Private prosecution gets a boost
There is often tension between the public’s right to commence a private prosecution, and the attorney general’s right to take over that prosecution, often in order to drop it. The Ontario Court of Appeal has given a boost to private prosecutors, ruling that they are entitled to have at least…
Continue reading the post titled Private prosecution gets a boostSeizure on consent?
When can ministry investigators seize documents outside the scope of a search warrant? During the execution of a warrant, Ministry of the Environment investigators seized approximately 100 documents that clearly lay outside the scope of the warrant. They showed one set of documents to the co…
Continue reading the post titled Seizure on consent?Video on approvals reform
Thanks to Nimonik for posting a video interview of Dianne on the Ontario approvals reform legislation.
Continue reading the post titled Video on approvals reformWas BP evil or unlucky?
Did the Gulf oil spill occur because BP was negligent or unlucky? They may have been merely unlucky; the sorts of tradeoffs that they made are likely common in the oil industry. Still, it was inevitable, given the scale of the spill, that BP would be vilified and probably prosecuted. It is …
Continue reading the post titled Was BP evil or unlucky?Time to slap down SLAPPS?
Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are lawsuits that some organizations use to suppress or punish their opponents, including public interest groups that fight proposed developments.[i] These suits used to be rare in Canada, but are now an increasing concern.[ii] They c…
Continue reading the post titled Time to slap down SLAPPS?Does pollution breach human rights?
Is heavily polluting a community a breach of its human rights? The Inter American Commission on Human Rights has agreed to hear a precedent-setting case against the United States based on environmental racism in Cancer Alley, as a breach of human rights. Heavily polluting industries are ofte…
Continue reading the post titled Does pollution breach human rights?Transit class action, EA and the St. Clair Streetcar
Curactive Organic Skin Care is starting a class action over the St. Clair streetcar. It wants to sue the Ontario government, Toronto and the TTC for $105 million in damages. Curactive says hundreds of small businesses lost money, due to delays in transit construction, and to changes in the d…
Continue reading the post titled Transit class action, EA and the St. Clair StreetcarBig climate win for Harper
Harper gambled that he could break both domestic and international law and get away with it, and he was right.
Continue reading the post titled Big climate win for HarperKyoto Protocol Implementation decision tomorrow
On March 25, the Supreme Court of Canada will decide Friends of the Earth’s application for leave to appeal. In 2006, FOE asked the Federal Court of Canada to order the Harper government to comply with a valid Canadian statute on managing climate change, the Kyoto Protocol Implementati…
Continue reading the post titled Kyoto Protocol Implementation decision tomorrowDoes law have to be so dysfunctional?
It's a debate worth having - have we allowed the role of litigation and courts to expand too much, in environmental and other fields? And if so, what should we do about it?
Continue reading the post titled Does law have to be so dysfunctional?