

Climate Education and Engagement

Community Resilience and Adaptation

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Section 4: Enviro. Assess. & Mgmt.

Polluting Industries

“The very same industries that we fight against in terms of polluting at the source of extraction and emitting greenhouse gases…are pumping pollutants straight into our homes.” - Micaela Martinez, Environmental Justice Officer, Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)

The Triple Planetary Crisis

These three interlinked elements encompass the environmental crises that humanity faces.

Climate Change

Biodiversity Loss

Pollution

According to Micaela Martinez, climate change and pollution overlap significantly, as natural and manmade greenhouse gases are not only causing our climate to warm but also harming our health.

Research also shows Canada is experiencing climate change at roughly 2x the global rate, especially in northern regions:

Gemma Boag, Director General, Freshwater Policy and Engagement, Canada Water Agency, expanded on this, bringing in the impact on our water supply:

More intense rainfall events, which can lead to water quality issues, like algal blooms

“Climate change affects the world's water in complex ways. From unpredictable rainfall patterns to shrinking ice sheets, rising sea levels, floods and droughts. Most impacts of climate change come down to water.”

Extreme weather-related events, like flooding

More droughty, particularly across southern prairies and the BC interior

D. Environmental Racism

Return to Section 3

The forest industry and climate change

Dr. Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology at the UBC, explains the forest industry's impact on climate change and biodiversity loss.

Dr. Simard also discussed the influence of forestry on GHG emissions.

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Section 4: Enviro. Assess. & Mgmt.

Combating Environmental Racism

“Settler-colonialism has been identified as the first case of environmental injustice in Canada, recognizing the forced relocation and exclusion of Indigenous communities from natural resources and environmental decision-making as symptoms of environmental injustice.” - Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)

The Aamjiwnaang First Nation has been fighting environmental racism in Sarnia, ON for decades.

62 large industrial facilities are located within 25 kilometres of the region and have contributed to markedly high rates of Acute Myeloid Lueukemia-specific mortality.

In February 2025, the Nation signed terms of reference with the federal government, which “includes the creation of a new joint committee aimed at addressing contaminants in the air, water, and soil.”

E. Seeking Disaster Relief

Return to Section 3

Bill C-226

This agreement followed the passage of An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice.

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Section 4: Enviro. Assess. & Mgmt.

Seeking Disaster Relief

“By talking to those receiving aid in climate disasters such as wildfires or urban heat domes, as well as the scientists predicting our future climate events, we can be better equipped to help all peoples living in our country, and ensure the availability of equitable and accessible care during the most desperate times.” - Dayna Rachkowski, PhD Student, University of British Colombia

Return to Section 3

In 2023, the BC Ombudsperson released a report reviewing two provincial financial support programs available to people in the aftermath of a disaster.

Emergency Support Services (ESS)

Disaster financial assistance (DFA)

Three overarching themes emerged from the report:

“Understanding the diversity of the population, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach…in the context of a disaster is critically important.”

“The capacity of these programs is completely inadequate for the scale of events that we're facing.”

The province “need[s] a much better and forward-looking plan for people who are displaced from their homes.”

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Section 4: Enviro. Assess. & Mgmt.

Environmental Assessment & Management

B. Indigenous-Led Processes

A. Environmental Assessment

C. Fast-Tracking in the National Interest

D. Bridging Worldviews

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Section 5: Keeping industry in Check

Environmental Assessment

Environmental assessment (“EA”) is a planning tool with “both an information‐gathering and a decision‐making component which provide the decision maker with an objective basis for granting or denying approval for a proposed development.” - Friends of the Oldman River Society v Canada (Minister of Transport), [1992] 1 SCR 3 at 71

Return to Section 4

B. Indigenous-Led processes

The federal EA process is set out in the Impact Assessment Act, SC 2019, c 28

Process

Indigenous Consultation

Discretion

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Section 5: Keeping industry in Check

Indigenous-Led Processes

“Before the settlers came, First Nations, Indigenous peoples were governing their lands. You need laws in order to govern your lands. You need processes in order to implement those laws.” - Aaron Bruce, Founder and Principal, Aaron Bruce Law

Indigenous-led environmental or impact assessments are designed to recognize and apply the laws of Indigenous communities based on how a proposed project affects their Aboriginal rights, title, or interests.

Examples of these assessments in environmental legislation:

Federal Impact Assessment Act, SC 2019, c 28, ss 114, 22

Environmental Assessment Act, SBC 2022, c 43, ss 5, 19(4)

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, SBC 2019, c 44, s 7

Self-government agreements in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Examples of Indigenous-led Assessment Projects

Modern treaties in BC

C. Fast-tracking in the National Interest

Return to Section 4

Examples of Indigenous-led Assessment Projects

Woodfibre LNG Project

KGHM Ajax Copper-Gold Project

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline and Tanker Project

Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership

Ksi Lisims LNG

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Section 5: Keeping industry in Check

Fast-tracking in the National Interest

The Building Canada Act “was an intent to address a structural issue that the current federal government saw in the Canadian economy and the Canadian regulatory system, where certain projects were just taking too long to work their way through the system, and they wanted to speed it up.” - Chris Roine, Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

The Building Canada Act (“BCA”) aims to streamline federal regulatory processes for projects in the “national interest” by shortening decision timelines from 5+ years to 2 years

Whether to designate a project as in the “national interest” depends on listed in BCA, s. 5(6).

Return to Section 4

D. Bridging Worldviews

While BCA still requires Indigenous consultation, speakers at the conference expressed uncertainty about how projects involving Indigenous Nations will be treated.

Speakers expressed concern that infringements may be justified in the “national interest,” while Merle Alexander stressed that “[u]pholding the constitution, uplifting Indigenous legal orders, and honouring international human rights instruments is also in the national interest.”

The current EA process includes a strong structural role for Indigenous Nations to evaluate projects and bring forward their concerns, stopping just short of consent-based decision making

But a major project designated under streamlining legislation by a delegated regulator may be approved without the comprehensive environmental and regulatory due diligence

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Section 5: Keeping industry in Check

Bridging Worldviews

“I think inclusion has to be meaningful to give effect to pluralism. Otherwise, it remains in that potential of significant conflict. Meaningfulness means reasonable time and resources and the ability to envision futures, while also addressing competing values and power imbalances.” - Aimée Craft, Chair of the Clean Environment Commission (CEC), University Research Chair Nibi miinawaa aki inaakonigewin, Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (Common Law)

According to Aimee Craft, personhood, or recognition of spiritedness and agency, is

“shifting from the idea of subcomponents of the environment, like rivers, lakes, glaciers, etc., as objects of law to actual subjects of law. In many cases, it’s inspired by Indigenous peoples and legal systems around the world.”

Examples of Legal Personhood

Examples of Legal Personhood

India

Northern Quebec

New Zealand

Courts have declared the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers to be legal persons

Bylaws and regulations from the municipality and from the First Nation mirror each other and recognize the rights of the Magpie River

The 2017 Whanganui River settlement embodies a more integrated model grounded in the Māori concept of whakapapa (interconnectedness, where rights and obligations arise from genealogical ties between humans, ancestors, and the land)

United States

The mission is to remove hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River to restore the free-flowing river as a crucial first step to restoring the health of the river

Colombia

The Constitutional Court recognized the Atrato River as a rights-holder

Another tool for Indigenous environmental governance is treaty building with the natural world.

Lake Winnipeg Watershed

Buffalo Treaty

“…we need to reassess how we view forests, not just something to exploit as things, but as part of our environment, our life support systems, and to realign our world values that follow the natural laws that are based in respect for all living things, our connections, our relationships, and looking after our home Mother Earth for present and future generations.” - Dr. Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology, University of British Columbia

Return to Section 4

Indigenous Nations have also been managing their own land with by enacting laws and entering into agreements.

Nibi Declaration of Grand Council Treaty 3

Misipawistik isihtwawina: Cree laws project

Seal River Watershed Alliance

Haida Nation’s Management of Haida Gwaii

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Section 5: Keeping industry in Check

Keeping Industry In check

A. Anti-Greenwashing Legislation

B. The Crime of Ecocide

D. Environmental Mediation

C. Comission for Enviro Cooperation

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Conclusion: Wrap-up

B. The crime of Ecocide

Return to Section 5

Anti-Greenwashing Legislation

Example

Greenwashing is exaggerated or misleading environmental or climate protection claims about a product or service by a business, including aspiration claims with indeterminate timescales or that extend far into the future

In 2024, the federal government amended the Competition Act, RSC 1985, c C-34, to introduce new greenwashing provisions requiring all companies that make a “green” claim for promotional purposes to provide evidence to support it.

Pathways Alliance ad promoting a claim about its performance and future aspirations—promise to be different in the future

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Conclusion: Wrap-up

Return to Section 5

C. Commission for Enviiro. Coop. (CEC)

The crime of ecocide

How would you define ecocide as a crime?

“‘ecocide’ means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” - Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide

“‘ecocide’ means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” - Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide

“‘ecocide’ means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” - Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide

“‘ecocide’ means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” - Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide

• severe

Impact Threshold

How bad does it have to be?

• widespread

• long-term

Absolute Liability

Recklessness

Negligence

Intent

mental Element (Mens rea)

Wrongfulness Element

Unlawful: without a permit, violating terms of permit, got permit through fraud/corruption

Wanton: so manifestly unreasonable that it would not have passed any sane environmental impact assessment

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Conclusion: Wrap-up

Return to Section 5

D. Environmental Mediation

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation

The CEC’s Submissions on Enforcement Matters is a mechanism that allows a citizen of Canada, the United States, or Mexico to file a submission alleging a failure to effectively enforce environmental law in one of the three countries.

The submission then undergoes several steps, which may include a government response and a published factual record.

Canadian Example

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Conclusion: Wrap-up

Return to Section 5

Environmental Mediation

Catherine Choquette discussed her work at the Research Centre on Regulation and Governance Law at the Université de Sherbrooke, where they are developing decision-making processes that include facilitated mediation with all stakeholders to co-construct a comprehensive solution to a given issue.

This model was developed through different projects under the title “Acclimatons-nous!”

Conclusion: Wrap-up

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Wrap-Up

“[P]rotecting the environment is the most pressing challenge of our time.”

- Chief Justice Leonard Marchand

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In sum, “[d]evelopment will continue, but the legitimacy of decision-making processes must be inclusive and ethical. It is not an ‘either/or’ between the economy and the environment. It is a question of whether both can co-exist.”

- Emma DuCharme, Law Student, Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law

This conference showcased a variety of viewpoints related to the environment and the law.

Many of these themes are explored further in 4 blog posts written by students who attended the conference.

And even more resources related to this and previous CIAJ annual conferences can be found on our website:

Indigenous people have a forever relationship with Canada, and likewise, all people in Canada have a forever relationship with the environment. If we continue on the path of reconciliation, work together, and take inspiration from Indigenous worldviews, I believe we will inevitably find the harmony we all seek and need between development and protecting the environment.

-The Honourable Leonard Marchand, Chief Justice of British Columbia

Stay updated on CIAJ's Programs and activities:

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Introduction: Title Page

Note:

None of this streamlining/fast-tracking legislation was co-developed with any Indigenous Nations.

Commission for Environmental Cooperation, “Guidelines for Submissions on Enforcement Matters under Articles 14 and 15 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation: North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation” (11 July 2012), online (pdf).

Just Transition

Transitioning from “fossil fuel-based economies to equitable, regenerative, renewable energy-based systems.”

KGHM Ajax Copper-Gold Project

• The BC government denied an environmental certificate for a proposed open-pit mine on traditional Stk'emlupsemc te Secwépemc Nation territory.
• This decision was based on an independent panel process with over 70 community experts and Western scientists, who assessed the project from their perspective.

Indigenous Climate Action

Nurturing “relationships with Indigenous communities by partnering with Indigenous Peoples in ways that respect and support their diverse ways of being and knowing in an effort to amplify their voices and promote Indigenous sovereignty:”

for more information on the science of climate change:

See the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN body that provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation

Social, Racial, and Environmental Justice

Recognizing “the disproportionate impacts of climate change on low-income and BIPOC communities around the world, the people and places least responsible for the problem.”

In July 2025, the International Court of Justice released an Advisory Opinion confirming

• The conduct of any state organ is an act of the state in the context of climate change
• The customary international law principle that states have an obligation to protect the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions
• These obligations to prevent significant transboundary harm are obligations ergo omnes

See books included in Aimée Craft's presentation about Indigenous self-governance and relationship with the environment:

Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, Aimée Craft and Hōkūlani K. Aikau, eds, Indigenous Resurgence in an Age of Reconciliation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2023).

Aimée Craft, Treaty Words: For As Long As the Rivers Flow (Toronto: Annick Press, 2021).

Aimée Craft and Paulette Regan, eds, Pathways of Reconciliation: Indigenous and Settler Approaches to Implementing the TRC's Calls to Action (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2020).

Aimée Craft, Breathing Life into the Stone Fort Treaty: An Anishnabe Understanding of Treaty One (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2013)

Section 22(1): Factors to be considered

• Positive and negative changes to environmental, economic, social, cultural & health conditions
• Cumulative effects
• Mitigation measures that are technically and economically feasible
• Impacts on Indigenous groups and Indigenous rights
• Alternate means of carrying out the project
• Technically and economically feasible alternatives to the designated project
• Indigenous knowledge

designed to help people in the immediate aftermath of a disaster by providing short-term financial support for basic needs

• Funded primarily by the province, but delivered primarily by volunteers
• Designed for small-scale, short-term events (72 hours of support)
• The investigation found that some 90% of people who were displaced and needed support needed it for longer than 72 hours.

Social, economic and environmental concerns are interlinked, and resources should be safeguarded for future generations

• Impact Assessment Act, SC 2019, c 28: mandate provisions
• Environmental Assessment Act, SBC 2002, c 43: consideration of effects on current and future generations
• Federal Sustainable Development Act, SC 2008, c 33 (repealed in 2019)
• UN Commission on Sustainable Development (1992–2013)

Ksi Lisims LNG

• A proposed joint venture involving Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government, US-based Western LNG, and Canada-based Rockies LNG
• The Nisg̱a’a Final Agreement, 11 May 2000, provides legal certainty for Nisg̱a’a, as it enables self-government and recognizes their ownership of Nisg̱a’a Lands.

recently enacted legislation to fast-track major projects:

• Building Canada Act, SC 2025 c 2
• Infrastructure Projects Act, SBC 2025, c 13
• Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, SO 2025, c 9

This region is within Canada’s Chemical Valley:

The Lambton County area that “features a large petrochemical and chemical complex that represents approximately 40 per cent of Canada’s chemical industry.”

This topic was covered by Darryl Robinson, Law Professor at Queen's University. For more information on the crime of ecocide, check out the resources below:

Darryl Robinson, “Ecocide — Puzzles and Possibilities” (2022) 20:2 J Intl Crim Justice 313.

Darryl Robinson, Justice in Extreme Cases (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Stop Ecocide Foundation, “Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide: Commentary and Core Text” (June 2021).

The Buffalo Treaty centred the relationship with the buffalo as a treaty partner.

• Initiated by the Blackfoot Confederacy in Alberta and into Montana
• Held space for the buffalo in assemblies and dialogues across their Nation
• Brought forward a treaty relationship amongst themselves, but also with the buffalo for the restoration of their keystone species that made them who they are as Blackfoot people
• See film by Tasha Hubbard, Singing Back the Buffalo

Misipawistik isihtwawina (It is the way we do things) – Cree laws project

• Misipawistik Cree Nation's framework of values and principles that guides all decision-making and conduct within their territory.
• At the center is mino pimatisiwin (the good life) connected by wahkotowin (relationships) with all living things
• This is used for their moose management strategies and interactions with the province on forestry
• They also imposed a more rigorous fishery regulation than that of the province to restock the fishery in their territory

Those who pollute should bear the cost

• Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, SC 1999, c 33:
• Preamble
• Sentencing provision (s. 287)
• Fisheries Act, RSC 1985, c F-14: indirectly referenced

Seal River Watershed Alliance

• An Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area IPCA) in northern Manitoba—a method of governance and management that gives effect to Indigenous laws that are created collaboratively
• Sayisi Dene First Nation, Northlands Dene Nation, Barren Lands First Nation, and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation are co-construction of an Indigenous legal framework for the management of the watershed

• Government withdrew all potential for mineral exploration and licensing within the Seal River Watershed by agreement with the province of Manitoba

This topic was covered by Chris Russill, Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communincation at Carelton University, and Academic Director at Re.Climate. For more information on anti-greenwashing, check out the resources below:

Melissa Aronczyk, Patrick McCurdy and Chris Russill, “Greenwashing, net-zero, and the oil sands in Canada: The case of Pathways Alliance” (2024) 112 Energy Research & Soc Science 103502.

CIAJ, “Canada’s Anti-Greenwashing Framework: From Environmental Marketing to Legal Liability” (4 September 2025), online (podcast).

For more information on this project visit the Acclimatons-nous! website.

for more information on the impact of climate change in Canada:

See Natural Resources Canada, "Canada in a Changing Climate: National Assessment Process" (2025).

Climate Education & Engagement

Furthering “education not only based on climate science but also on the ways in which climate change is deeply intertwined with a range of other social, racial and environmental issues that define our daily lived experiences.”

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 at para 114

• international law is an important constraint on an administrative decision-maker;
• international treaties, even when not implemented by statute, can help inform whether a decision is a reasonable exercise of administrative power)

Are the significant adverse effects (if any) justified in the public interest?

• Environmental assessment decisions are exercises of discretion with reference to public values (i.e., sustainability, environmental conservation, reconciliation, and economic prosperity)
• The decision is typically made by the relevant Minister or Cabinet after assessment is completed
• Sections 60–64 include factors for the Minister to consider:
• Impact that the likely effects may have on Indigenous groups and any adverse impact that those effects may have on s 35 rights
• Extent to which the effects contribute to Canada's ability to meet its environmental obligations and climate commitments
• Extent to which the effects contribute to sustainability

consultation with Indigenous groups, while seeking to implement UNDRIP, including:

• Ability to enter into agreements with Indigenous groups to substitute process or cooperatively complete a process;
• Consensus-seeking with Indigenous groups prior to making decisions;
• Ability for Indigenous groups to provide a consent or lack of consent decision to be considered by the Minister in decision-making;
• Consideration of assessments of effects, study or plan conducted by an Indigenous group;
• Dispute resolution processes; etc.

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 at para 114

• international law is an important constraint on an administrative decision-maker;
• international treaties, even when not implemented by statute, can help inform whether a decision is a reasonable exercise of administrative power)

In July 2025, the International Court of Justice released an Advisory Opinion confirming

• The conduct of any state organ is an act of the state in the context of climate change
• The customary international law principle that states have an obligation to protect the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions
• These obligations to prevent significant transboundary harm are obligations ergo omnes

Woodfibre LNG Project

• The Squamish Nation started its own Indigenous-led process because the legislative processes were not strong enough at the time. The Nation’s process caused the proponent to change his mind and implement major design changes.
• A tangible, real-world example of positive development in environmental law.

Scientific uncertainty should not delay cost-effective action to prevent environmental harm ("look before you leap")

• Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, SC 1999, c 33
• Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29: Preambles
• Impact Assessment Act mandate provisions
• Fisheries Act, RSC 1985, c F-14: factor in some ministerial decision-making
• Spraytech v Hudson, 2001 SCC 40: municipal bylaw case about pesticides in which the court held that this is not an entrench principled as law in Canada, but rather an interpretive aid to explain the bylaw at issue
• Judicial reviews: submissions made on a precautionary approach under federal environmental statutes

(most arguments failed; where applicant won, they won on other grounds)

Day 1: Ruby Pike, “Student Column: Perspectives on the Environment and the Law | Opening Conversations at the Heart of Environmental Law” (20 January 2026).

Day 2: Emma DuCharme, “Student Column: Perspectives on the Environment and the Law | Protect or Develop? What the Debates Reveal” (3 February 2026).

Day 3: Dayna Rachkowski, “Student Column: Perspectives on the Environment and the Law | Environmental Justice, Trees, and the Law” (17 February 2026).

Whole Conference: Ignacia Méndez, “Three Days to Rethink Environmental Law” (10 March 2026).

Community Resilience And Adaptation

“Resilience measures a community’s capacity to recover from a climate impact such as a hurricane, drought, or flood.” “Adaptation means reducing the ongoing and intensifying negative impacts of climate change within a community.”

Haida Nation’s Management of Haida Gwaii

• The Haida Nation advocated for the integration of scientific and traditional knowledge resulting in the protection of Haida lands, rivers and streams, and the marine environment.
• Since 1993, the Haida Nation have been entering into agreements that further their right to self-government of Haida Gwaii
• In 2025, the Supreme Court of BC declared that Haida Nation has Aboriginal Title, recognized and affirmed under s. 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, to the terrestrial and foreshore areas of Haida Gwaii, giving their title constitutional protection
• The Council of the Haida Nation v British Columbia, 2025 BCSC 1806

Environmental decisions are best made with the citizen participation and include the ability to access justice through participation and legal remedies

• Environmental assessment legislation federally and provincially to varying degrees
• Underlies environmental assessment legislation federally and in BC

See Aimée Craft & Jill Blakley, eds, In Our Backyard: Keeyask and the Legacy of Hydroelectric Development (University of Manitoba Press, 2022).

Vessel Pollution in the Pacific (SEM-23-007)

• Stand.earth asserts that Canada is failing to uphold its obligations to protect the marine environment by allowing the operation of exhaust gas cleaning systems.
• The CEC recommended the development of a factual record on 14 June 2024.

Partnership to build a treaty relationship amongst multiple Nations within a variety of jurisdictions that inhabit the Lake Winnipeg watershed

• The second watershed largest in Canada, and it crosses the Canadian-U.S. borders, four provinces, four states.
• Set out their sets of responsibilities and relationships within that territory
• Bringing together Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, Cree, and Blackfoot people into that conversation

Robert R. Kuehn, “A Taxonomy of Environmental Justice” (2000) 30 Envtl L Reporter 10681.

Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership

• This project was collaboratively developed between Manitoba Hydro and four First Nations: Tataskweyak Cree , War Lake, York Factory, and Fox Lake Cree
• Even though Indigenous assessments found significant residual adverse effects relating to the caribou and sturgeon population, the decision was based on a Canadian environmental law standards

Natural Climate Solution

Recognizing “the importance of forests and agricultural lands as critical ecosystems for equitable climate action”

designed for individuals who have lost their homes or essential belongings in a natural disaster

• However, this program does not apply to losses resulting from wildfires and only restores the basics
• The investigation found that people who were applying for the DFA faced significant delays, unclear procedures, and poor communication.
• It was not built for the level of frequency or complexity, or the compounding nature, of climate change-related events

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline and Tanker Project

• Tsleil-Waututh Nation submitted an independent assessment to the National Energy Board process based on its own jurisdiction and law.
• They expected that it would be a government-to-government decision based on the two different assessments, but it didn’t work out that way

Nibi Declaration of Grand Council Treaty #3

• First Nations in northwest Manitoba set out their values and principles in a declaration that invites people into the relationship with water, recognizing the spiritedness and agency and animacy of water itself
• While most First Nations don't have an environmental law, Treaty 3 does: Manito Aki Inakonigaawin, Great Earth Law
• This law is not an environmental assessment, but it sets out the framework for how Anishinaabek and in Treaty 3 are thinking about sets of responsibilities and obligations