Preface
Enforcement of Canadian environmental law is a dynamic and exciting area that is playing an increasingly important role in furthering the sustainable development policies adopted by federal, provincial, and territorial governments. During the last three years, with financial support from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Alberta Law Foundation, the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL), a federal not-for-profit organization created by the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary in 1979, and its partners at the Université Laval and Dalhousie University, have organized national annual environmental law symposiums in Halifax, Calgary, and Quebec City as part of the “Environment in the Courtroom” national continuing legal education series. Lawyers in private practice; Crown counsel; corporate counsel; administrative lawyers; legal scholars, including those teaching environmental law at universities and colleges; lawyers employed by NGOs and industry organizations; law students; and environmental consultants in Canada and other countries reported that the invited presentations, discussion, and associated papers provided practical and valuable information on current and important environmental issues. The collection of papers in this book provides insights on the environmental law experience, leading judicial decisions, and the important procedural and theoretical aspects of environmental litigation in a variety of Canadian provinces and territories, as well as in the United States, a nation with a shared common law and civil law heritage.
The second volume of Environment in the Courtroom is divided into three parts that examine the following important topics in environmental law:
- protection of the marine environment
- enforcement issues in Canadian wildlife protection
- enforcement of Canadian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions laws
Environment in the Courtroom discusses significant issues and challenges in Canadian environmental law today and is intended to be a source of relevant, current, and useful information for both Canadian and international audiences, as well as lawyers and non-lawyers. The volume contains a variety of perspectives and insights from experienced and prominent Canadian legal practitioners and scholars, but also reviews experiences in other legal systems with similar issues. Because we have had legal professionals from outside of Canada participate in the symposiums, individuals in other nations interested in comparative legal studies will also find this book a useful reference on current Canadian environmental legal issues.
It is a pleasure to thank and acknowledge the numerous contributors to the volume who have shared their knowledge and experience. In particular, we would like to thank the following individuals for their extraordinary contributions: J. Owen Saunders, Jamie Benidickson, Phillip Saunders, Paule Halley. We would like to thank the law students: Akinbobola Olugbemi, Vanessa Morton, Akindele Tawoju, Joshua Hobbs, Kathryn Owad, Ramanjeet Sohal, Adewale Ajayi, Oluwabukola Agbede, Paul Reid, Laura Hall, Temitope Onifade, Christopher Phillips, Hong Feng, David Hillier, Francco De Luca, Logan Lazurko, Alexander Crisp, Tyler Anthony, Alex Ikejiani, and the CIRL Post-Doctoral Research Fellows: Chilenye Nwapi and Ifeoma (Laura) Owosuyi for their research assistance. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the administrative assistance of Nancy Money and Jane Rowe, who have contributed to the success of the second volume of Environment in the Courtroom.