Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 4 • Winter 2007
Lake Ontario
Basin Update - Canada Side
New Primer On Canadian Environmental Laws And Tools Available
By Kent Elson, Avi Grand, and Krystyn Tully: Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
In October, Lake OntarioWaterkeeper released the finalized Clean
Water Primer #2: Federal Environmental Laws and Tools: A
Canadian's Guide to key policies, rules, and procedures that protect
the nation's waterways.
The Clean Water Primer #2 is meant to help citizens and
environmental groups use existing laws to protect their
waterways. The Clean Water Primer #2 is geared towards people
ranging from law students to policy makers to activists with no
prior legal experience. Wherever possible, Waterkeeper tried to
write in a simple style and avoid technical jargon. The Clean Water
Primer #2 is not legal advice - it is a handbook meant to help you
identify some of the legal tools that are available to every
Canadian concerned about water quality issues and to help you
develop a strategy for action.
Legislation and environmental regulations are changing
constantly. In some cases, the rules are improved for clarity and to
reflect growing knowledge of environmental matters. In other
cases, substantial changes are proposed that would dramatically
change the way environmental laws protect Canadian waters.
The CleanWater Primer #2 explains the procedural tools that give
citizens access to the decision-making process, including
environmental assessments, access to information, and petitions
and submissions to government agencies. The CleanWater Primer
#2 also explains the rules that dictate what is and what is not
allowed in Canada, including prohibitions on industrial pollution,
shipping pollution, and interference with migratory birds.
In all, eleven different legal tools are covered:
- Access to Information,
- Canada Shipping Act,
- Canadian Environmental Assessment Act,
- Canadian Environmental Protection Act,
- Citizen Submissions under NAFTA,
- Environmental Petition to the Auditor General,
- Fisheries Act,
- Judicial Review,
- Migratory Birds Convention Act,
- Private Prosecution, and
- Species At Risk Act.
Waterkeeper Mark Mattson and his co-host Krystyn Tully
discussed the Primer on the October 10 episode of their weekly
radio show and podcast, Living at the Barricades. The radio show
provides an easy-to-follow overview of the different tools, the
strengths and weaknesses of some of the individual laws, and
more detail about some of the threats to environmental justice in
Canada. You can download the podcast, Living at the Barricades,
from www.waterkeeper.ca
The Clean Water Primer #2 and the accompanying podcast help
Canadians learn about their environmental rights and understand
how to use the tools and processes available to them. They also
serve as a backgrounder for policymakers and administrators
seeking to understand the importance of legal tools to the general
public - and what's at stake if these tools are weakened or lost.
You can get a copy of the CleanWater Primer #2 at no charge:
visit www.waterkeeper.ca/primer.
Contact Krystyn Tully, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper for more info:
(416) 861-1237 or krystyn@waterkeeper.ca
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