Bird case takes flightEcojustice’s private prosecution to protect birds from lethal building collisions returns to court on July 19.

Our case alleges that light from the highly reflective windows of Menkes’ Consilium Place in Toronto killed or injured more than 900 birds in 2008 and 2009, making it the city’s deadliest structure for migratory birds. Some of the birds killed during that two-year span were of species already in decline.

In May, we completed our case over five days in court. Menkes has now com-menced its defence. The court will determine whether Menkes took all reasonable steps to avoid the bird deaths.

The City of Toronto’s 2005 Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines specify that retrofitting windows with transparent films will solve much of the bird strike problem.

“A successful prosecution would encourage other building owners to take action to avoid this unnecessary tragedy,” said Ecojustice lawyer Albert Koehl. “If we don’t act soon, then waking up or strolling in our parks to the pleasant sounds of many of the beautiful songbirds we hear today may become a thing of the past.”

Toronto lies at the heart of one of the busiest migratory bird routes in North America, and each year, up to one million birds die in collisions with the city’s buildings. The non-profit group FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program) has documented at least 7,000 dead and injured birds – including hummingbirds, juncos, sparrows and warblers – at Consilium Place over the last decade.

Menkes bought the complex in the fall of 2006. A verdict is expected by the early fall 2011.

What a tragedy that

beautiful songbirds

are dying because of

obstructive city buildings.

I wholeheartedly support

Ecojustice in its legal

efforts to salvage the

remaining bird population.

— Christie Bentham, donor since 2001

SUMMER 2011 | ISSUE 64

“

PAGE 2 ecojustice

We are pleased to welcome our new-est staff lawyer, Karen Campbell, to the Ecojustice team. Karen (who you can get to know on page six) brings an incredible wealth of experience to our organization, bolstering what is already an all-star roster of Canada’s best environmental crusaders with added depth in one of the community’s most pressing issues – energy and mining.

Karen’s extensive experience will prove invaluable in the coming months, espe-cially with a majority government firmly entrenched in Ottawa for the next four years.

The lack of commitment to environmen-tal protection and the pro-industry agenda of the federal government signal that the fight for a greener, healthier environment has kicked into a higher gear. However, with you backing us, we will meet this challenge head-on and ensure that any plans to build the economy at the expense of our environ-ment do not go unchecked.

Your words of encouragement and your unwavering support of our work, through this and every challenge, is a constant source of inspiration. Without you, our work is not possible.

Indeed, it was both an honour and a tremendous pleasure to meet many of you at our recent Vancouver donor event and Toronto open house. I encourage those of you whom I haven’t had a chance to meet yet to get in touch – I am only a phone call or e-mail away.

It is clear to us that the environment has fallen far down the list of priorities for politicians, but this isn’t true of Canadian citizens. Our work is cut out for us, but we’re up for the challenge and will continue, on your behalf, to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we share.

The changing of seasons marks an exciting period of growth here at Ecojustice, just in time to prepare for emerging challenges!

E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

info@ecojustice.ca | ecojustice.ca

VANCOUVER: 604.685.5618214 – 131 Water StreetVancouver, BC V6B 4M3

TORONTO: 416.368.7533Centre for Green Cities, 401 – 550 Bayview AvenueToronto, ON M4W 3x8

OTTAWA: 613.562.5800 x 3382Room 107 – 35 Copernicus Street Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5

CALGARY: 403.705.0202 900 – 1000 5th Avenue SWCalgary, Alberta T2P 4V1

Charitable Business Number: 13474 8474 RR0001

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Paul Richardson, Chair

Cathy Wilkinson, Vice Chair

Mike Cormack, Treasurer

Ronald H. Pearson, Secretary

MEMBERS: John E.S. Briggs,

Martha Butterfield, Jennifer J. Klimek,

Tamara Lorincz, Judge William A.

Newsom, Will Roush, Stuart Rush,

Neal Stratton, John Swaigen,

Chris Tollefson, Trip Van Noppen

HONORARY DIRECTORS:

Robert Bateman, Honourable Claire

L’Heureux-Dubé, Gregory J. McDade Q.C.,

Buck Parker, John Rich, Clayton Ruby,

Dr. David Suzuki

WE INVITE your feedback about the Ecojustice newsletter. E-mail editor Kimberly Shearon at kshearon@ecojustice.ca or reach her by phone by at 604.685.5618 x 242

ECOJUSTICE IS COMMITTED to the use of environmentally responsible papers. By choosing 100 per cent post-consumer recycled fibre instead of virgin paper for this printed material the following savings to our natural resources will be realized this year: trees saved: 41; wood reduced: 10,698 kgs; water reduced: 131,312 litres; landfill reduced: 1,668 kgs; net greenhouse emissions: 3,236 kgs; energy reduced: 47 million Btu.

SOURCE: UNISOURCE.CA

A word from the ED

ecojustice PAGE 3

THREATENED SPECIES

Ecojustice takes caribou battle to courtCanada’s majestic woodland caribou once numbered in the thousands, but in the face of unchecked oilsands and forestry develop-ment, Alberta’s herds have shrunk to about one-tenth of their historical size and are likely to be lost from the province without intervention.

“Alberta’s herds have declined rapidly while the province fails to act and the federal government drags its heels on preparing the recovery strat-egy for this iconic species,” said Melissa Gorrie, Ecojustice staff lawyer. “We’re hopeful the court will enforce the Minister’s legal responsibility to protect a threatened species.”

The recovery plan, expected to be ready some-time this summer, is already four years overdue and will almost certainly take between three and five years to be enacted, which makes immediate protection urgent.

“It is simply not good enough to sit and wait around for long-promised protections to be rolled out. It’s clear that we need to force the issue,” Gorrie said.

The court’s ruling is forthcoming.

Alberta gives caribou the cold shoulderWhile the federal government delays its actions, the Government of Alberta continues to ignore its own responsibilities.

The province’s unwillingness to enact swift, meaningful protection for caribou was exempli-fied this spring with the unveiling of its resource development guide for northeastern Alberta – the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP).

Virtually none of the new protected areas des-ignated in the LARP include habitat areas critical to caribou survival and recovery.

A word from the ED

Ontario eyes rollback of caribou protectionMeanwhile, Ontario has dealt its woodland caribou herds a blow and undermined progress on habitat protection by seriously considering industry exemptions under its Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The proposed exemptions grant forestry, mining and hydro – among other industries – full access to woodland caribou habitat, even though the species was flagged as a “fast-track” species for protection when the ESA was introduced in 2007.

Ecojustice is investigating best ways to intervene.

No other group is as knowledgeable

about the Species at Risk Act and the legal

protection of species as Ecojustice is. They

give us a bit of hope that things can change.

I’m happy to support their remarkable work.

— Carla Sbert, monthly donor since 2008

“Photo by Larry Myhre via Flickr

PAGE 4 ecojustice

What is CEAA?The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, brought into law in 1992, is Canada’s single most important environmental law. The Act’s key purposes are to:

• ensure projects are carefully reviewed to ensure they do not cause significant adverse environmental harm;

• ensure opportunity for public participation;

• encourage sustainable development.

In short, CEAA is the tool that allows Ecojustice to stand up to mining, tar sands, and energy projects and give the environment – and the public at large – a voice when decisions are made.

SPECIAL REPORT

The future of Canada’s most important environmental law

Why is it important?The Act is a means to achieve sustainable, responsible development by analyzing proposed projects to predict their environmental cost and propose measures to reduce harm.

This law is one of our most powerful tools in cre-ating environmental pro-tection and a key building block in the success we’ve achieved.

However, legislative roll-backs have weakened the environmental assessment process – a key part of CEAA

(see What’s next?) – while the federal government’s pro-industry agenda poses new challenges and threatens future success.

Determine if mine/tar sands project needs

an EA

Identify levels of

governments and key

stakeholders involved

Determine the scope of the project’s

impact

Conduct an analysis of harm and

report results

Approve/reject or recommend

ways to reduce harm

Monitor real world impact and mitigate

harm

How do environmental assessments work?

While every jurisdiction (federal, provincial/territorial) has different formal stages, most environmental assessments (EAs) follow a typical process.

PAGE 4 ecojustice

When done effectively, EAs allow responsible projects to move forward while addressing environmental concerns and taking into consideration the communities the project will impact.

Our 2010 Supreme Court Win in the Red Chris Mine case confirmed this, until the federal government acted to undo it by changing the law itself. Read more in the case study to the right (Red Chris Mine).

ecojustice PAGE 5 ecojustice PAGE 5

Red Chris MineIn 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada de-

fended CEAA and ruled that projects cannot

be split into artificially small parts to avoid

rigorous environmental assessment.

The ruling came in response to our opposition of B.C.’s Red Chris Mine. The federal government was obligated to conduct a full environmental assessment of the mine under CEAA. However, when assessing the northern B.C. mine, the federal government unlawfully considered only a fraction of the proposal leaving out the mine itself. This move ignored most of the serious environmental consequences of the project and threatened to turn pristine Black Lake into a toxic dump for mine tailings.

Our 2010 victory would have ensured that all future major industrial projects could not escape full environmental assessment by being split into artificially small parts. After our victory however, the federal government changed key parts of CEAA to grant the federal Environment Minister the power to ignore the Supreme Court decision in favour of his own discretion.

What’s next?We oppose any further weakening of CEAA, Canada’s most impor-tant environmental law. However, further erosion of this critical law is a very real threat under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s new government, which looks to put an unsustainable economic model first – even if it comes at the environment’s expense.

As it stands, CEAA is certainly imperfect. At the same time, we know it can empower us to advance environmental protections.

In 2006, we used CEAA to stop to the Sumas II power plant – an American gas-fired electricity station that needed power lines through Canada to go forward. Canadians would have shouldered the brunt of the plant’s pollution, but thanks to our work using CEAA, the project was stopped in its tracks.

With this in mind, we are working to bolster CEAA, and are making formal submissions during the law’s mandatory review process.

Ecojustice is committed to preserving and strengthening this vital law – through the courts and by influencing government. It’s what we do!

SPECIAL REPORT

The future of Canada’s most important environmental law

Case study

PAGE 6 ecojustice

Never accuse Ecojustice staff lawyer Karen Campbell of not seeing the forest for the trees.

When she moved to British Columbia in 1998, many environmental activists targeted forestry as their focus, but Karen saw many red flags in other natural resource practices.

“I fell into oil, gas and mining issues because there appeared to be a gap, though now I think that energy develop-ment is the biggest issue facing us in B.C. and Canada,” she said.

Karen, who joined Ecojustice in April, spent the past 12 years working first with West Coast Environmental Law and then the Pembina Institute. She came to Ecojustice with one

mission in mind: to use direct legal means to affect real and positive change.

“By getting at root causes of environmental problems

– challenging laws, changing laws, calling for reform to laws – Ecojustice’s work is critical in laying the foundation we need to minimize the damage we’re causing the planet.”

More and more, Canada’s environment is being pitted against an energy-driven economy, which raises serious issues

about how industrial development impacts our land, water and air.

One particularly vulnerable area close to her heart is northeastern B.C., where more than 50 years of oil and gas development have scarred the boreal landscape.

“My sense is that a ‘wild west’ mentality prevails in northeast B.C,” Karen said. “Much more needs to be done to ensure that when oil and gas development happens, it is responsible.”

Although law reform can take years, support from Ecojustice donors helps make the wait bearable.

“Meeting people who share my passion by supporting Ecojustice deepens my commit-ment,” she said. “People really do care about the environment, and are taking action by supporting our work. It’s good to be here.”

For an extended Q&A with Karen, head to ecojustice.ca/blog.

staff profile

Karen Campbell

ecojustice PAGE 7

DFO ordered to pay up

Our case in Sarnia’s Chemical Valley took another big leap forward when we filed 2,124 pages of evidence with the court this spring.

Our evidence includes affidavits from 13 witnesses, including seven experts from around the globe. We submitted expert testimony about the environmental injustice of people living in Sarnia’s Chemical Valley, including the psychological effects of living with increasing pollution and massive industrial activities, the nature of the pollu-tion emitted and the health risks associated with exposure.

People living in Chemical Valley are exposed to a level of pollution and environmental risk that is unparalleled in North America. Canada’s largest petro-chemical complexes have enjoyed largely unfettered

growth in Chemical Valley to date, leaving residents smothered under a blanket of pollution.

We’re representing Aamjiwnaang First Na-tion members Ada Lockridge and Ron Plain in this challenge of the ongoing approval of pollution in Sarnia, and allege that the Ministry of Environment’s actions violate Ron and Ada’s fundamental Charter rights to life, liberty, secuirty, and equality.

A win in this case could help protect the health of all Canadians from dangerous levels of pollution.

KILLER WHALES

The federal court has ordered the Minister of Fisher-ies and Oceans to pay our clients $80,000 in legal costs after ruling that the government “displayed reprehensible, scandalous or improper conduct that is deserving of reproof or rebuke” during our killer whale court case last year.

In making the decision, Justice Russell noted the, “con-duct of the Respondents who, the Court found, behaved in an evasive and obstructive way and unnecessarily provoked and prolonged the litigation in this case.”

This is a very promising outcome for us. The money will be reinvested in our program work, specifically our continued work on the killer whale file. The file is still ongoing due to DFO’s appeal of one aspect of the decisive victory handed down late last year.

Appeal hearings are expected to begin in the fall.

CHEMICAL VALLEY

Defending our health by flexing Canada’s Charter

PAGE 8 ecojustice

Waterproof III investigation underwayWaterproof III, the latest installment of our ground-breaking series of investigative reports on the state of Canada’s drinking water, is set to touch down this fall.

Our team, led by lawyer Randy Christensen, is hard at work putting the report together and planning an aggressive launch to catch the attention of Canada’s decision-makers.

As highlighted in our previous report, the federal government has failed to:

• enact binding national standards for safe drinking water;

• ensure safe drinking water for First Nations;

• properly regulate bottled water;

• protect our water sources from pollution and toxic chemicals – which make their way into our drinking water.

Waterproof III will assess how far we have come (or regressed) on these fronts and give us an updated overview of what’s happening with the water we drink.

In the meantime, head to ecojustice.ca/publications to check out our latest publications, including our 2011 Victories Report.

On the horizon

Three things you can do today!

Check out the Ecojustice blog, become a Facebook fan or follow us on Twitter.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE

E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION

Follow our efforts to secure new victories for Canada’s environment by signing up at www.ecojustice.ca. Our e-mail subscription service is free to you and your e-mail address will never be shared.

BECOME A DEFENDER,

GIVE MONTHLY

Join our Defenders Club to give monthly and we’ll send you a 100 per cent recycled Ecojustice lunch tote and our sincere thanks for providing the reliable funding we need. Visit ecojustice.ca/support to learn more.

SPREAD THE WORD! TELL

YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT US

Share this newsletter or make a tribute gift for a friend. We will send them a card and newsletter acknowledging a contribution was made in their honour. Visit ecojustice.ca/support to learn more.Note: Your friends will not be added to our mail list unless they choose to join us.Contact your Donor Relations Coordinator, Jineane Payne,

at jpayne@ecojustice.ca or call 1.800.926.7744 ext 249 for more information.