Time is running out for the remaining 76 orcas that make up B.C.’s Southern Resident killer whale population and the federal government should take action to intervene, say a coalition of environmental groups petitioning Ottawa for an emergency order under the Species At Risk Act.

The groups say the petition is coming now because they believe the endangered population is at a critical juncture.

“There isn’t time to wait around,” said Dyna Tuytel, a lawyer for Ecojustice, which filed the petition on behalf of the David Suzuki Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Georgia Strait Alliance, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Southern Resident population lives around southern Vancouver Island and down into Washington’s Puget Sound. The three pods comprising the population haven’t produced a calf that’s survived since 2015.

Overall, the population is at its lowest point since before a ban on live-capture for aquariums took effect in 1975.

According to Raincoast biologist Misty MacDuffee, the population is suffering from a lack of food, stress from disturbance and the cumulative effects of pollution in their environment.

“It’s gotten to the point where we’re losing healthy reproductive animals,” MacDuffee told DeSmog Canada. She says a loss like that can affect the health of the entire population.

The petition asks the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, as well as the Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc, to intervene.

The groups want more protected habitat, measures to help Chinook salmon recover, protection from whale watching boats and speed limits and noise reduction for vessels in the area, among other measures.

The ministers have been asked to impose the emergency orders by March 1.

Pressure from ships, fisheries, pollution

Chinook salmon are the preferred meal of the Southern Resident orcas. But the fish in the whales’ range have been suffering in recent decades, with 11 of the 15 populations the Department of Fisheries and Oceans adequately studied (there are 35 total) found to be in the “red zone,” indicating an unhealthy population.

Fifty-five thousand recreational fishing trips take place in the Southern Residents’ range each year, both removing fish and disturbing the whales while they forage.

Meanwhile, hunting has become increasingly difficult for the whales as noise from passing ships and boats hampers their communication and scrambles their echolocation, the primary tool the whales use to find their prey.

Finally, accumulation of pollutants such as PCBs in the environment, which mimics hormones in mammals, could be affecting the whales’ ability to reproduce.

“These things act synergistically,” says MacDuffee.

But the groups say there’s an even bigger threat.

Government dragging heels on endangered species responsibilities

“The biggest problem this species faces is a lethargy on behalf of the government, and an inability to take decisive action,” says Christianne Wilhelmson, executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance.

“I’m at a loss for saying why this government won’t act, except a lack of courage, and a lack of will .… Choosing not to decide is still making a choice.”

The Species At Risk Act fully took effect in 2004, and lays out the government’s responsibility to protect endangered species, such as the Southern Resident killer whales.

But so far, the groups say planning and bureaucracy have dominated while tangible action, such as protecting critical habitat, has been lacking. That criticism have also been levelled at the government with regard to other species, such as woodland caribou.

In 2012, the government lost a lawsuit to Ecojustice, which said Canada had failed to protect critical habitat for Northern and Southern Resident orcas within the 180-day window mandated by the Species At Risk Act.

“The government has produced a recovery strategy and it’s produced an action plan, but so far these documents are just plans to make plans,” says Tuytel of Ecojustice. “What’s needed is to actually implement what we’ve learned about the species and what needs to be done.”

Jeffery Young, senior science and policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation, agrees.

“It’s been over a decade that the government has known that these species are endangered,” says Young. “The process under the Species At Risk Act requires them to make certain steps toward recovery; however, they’ve found places within that process where they can delay. And they’ve constantly delayed.”

Since the courts found the federal government had failed to follow its own laws to protect critical habitat for the whales, the feds have approved the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain oil pipeline and tanker project, which will create a seven-fold increase in the number of oil tankers travelling through critical habitat for endangered orca.  

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc declined to comment for this story. Catherine McKenna’s office did not respond to a request for comment from DeSmog Canada.

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A potent, heat-trapping gas is being released into the atmosphere from B.C.’s oil and gas wells at a much higher rate than shown in industry and government reports and immediate action is needed, a new study by the David Suzuki Foundation confirms.

The findings, released Wednesday, follows on the heels of a previous peer-reviewed study by the Suzuki Foundation and St. Francis Xavier University, which found methane emissions from B.C.’s oil and gas industry are two-and-a-half times higher than reported.

The study revealed that wells in the Montney region, in northeast B.C. near Fort St. John, released more than 11,800 tonnes of methane into the air annually — the equivalent of burning 4.5 million tonnes of coal or putting two million cars on the road.

ICYMI: Scientists Find Methane Pollution from B.C.’s Oil and Gas Sector 2.5 Times What B.C. Government Reports

The new study investigated 178 sites in the same area and looked at origins and causes of the harmful emissions.

Researchers found that more than 85 per cent of actively producing gas wells vent methane gas directly into the environment every day, with an average flow rate of 27.1 cubic metres a day for each well tested. The vented gas is not being captured or flared and measurements showed it was almost pure methane.

Researchers also found that about 35 per cent of abandoned and inactive wells in the Montney region have significant flows of methane and hydrogen sulphide gas amounting to between nine and 11 cubic metres a day.

“While we could not determine the cause of these vent flows, we suspect much of the escaping gas is a result of issues related to well integrity. It is also apparent from our data that producers are identifying and repairing few of these leaking wells,” says the report.

B.C. Oil and Gas Commission figures show about 25,000 wells in B.C., with 12,771 reported as active gas wells and the remainder abandoned, suspended or used as water-disposal wells.

Venting at the inactive wells is continuous and there has been little effort to control the gas release, the report found.

“Every citizen in this province already pays carbon taxes to help combat climate change, so why shouldn’t the biggest polluters be required to do the same?” https://t.co/sHC8BNrkag

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) January 31, 2018

Solutions exist. So why don’t we use them?

John Werring, David Suzuki Foundation senior science and policy advisor and lead researcher on the study, said there is no doubt the oil and gas industry has a problem.

“A carbon tax on these fugitive methane emissions would hold emitters accountable, forcing them to pay for their massive contributions to our overall greenhouse gas emissions or preventing them altogether,” he said.

“Every citizen in this province already pays carbon taxes to help combat climate change, so why shouldn’t the biggest polluters be required to do the same?” said Werring, who added the Foundation will be looking for announcements in next month’s provincial budget.

In the memorandum of understanding signed between the B.C. Greens and NDP, the parties committed to broaden the carbon tax to capture “fugitive” emissions.

The study also recommends that:

• All oil and gas companies operating in B.C be ordered to immediately undertake leak detection and repair, starting with sites identified in the report.
• The province should develop regulations for mandatory quarterly leak detection and repair on all wells, including abandoned wells.
• Regulations be developed requiring industry to replace oil and gas powered pumps and compressors designed to vent fuel gas, with non-emitting devices.
• Regulations be developed for mandatory and transparent reporting of emissions and steps taken to address them, with the power to demand wells be repaired.
• Industry should be required to provide adequate resources for on-the-ground monitoring and enforcement of the measures and prioritize hiring locally affected First Nations to help with independent monitoring.

Methane emissions among most important climate problem in Canada

“These underreported methane emissions from B.C.’s oil and gas companies are among the most serious greenhouse gas problems we face in Canada, especially as our governments consider expanding the export of fracked and natural gas via the LNG industry,” said Ian Bruce, David Suzuki Foundation science and policy director.

Researchers say methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas and estimate it is responsible for 25 per cent of already observed climatic changes.

In 2016 the provincial and federal governments committed to reducing methane emissions by 45 per cent with the federal plan slated to come into effect between 2018 and 2020. But the start was pushed back to 2020 with full implementation by 2023 and regulations, now undergoing public consultations, are expected to be completed later this year.

“We are concerned that industry pressure will result in watered-down regulations when we desperately need strong leadership and strict enforcement from our federal and provincial governments,” Bruce said.

“Given how large the industry’s methane pollution footprint is, action is needed more than ever.”

Karen Tam Wu of the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think tank, said B.C. could show leadership in controlling methane emissions by improving leak detection and broadening the carbon tax to include methane leakage.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement there,” Wu said.

“Realistically, with or without LNG, natural gas will be part of B.C.’s economy and there are some real opportunities to improve our methane management in the upstream development of natural gas,” she said.

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A full public inquiry, with powers to call witnesses and gather research, is needed to investigate natural gas fracking operations in B.C., says a coalition of 17 community, First Nations and environmental organizations.

The group, which includes the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, David Suzuki Foundation, Public Health Association of B.C. and West Coast Environmental Law, is appealing to the NDP government to call a public inquiry — instead of the scientific review promised during the election campaign — because of mounting evidence of problems caused by fracking.

“We believe that the NDP’s campaign promise to appoint a scientific panel to review fracking won’t be enough to fully address the true risks of deploying this brute force technology throughout northeast B.C.,” said Ben Parfitt, a resource policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, one of the organizations asking for an inquiry.

Fracking — or hydraulic fracturing — involves pumping large volumes of water into the ground at high pressure to break open rocks or fissures and extract oil or gas.

Problems include excessive water usage, induced earthquakes, poor consultation with First Nations and the proliferation of dozens of unlicensed, earthen dams, constructed by companies ignoring provincial water laws.

The BC Greens have called on the NDP to investigate the use of unapproved dams.

The use of fracking in B.C. comes with serious implications, Parfitt said.

“We have significant earthquake activity that is being generated in the northeast of the province, with the largest earthquakes associated with fracking operations occurring in B.C., and we also have strong indications that the amount of water that is being used, and subsequently contaminated, is at a level that is not seen anywhere else on the continent,” Parfitt said in an interview.

At a Progress Energy site near Fort St. John, where, in 2015, the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission confirmed a record-setting 4.6 magnitude earthquake was caused by fracking, the company was using eight times more water than used at operations anywhere in the U.S., Parfitt said.

Coalition Calls for Public Inquiry Into B.C. #Fracking https://t.co/wxylk6DXL9 #bcpoli

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) November 6, 2017

“The water volumes are very, very significant and there is a correlation between the tremendous amount of water being used and the earthquakes that are cropping up,” he said.

BC Hydro has expressed concern about fracking in areas near major dams and a public inquiry could look at whether there should be exclusion zones, he said.

One reason for the excessive use of water in areas such as Montney Basin is to coax valuable gas liquids to the surface. The presence of the gas liquids is one reason fracking operations are increasing even though natural gas prices remain low.

Gas liquids include light oil, condensate, butane and propane. Condensate from the Montney Basin is used to dilute bitumen from the Alberta oilsands.

Air as well as water is affected by fracking and there is compelling evidence from the David Suzuki Foundation that more methane is venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations than previously reported.

“That is going to have a serious impact on our greenhouse gas emissions in the province,” Parfitt said.

Peer-reviewed research from the Suzuki Foundation found that methane pollution, largely from fracking operations, is 2.5 times more than reported by the industry and the provincial government.

Ian Bruce, Suzuki Foundation science and policy director, said the province must make controlling methane pollution a priority and then ensure the industry helps come up with solutions.

“Right now, we know that British Columbians are not getting accurate and transparent information about the real environmental damages from oil and gas activities,” Bruce said.

For First Nations, a major concern is unlicensed dams built on First Nations land without consultation.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president, said the dam-building free-for-all and effects of excessive water use by the industry is deeply troubling.

“There are still no substantive or meaningful opportunities to fully participate in decisions around how water resources are managed in our respective territories,” he said in a news release.

“We need a credible, strong, independent inquiry to get to the bottom of this,” Phillip said.

Among questions that need scrutiny are the public health effects, said Larry Barzelai of the B.C. Chapter of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Recent U.S. studies have shown increases in premature births, asthma and congenital heart disease in people living close to fracking operations, Barzelai said.

“Can we be assured that the same complications will not occur in B.C.? We think that a properly funded public inquiry, with a comprehensive and strong mandate, is needed to answer critical questions such as these,” he said.

Public inquiries in B.C., such as probes into forest industry practices, have produced useful recommendations, but the gas industry has never been subjected to such scrutiny, Parfitt noted.

Among questions the group wants addressed are:

• The extent of consultation with First Nations and whether it meets standards set by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• Public health and safety risks.
• Risks to the environment and water resources.
• Risks to critical infrastructure, such as dams.
• Increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Whether there is adequate monitoring and transparency by the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission.

During this year’s election campaign the NDP acknowledged there are questions about fracking and the party’s election platform said: “With the potential of significant expansion of gas production in the years ahead, we will appoint a scientific panel to review the practice to ensure that gas is produced safely and that our environment is protected.”

The review will include an assessment of the impacts on water and “given recent minor earthquakes in the area,” what role gas production has in seismic activity, it said.

So far, the government has not moved on the scientific review and the mandate letter, given by Premier John Horgan to Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Michelle Mungall, makes no specific mention of the review, although it could be encompassed in more general endorsements of sustainability and respect for First Nations.

Neither Mungall nor Green Party spokespeople were available to comment by deadline for this story. However, later Monday the Ministry of Energy and Mines sent along a statement from Mungall:

“The provincial government is attentive to the concerns expressed about hydraulic fracturing in British Columbia, and we respect the diversity of opinions shared with us by third parties and stakeholders.

“We will act on our commitment and appoint a scientific panel to review hydraulic fracturing in British Columbia. This will include looking at impacts on water and the relationship to seismic activity. Further details will be announced in the near future.”

In 2016, after a scientific study was published drawing a direct line between fracking and earthquakes in the Western Canada sedimentary basin, on the Alberta/B.C. border, Green Party leader Andrew Weaver called for a “moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing until there is a better understanding of its risks.”

In a September interview with DeSmog Canada, Weaver said the problem was not so much the existence of fracking, but the free-for-all approach.

“The right approach would be to pause and reflect on the cumulative impacts of our wild-west approach to resource extraction here in B.C.” Weaver said.

The Green platform called for creation of a natural resources board, which could take a detailed look at the cumulative effects.

Image: Premier John Horgan tours the AltaGas Ridley Island propane export facility. Photo: Province of B.C. via Flickr

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When it comes to developed nations Canada is a laggard on the environmental rights front. Legally speaking, Canadians don’t enjoy the right to a healthy environment like the citizens of 93 per cent of UN member countries do.

But that could all change in light of a new set of recommendations delivered to Ottawa by a standing committee tasked with reviewing the federal Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Among those recommendations were instituting legal minimums for air and water quality standards, annual reporting on the state of Canada’s environment, new rules around disclosure of toxic substances in consumer goods and the creation of special protections for Canada’s vulnerable populations including children, the elderly, First Nations and poor communities most likely to be affected by poor environmental health.

“We’re celebrating this as a first step,” Kaitlyn Mitchell, Ecojustice lawyer, told DeSmog Canada.

Ecojustice and the David Suzuki Foundation have been fighting for the right to a healthy environment in Canada since the launch of the Blue Dot campaign in 2014.

“Although it’s a new concept in Canada, what we’ve seen around the world is the right to healthy environment has spread faster than any other human right in last 50 years,” Mitchell said.

“What a right to a healthy environment means practically speaking is not a right to a pristine environment that’s free from all pollution, but it does mean a right to environmental quality that is conducive to health and wellbeing.”

The committee also recommended empowering citizens to bring legal action against government found negligent or in violation of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

“It means the government can’t act in a way that will pollute your environment so much that it will put your health at risk,” Mitchell said.

Peter Wood, environmental rights campaigner with the David Suzuki Foundation, said the language in the committee’s report could be a “game changer” for Canadians.

“Even though the individual acronyms sound boring, this is about protecting vulnerable populations, First Nations, children and the elderly in particular.”

Enshrining a fundamental right to a healthy environment means having protections that are enforceable, Wood said.

“Think about a time prior to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Wood said. “There are some things we take right now for granted, gender equity and racial non-discrimination. Could you imagine if those were left to some sort of consultation? Or were less than absolute? That’s what we’re talking about here with air and water quality standards."

The right to a healthy environment could make a big difference for pollution hot spots in Canada, such as Ontario’s chemical valley in Sarnia.

An analysis performed by Ecojustice found the right to a healthy environment has helped similar hot spots in countries like Brazil, but are not available to Canadian cities like Sarnia.

“Canada is very far behind other countries,” Mitchell said. “Ultimately what we want to see is a standalone law that all can have the right to a healthy environment.”

“That would apply across the board, to communities living near major industrial facilities like mines, and small First Nations communities living near Sarnia’s chemical valley.”

Wood added the recommendations are far from law.

“There is some political sausage-making left, “ Wood said. “It’s not a done deal.”

The recommendations will go from the standing committee to Cabinet before heading for a legal review with the Justice Department. The recommendations will then be debated in Parliament.  

“We know the last time this sort of strong protection for environmental rights was proposed, the chemical industry, powerful lobby groups, pushed back. Government will be under pressure to weaken it.”

“We know we have to get the public interested in it to make sure this sees the light of day.”

Image: Crystal Water Guest Ranch trail ride in B.C.'s Cariboo, Chilcoltin region. Photo: Ranch Seeker via Flickr

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New, groundbreaking research from a group of scientists shows B.C.’s estimates of methane pollution from oil and gas activity in the province’s Peace region are wildly underestimated.

Using infrared cameras and gas detection instruments at over a thousand oil and gas sites during a three-year period, scientists from the David Suzuki Foundation in partnership with St. Francis Xavier University recorded fugitive methane emissions being released from facilities directly into the atmosphere on a perpetual basis.

The study estimates methane pollution from industry in B.C. is at least 2.5 times higher than the B.C. government reports. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with the warming potential 84 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20 year period.

B.C. reports 78,000 tonnes of fugitive methane emissions occur each year, yet researchers found 111,800 tonnes of fugitive emissions are being released from production in the Montney basin alone — where roughly 55 per cent of the province’s oil and gas activity is occurring.

“This is the climate pollution equivalent of burning more than 4.5 million tonnes of coal, or putting more than two million cars on the road,” John Werring, Foundation senior science and policy advisor and co-author of the study said.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with the warming potential 84 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20 year period.

“It challenges claims that B.C. LNG is a ‘clean’ or useful ‘transition’ fuel,” Werring said.

Fugitive Methane Exempt from B.C.’s Carbon Tax

The research, the most thorough ground-based measurements of fugitive methane emissions ever undertaken in Canada, is undergoing final review in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

“The finding of our peer-reviewed research is groundbreaking. It shows the true magnitude of B.C.’s methane pollution problem is much bigger than previously reported by industry and government,” Ian Bruce, Foundation director of science and policy said.

“Now that we know the extent of the problem, the David Suzuki Foundation is calling on B.C.’s next government to make it a priority to get this pollution problem under control and ensure industry is responsible for being part of the solution.”

Although technology exists to identify and stop methane leaks and routine flaring, methane emissions are exempt from B.C.’s carbon tax.

According to Werring, there is little incentive for companies to address the problem.

“The reason why these things are not being fixed is simply to save money,’ he told Global News.

Next B.C. Government Must ‘Establish Accountability’ for Methane Polluters

The foundation challenged B.C. to “establish accountability and proper oversight” of the sector in a set of formal recommendations addressed to B.C.’s next government, decided upon in the May 9th provincial election.

The recommendations include committing to eliminate methane pollution from the sector by 2030, applying the carbon tax to methane emissions, requiring monthly leak detection and repair and increasing enforcement capacity across the province.

The foundation also recommends the province prioritize the hiring and training of First Nations for monitoring and enforcement positions.

“The good news is cutting methane pollution from the oil and gas sector is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to address climate change,” Werring said.

The B.C. Green Party said it will enforce the carbon tax for methane polluters, “to provide significant incentive to conduct enhanced maintenance.”

The B.C. NDP leader John Horgan said “heavy polluters that are polluting through these fugitive emissions should pay a higher price.”

The B.C. Liberals said they have a goal of reducing fugitive and vented emissions 45 per cent for facilities built before 2015.

Werring said methane pollution should be eliminated from oil and gas activities by 2030.

“The next B.C. government must establish accountability and proper oversight,” he said.

“This should include the use of existing full methane capture technologies, mandatory pollution detection and repair regulations, and the application of the B.C. carbon tax to methane pollution.”

Image: Methane emissions from a Spectra Energy compressor station. Photo: David Suzuki Foundation

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Eighty-seven per cent of known, human-caused grizzly bear deaths in B.C. are attributable to trophy hunters, who have killed 12,026 grizzly bears since the government began keeping records in 1975, according to data obtained by David Suzuki Foundation.*

In 2016, 274 grizzlies were killed by humans — the vast majority of which (235) were killed by trophy hunters.

B.C. currently sanctions a legal trophy hunt by both resident and foreign hunters. Non-resident hunters killed almost 30 per cent of the grizzlies in the 2016 hunt.

The trophy hunt has become a hot election issue with the NDP and Green Party vowing to end the hunt if elected. An Insights West survey conducted in the fall of 2016 found 91 percent of British Columbians are opposed to trophy hunting.

Meantime, the B.C. Liberals are the party of choice for international trophy hunters — who donated $60,000 to the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. to help prevent an NDP win.

The Canadian chapter of Safari Club International posted to Facebook: “NDP have vowed to end the Grizzly hunt in BC if elected. SCI chapters from CANADA and the USA banded together donating $60000.00 [sic]."

The Guide Outfitters lobby to continue trophy hunting, which attracts wealthy customers from around the world who pay as much as $20,000 for a hunt. The annual spring bear hunt began April 1.

Source: David Suzuki Foundation

B.C. Premier Christy Clark is a vocal supporter of the trophy hunting industry and a past winner of the Guide Outfitter association’s President’s Award.

B.C. has some of the weakest political donations rules in Canada, which allows anyone (including foreign corporations) to donate unlimited amounts of cash.

The New York Times recently called B.C. the ‘wild west’ of political cash and a Globe and Mail investigation revealed that lobbyists are routinely making political donations under their own names while being reimbursed by corporations — something that is illegal.

The B.C. NDP and B.C. Green Party have vowed to ban corporate and union donations if elected while the B.C. Liberals have promised to appoint a panel to review campaign finance rules if re-elected.

* Article updated to clarify data is based on known, human-caused grizzly bear deaths and does not include natural mortality (most of which is unknown).

Image source: Dogwood 

87% of B.C. Grizzly Deaths Due to Trophy Hunting, Records Reveal https://t.co/rJwE9VgcS3 #bcpoli #bcelxn17 #BanBigMoney @bcliberals pic.twitter.com/GOnF9HyCYm

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) April 12, 2017

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Above the stone fireplace in the comfortable Saanich home, photos of grizzly bears are pinned in a casual collage.

Cubs are shown frolicking in the grass, a curious bear stands on his hind legs looking through a camera lens and, jarringly, at the top, is a massive grizzly lying lifeless in the grass, eyes closed, claws digging into the dirt, as two jubilant hunters smile into the camera.

The photo, typical of those found in hunting magazines that promote the chance to travel to Super, Natural B.C. to kill grizzles, provokes a visceral response among hunt opponents and a newly-formed group wants to harness that gut reaction.

Justice for B.C. Grizzlies is led by a small core of volunteers who, for years, have tried to end the trophy hunt by arguing the facts — such as the uncertainty of population numbers, studies that show bear viewing generates far more in visitor spending than bear hunting and — what should be the clincher for politicians, but, curiously seems to be ignored — polls clearly demonstrate that British Columbians are overwhelmingly against the hunt.

In the leadup to next spring’s provincial election, the group is aiming for hearts and minds by asking B.C. voters and political candidates to consider the hunt from a moral and ethical stance.

“We are the moral high ground. We are not the scientists,” said Barb Murray, who has fought against the hunt for more than a decade.

“We can speak with our hearts…We all have a heart and a brain and we know wrong from right. We just have to stand up and be counted and make our politicians be accountable to the majority on this ethical issue.”

The hunt is outdated and archaic, pointed out supporter Val Murray.

“It’s 2016, and stopping the hunt is morally and ethically right,” she said.

Justice for B.C Grizzlies will officially launch in September and members will then start the hard work of pinning down politicians and candidates and bending the ears of friends and neighbours.

Supporters will be asked to sign a pledge to actively lobby to end the hunt, and ask candidates in their riding where they stand.

The group will work alongside others fighting the same battle, such as Raincoast Conservation, the David Suzuki Foundation and Pacific Wild, but will take a different approach in hopes of attracting those who have not thought about the morality of killing an apex predator — listed as a species of special concern by the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada — in order to put a head on a wall or rug on the floor.

In 2001, in the dying days of the NDP government, a moratorium was imposed on trophy hunting until more scientific data could be compiled, but, as soon as Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals were elected, the moratorium was rescinded.

That decision has stuck, despite the growing distaste of British Columbians and a 2004 European Union ban on imports of all B.C. grizzly parts after an analysis found the hunt was unsustainable.

Polls show the number of people who oppose the hunt is steadily growing, with an October 2015 Insights West poll finding that 91 per cent of British Columbians and 84 per cent of Albertans say they oppose hunting animals for sport. The margin of error for B.C. is plus or minus 3.1 per cent.

Along the way, hunt opponents have gathered some high profile support, including Martyn Brown, former chief of staff to Gordon Campbell and former deputy minister of tourism, trade and investment.

Brown agrees that putting pressure on politicians and political candidates is the way to “make the B.C. government bow to the wishes of the 91 per cent of British Columbians who say they don’t support it.”

Grizzly Group Takes Aim at Trophy Hunting, Sets Sights on Provincial Election Candidates https://t.co/FPHWA79mZ2 #bcpoli @christyclarkbc

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) August 15, 2016

In a column published on DeSmog Canada, Brown wrote “In our hearts, most of us know that the grisly business of trophy hunting is not right. Rather, it demeans us as the planet’s apex species.”

So, why does the Christy Clark Liberal government insist on continuing the hunt?

The two main arguments are that the grizzly population is healthy, with an estimated 15,000 bears, and the hunt puts money into the economy.

But government estimates of population numbers are based on models and expert opinions, not a count of bears, and many researchers believe numbers are much lower — possibly in the 6,000 range — and kills much higher than the approximately 300 grizzlies killed by hunters each year that the province reports.

A study by Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria and the Hakai Institute, which analyzed 35 years of grizzly mortality data, found kill limits are regularly exceeded.

At least nine sub-populations of grizzlies in B.C are on the verge of disappearing and, in addition to the hunt, grizzlies face disappearing habitat, poachers, and vehicle collisions.

“The current hunt subjects grizzly populations to considerable risk. Substantial overkills have occurred repeatedly and might be worse than thought because of the many unknowns in management,” Raincoast biologist Kyle Artelle said after the study was published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE.

Following the Raincoast study the David Suzuki Foundation and the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre requested an investigation by Auditor General Carol Bellringer, who agreed to look at whether the province is effectively managing the grizzly bear population.

Bellringer is expected to issue a report in the spring and hunt opponents are crossing their fingers it will be released before the election.

They are also hoping that the departure of Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, who has said he will not run in the election, will help their cause.

Bennett, a key member of Clark’s cabinet, has been a strong supporter of the hunt.

On the financial front, a study by the Center for Responsible Travel, in conjunction with Stanford University, found that, in 2012, bear-viewing groups in the Great Bear Rainforest generated “more than 12 times more in visitor spending than bear hunting.”

Bear-watching also directed $7.3-million to government coffers compared to $660,500 from hunters and created 510 jobs a year compared to 11 jobs created by guide outfitters.

“The overwhelming conclusion is that bear viewing in the Great Bear Rainforest generates far more value to the economy, both in terms of total visitor expenditures and gross domestic product and provides greater employment opportunities and returns to government than does bear hunting,” says the study.

However the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. is a powerful lobby and a generous contributor to the Liberal Party.

Between 2011 and May 2015 the association contributed almost $37,000 to the Liberal Party and a little over $6,000 to the NDP.

Jefferson Bray, owner of the Great Bear Chalet, in the Bella Coola Valley, in a letter to Bellringer, wrote “This global obscenity continues because it is lobbied, bought and paid for.”

Although the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. is the voice of those arguing to keep the grizzly hunt, the bulk of softer support comes from hunters who belong to the B.C. Wildlife Federation, who are afraid the end of the grizzly hunt would be the thin end of the wedge, said Barb Murray.

But Justice for B.C Grizzlies has no problem with those who hunt for food and the group has hunters among its’ supporters, she emphasized.

“I am a hunter and I have never shot a bear,” said David Lawrie, a former forests engineer with the B.C. government and an inaugural member of Justice for B.C. Grizzlies.

“And, when it comes to the government being capable of providing us with the number of bears, I don’t believe it. They can’t even provide us with the number of trees in the annual allowable cut and trees don’t walk,” Lawrie said.

This summer, the Wildlife Federation supported a call by Green Party leader Andrew Weaver to require trophy hunters to pack out edible meat from grizzly bears, but the support was immediately dismissed by hunt opponents.

“If Weaver’s bill is somehow approved, most of the muscles of the bears will be transported out of the bush and dumped into landfills in B.C. and beyond, while their heads and hides will continue to be transformed into rugs for living rooms and prizes for trophy rooms, “ Raincoast executive director Chris Genovali and Raincoast guide outfitter coordinator Brian Falconer wrote in an op-ed in the Times Colonist.

Weaver’s bill died when the session ended and a Green Party spokesman said Thursday that, ideally, Weaver wants to see a complete ban on grizzly trophy hunting in B.C.

“As the government made it clear that is not on the cards, Andrew tabled the bill as an interim measure with the goal of making trophy hunting more costly and regulated, especially for out-of-province hunters,” Mat Wright said in an email.

The major hope for reversing the legislation lies with the NDP and, so far, the party has not decided where it is going with the contentious issue.

Environment critic George Heyman said in an interview that discussions have taken place in caucus and will continue once summer vacation is over.

“We will be letting people know our decision before the election,” said Heyman.

“We understand that over 90 per cent of British Columbians oppose it and we are taking it very seriously,” he said.

It is obvious many British Columbians do not trust the government’s numbers and conservation is the first principle for the NDP, Heyman said.

“We understand the importance of conserving this iconic species and we will make a responsible decision,” he said.

Which is exactly what Justice for B.C. Grizzlies wants to see.

Image: Princess Lodges via Flickr

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The B.C. government has significantly accelerated the rate and scale of industrial development in the Blueberry River First Nations’ traditional territory over the past four years despite knowledge of alarming impacts, says a major science report released today.

“Our very life, our way of existence, is being wiped out,” Blueberry River Chief Marvin Yahey told a Vancouver press conference. “It’s devastating. It’s really impacted my people, culturally but socially also. It puts a lot of stress on a community.”

The report, authored by Ecotrust Canada and based on B.C. government data, found that up to 84 per cent of the Blueberry River traditional territory in B.C.’s northeast has been negatively impacted by industrial activity.

Almost 75 per cent of the territory now lies within 250 metres of an industrial disturbance, and more than 80 per cent is within 500 metres.

“The industrial activity has really hammered our traditional territory,” Yahey said in an interview. “It affects our hunting, fishing, camping and teaching our children our way of life. The wildlife are vanishing. Our berry picking sites are being destroyed by pathways and pipelines.”

The 86-page study, commissioned by the Blueberry River First Nations and David Suzuki Foundation, is called the Atlas of Cumulative Landscape Disturbance in the Traditional Territory of Blueberry River First Nations.

It paints a bleak picture of the total impacts of all industrial development in the nation’s traditional territory, which covers more than 38,000 square kilometers in the Peace region. 

Since 2012, the B.C. government has authorized the construction of more than 2,600 oil and gas wells, 1,884 kilometres of petroleum access and permanent roads, 740 kilometres of petroleum development roads, 1,500 kilometres of new pipelines and 9,400 kilometres of seismic lines, according to the report. Approximately 290 forestry cutblocks were also harvested in Blueberry River traditional territory over the same time period.

The disturbance atlas found that almost 70 per cent of Blueberry traditional territory is now covered by active petroleum and natural gas tenures. There are 4,676 abandoned oil and gas wells in the territory.

Several proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) lines could also extend into Blueberry River First Nations traditional territory, including Spectra Westcoast Connector, Coastal GasLink, North Montney Mainline and Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project, the report said.

David Suzuki Foundation spokesperson Rachel Plotkin called the findings both an “ecological crisis and a crisis of social justice.”

In 1979, a sour gas leak forced Blueberry River members to flee from their original reserve on the banks of the Blueberry River, with only the clothes they were wearing. 

“Everything we left behind was destroyed,” recounted Yahey. “Animals, pets, food, clothing.”

The nation was eventually moved to its current location just two kilometres away, 80 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John.

The 'Little Kuwait' of Northern B.C.

Yahey said people refer to the current reserve as “Little Kuwait” because of the flares from fracking that light it up at night. Community members have purchased sour gas monitors to ensure they will have time to evacuate if there is another sour gas leak and they have to haul in safe drinking water due to a drop in water levels they believe is caused by nearby fracking operations.

“We leave one area and go to another and it’s just as bad there today. We go to our hunting camps and [they’ve] been destroyed.”

The B.C. government ignored a September 2014 request from the Blueberry River First Nations for a cumulative impacts assessment and monitoring program that would guide decisions about land use and resource extraction, said Yahey.

“There has been no meaningful response.”

On the contrary, the chief said the province continues to approve major industrial undertakings, including the expansion of fracking operations and the $8.8 billion Site C dam.

In an e-mailed statement, John Rustad, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, said the B.C. government is aware of the Blueberry River First Nations’ concerns regarding resource development in their traditional territory.

Rustad said the government has developed a cumulative effects framework that is being applied in northeast B.C. to improve natural resource decision-making, along with a “regional strategic environmental assessment project.” Blueberry River First Nations has been invited to join these initiatives, Rustad said.

“We also regulate all industries with rigorous environmental standards, and have programs in place to protect critical habitat for wildlife and water resources, and to ensure our air is clean,” said the minister’s statement.

Yahey said the government’s initiatives are not sufficient, and that there is “a hurry for B.C. to clear everything [and] wipe everything out without acknowledging our rights.”

In an effort to seek solutions, the Blueberry River First Nations used its own resources to develop a science-based Land Stewardship Framework. The framework, which Yahey calls a “path to yes”, identifies immediate action the provincial government can take to protect areas of importance to the Blueberry and to allow industrial development “without sacrificing ecological values.”

Critical Area Slated for Fracking

The Pink Mountain area, described by Chief Yahey as a “critical area” for Blueberry River First Nations traditional practices and an area the nation has been trying to protect, is one of many zones throughout Blueberry River territory that has been slated for shale gas drilling and fracking. Pink Mountain is currently the site of intense fracking operations by Progress Energy, a subsidiary of Malayasian-owned Petronas, one of the leading liquefied natural gas proponents in B.C.

Expansion of Pink Mountain fracking operations, leading to further landscape fragmentation, will occur if a proposed privately-built transmission line is built across Blueberry River territory to link the project with hydro facilities on the Peace River, including the Site C dam. In a controversial move, the B.C. government has excluded the proposed transmission line to Pink Mountain from independent review by the B.C. Utilities Commission.

Much of the development in the wildlife-rich Pink Mountain area is occurring in a region that, until very recently, had not been subject to the intense industrial development that characterizes the landscape further to the south in Blueberry River traditional territory.

The territory overlays the Montney basin, which contains the largest shale gas reserves in the province and some of the largest in the world. While much of the gas industry currently battles low prices, the Montney's gas resources contains a high content of valuable liquids that allow companies to continue to extract the gas profitably. 

The Blueberry River First Nations are not opposed to development but want to be included in plans, said Yahey. To that end, the chief described a lawsuit the nation launched against the province of B.C. in March 2015 as a “last hope.”

The ongoing lawsuit claims that the cumulative impacts from extensive industrial development, including Site C, violate Treaty 8, which the Blueberry River First Nations signed in 1900. 

The claim asserts that Blueberry River members can no longer access uncontaminated land and resources capable of sustaining traditional patterns of economic activity and land use, as guaranteed by the treaty. These include hunting, eating moose, harvesting berries and medicinal plants and teaching children their language while on the land.

“Our backs are against the wall,” said Yahey. “We’ve tried all the time to come up with a solution. This was our only way to get them to the table to protect our way of life.”

The disturbance atlas also demonstrates that the Peace region has received a disproportionate share of the province’s industrial activity and lacks protected areas compared to other regions of B.C.

Less than one per cent of Blueberry River First Nations traditional territory is conserved in parks and protected areas, compared to 14 per cent province-wide.

While 60 per cent of B.C. is classified as intact forest landscape, less than 14 per cent remains in Blueberry territory. And almost one-half of the total area in B.C. reserved for pipelines through tenures falls in the Blueberry River traditional territory.

Photo: Chief Marvin Yahey shows the new Ecotrust report at a news conference in Vancouver.

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An elaborate charade is underway as the gun is raised and tourists listen intently to their instructions on how to react when a bear comes into sight.

Despite the gun and the presence of a guide outfitter, no bear will die that day or any other day during the official bear hunt near Klemtu, part of Kitasoo/Xas’xais First Nations territory in the Great Bear Rainforest.

“We haven’t done a very good job of actually taking wildlife,” Brian Falconer, guide outfitter coordinator for Raincoast Conservation Foundation, explains to Brandy Yanchyk in one of a series of five videos on Coastal Revival that the Edmonton-based filmmaker has produced for TELUS Optik Local’s YouTube channel.

In 2005 Raincoast began buying commercial trophy hunting tenures in the Great Bear Rainforest and the non-profit organization now holds the rights to more than 27,000 square kilometres and is hoping to raise enough money to buy all the remaining tenures.

“My hope is within the next couple of years there will be a complete end to trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest,” Falconer said optimistically.

Despite the B.C. government’s support for grizzly bear hunting, First Nations have banned trophy hunting in much of their territory and, backed by the Coastal Guardian Watchmen and Raincoast, are enforcing that ban.

“From Alaska down to California, there’s always this one rule, never shoot what you’re not going to eat, never take more than you need,” Vernon Brown from the Kitasoo/Xai’Xais resource stewardship office says in one of the documentaries that feature stunning footage of wildlife, ocean vistas and rainforest.

To meet the requirements of the licence, Raincoast is obliged to buy tags for hunting, fill out the forms and then hold “hunts.”

“For the viewing of the bear, we’ll take our hunters out, come within range and not shoot the bear,” Raincoast guide outfitter John Erickson says in the film.

Yanchyk, who has produced documentaries for the BBC, PBS and CBC, said in an interview with DeSmog Canada that she was drawn to the Coastal Revival series, funded by a grant from TELUS, because most Canadians are unaware of what is happening on the B.C. coast whether it is trophy hunting or the recovery of the humpback whale population.

“I kept hearing about what Raincoast is doing and I thought it was fascinating and I thought most Canadians who don’t live in B.C. have no idea that there is grizzly bear hunting and people don’t know that humpback whales were almost extinct — they just haven’t heard about it,” Yanchyk said.

The grizzly bear hunt makes people uncomfortable and then, judging from the online response, as they get details, they are shocked, Yanchyk said.

New video: how @Raincoast plays the #TrophyHunting industry against itself https://t.co/ZAnF2HwMnp #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/a8Hf8oaFbQ

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) June 7, 2016

The TELUS Optik series lays out the facts, but a more direct approach to the ethics of trophy hunting is taken in Yanchyk’s documentary The Price of the Prize that will air across Canada on CBC on Saturday July 16.  

“A big part of it for me is education,” Yanchyk said, who is hoping viewers will look seriously at the issue and decide where they stand.

The provincial government has persisted in its support for bear trophy hunting, despite polls that show almost 90 per cent of British Columbians want the hunt stopped. Studies show bear viewing generates 12 times more in visitor spending than hunting and creates many more jobs.

The success of bear-watching is illustrated in Yanchyk’s films, one of which looks at the attraction of white spirit bears, which draw visitors from around the world and regularly fill the remote Spirit Bear Lodge in Klemtu.

Douglas Neasloss, Kitasoo/Xai’xais Chief Councillor, explains in the one of the films why the community decided to invite tourists into their territory.

“It was really important that other people that are coming into our community might learn about the culture, learn about the territories and about these bears and maybe they will help educate people around the world about some of these issues as well,” he said.

In 2001, in the dying days of the NDP government, a three-year moratorium on grizzly bear hunting was introduced, but, within three months of the election, the Liberal government rescinded the moratorium and have not swerved from that path since.

While some scientists and environmental groups say bears are being overhunted especially as grizzly bear population estimates are vague and kill numbers uncertain, the government insists that the hunt is sustainable.

A glimmer of hope for opponents came this week with an announcement from the office of B.C. auditor-general Carol Bellringer that there will be an investigation into the grizzly trophy hunt.

A statement on the office’s website says: “The purpose of this audit is to determine if the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations are effectively managing the grizzly bear population in B.C.”

The investigation was requested by the David Suzuki Foundation and the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre.

The TELUS Optik films, which are between eight and ten minutes long, have also been uploaded on Facebook and one of the most popular, the story of Jackie Hildering, humpback researcher with the Marine Education and Research Society in Port McNeill, has been viewed 8,000 times.

The stories of Marine Education and Research Society and the recovery of the humpback whale population show that wrongs of the past — such as the whaling that almost wiped out the humpback population — can be righted, but they also contain warnings for the future.

Hildering, talking about the whales, says in the film “The fact that they are impacted by climate change, the fact that they have toxins within their systems . . . they’re a canary in the coal mine. They’re an indicator, a sentinel of contaminated seas.”

Photo by Rebecca Boyd

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A broad coalition of organizations from across Canada wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to halt construction of the Site C dam by refusing to issue federal permits needed for construction of the $9-billion project that will flood 23,000 hectares of land along 107-kilometres of the Peace River Valley.   A letter to Trudeau, signed by 25 organizations ranging from Amnesty International and the Council of Canadians to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the David Suzuki Foundation, asks that the new Liberal government live up to its promises of a new relationship with First Nations.   “Our organizations are profoundly concerned that construction of the Site C dam is being pushed ahead despite the conclusion of a joint federal-provincial environmental assessment that it would severely and permanently undermine indigenous peoples’ use of the land; harm rare plants and other biodiversity; make fishing unsafe for at least a generation and submerge burial grounds and other crucial cultural and historical sites,” an open letter released by the coalition says.   The letter urges Trudeau to rescind all permits and to re-examine the previous government’s approval of the dam, which was given despite Treaty 8 claims that it violated treaty rights.   “The people of Treaty 8 have said no to Site C. Any government that is truly committed to reconciliation with indigenous peoples, to respecting human rights and to promoting truly clean energy must listen,” the letter says.

The provincial government is largely responsible for Site C permits, but the federal government must issue permits in areas of federal jurisdiction such as fisheries, transport and wildlife. 

BC Hydro did not respond to questions about outstanding permits in time for publication.   During recent climate change negotiations in Paris, most Canadians were delighted that Trudeau linked climate change with human rights, Joe Foy, from the Wilderness Committee, said.   “The Peace River is where the rubber meets the road. This is clearly against what this government and this country stands for,” Foy said.   “The federal government needs to go on record now that, at every step of the way, they will resist this.”   Candace Batycki, spokesperson for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, one of the organizations that signed the letter, said Site C is not just another resource development project.   “The Site C dam is one of the largest resource development projects underway in Canada and its impact on the environment and local First Nations will be severe,” she said.   First Nations from the Peace River area have already asked the federal government to step into the controversy and AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde is among those who have called for a second look at the project.   Chief Roland Willson of West Moberly First Nations said there has not yet been an opportunity to meet with members of the Trudeau cabinet, but letters have gone to all ministers.   “I have to believe in my heart they are seriously considering it. They have to understand the process was severely flawed,” he said.   “They can’t talk about a new enhanced relationship and start stabbing their fingers in our eyes…There’s no doubt it’s an infringement of treaty rights,” he said.   Trudeau should understand that there are ways to produce the power, such as run-of-river hydro projects, that do not destroy the valley, Willson said.   So far, an old-growth forest has been destroyed and there are minor earthworks, “but there is nothing irreversible,” he said.   Site C still faces three legal challenges and BC Hydro has applied for an injunction against First Nations members camping at historic Rocky Mountain Fort.   BC Hydro claims the protesters have been preventing contractors from completing their work on the south bank of the Peace River since January 4 and the petition will be heard in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on February 22.   “We will still be at the camp, whatever courses are followed. This is Treaty 8 territory,” said Helen Knott of Prophet River First Nation, who is among the Treaty 8 Stewards of the Land women who have been taking shifts camping at the fort.   The group has asked Trudeau and Premier Christy Clark to suspend all approvals for logging, road building and land clearing in the Peace River Valley until all the court cases have been heard, there has been a federal review of the infringement of treaty rights and an independent review of the project by the B.C. Utilities Commission.   Knott said she is willing to be arrested, but hopes it will not be necessary as she is heading to Toronto and Ottawa next week to meet with federal government representatives.   No meetings have yet been organized, she said.   “But we want to make every effort to do this the right way. I do have some sort of hope that something magical will happen,” she said.

You can click here to read more about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and climate change.

Image: Sign on the banks of the Peace River via the ECOReport.

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My grandparents came here from Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. Although it would be a one-way trip, the perilous journey across the Pacific was worth the risk. They left behind extreme poverty for a wealth of opportunity.

But Canada was different then, a racist country built on policies of colonization, assimilation and extermination of the land’s original peoples. My grandparents and Canadian-born parents, like indigenous people and others of “colour”, couldn’t vote, buy property in many places or enter most professions. During the Second World War, my parents, sisters and I were deprived of rights and property and incarcerated in the B.C. Interior, even though Canada was the only home we’d ever known.

A lot has changed since my grandparents arrived, and since I was born in 1936. Women were not considered “persons” with democratic rights until 1918. People of African or Asian descent, including those born and raised here, couldn’t vote until 1948, and indigenous people didn’t get to vote until 1960. Homosexuality was illegal until 1969!

In 1960, John Diefenbaker’s Progressive Conservative government enacted Canada’s Bill of Rights, and in 1982, Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals brought us the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with equality rights strengthened in 1985.

We should celebrate those hard-won rights. I’m happy to have witnessed much of the progress my country has made. But there’s room for improvement. And in some ways Canada has gone backward.

When I was a boy, we drank water from lakes and streams without a thought. I never imagined that one day we would buy water in bottles for more than we pay for gasoline. Canada has more fresh water per capita than any nation, but many indigenous communities don’t have access to clean drinking water.

When I was growing up in Vancouver, Dad would take me fishing for halibut off Spanish Banks, sturgeon on the Fraser River and salmon in English Bay. Today I can’t take my grandchildren fishing in those places because the fish are gone.

As a boy, I never heard of asthma. Today, childhood asthma is as common as red hair. And half of all Canadians live in places with unacceptable air pollution.

I also remember when all food was organic. I never thought we’d have to pay more not to have chemicals in our food. Today we can’t avoid the toxic consequences of our industrial and agricultural activities. We all have dozens of toxic pollutants incorporated into our bodies.

We may think the highest rate of deforestation is in the Amazon but in 2014 Canada became the world leader in loss of pristine forests.

Surely, in a nation with so much natural wealth, we should expect better appreciation, treatment and protection of the air, water, soil and rich biological diversity that our health, prosperity and happiness depend on.

The right to live in a healthy environment is recognized by more than 110 nations — but not Canada. That inspired the David Suzuki Foundation and Ecojustice to launch the Blue Dot movement a little over a year ago.

It’s exceeded our expectations, with more than 100 municipalities passing environmental rights declarations and a number of provinces considering or committing to the idea. The next step is to take it to the federal level, by calling for an environmental bill of rights and, ultimately, an amendment to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The environmental rights campaign is also about human rights and social justice — something recognized by the United Nations, which has appointed a special rapporteur on human rights and the environment. A country and its values are measured not by the number of extremely wealthy people but by the state of its poorest and most vulnerable. Many environmental problems are tied to societal inequities — hunger and poverty, chronic unemployment, absence of social services, inadequate public transit and often conflicting priorities of corporations and the public interest — as people at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards and toxic pollution.

Canada has come a long way, but we can’t be complacent. We must work to maintain and strengthen the rights of all Canadians, to build an even better Canada. That means giving all Canadians the right to a healthy environment.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington.

Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

Image: Kris Krug

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