On June 20, the federal government unveiled a wide-ranging review of the dramatic weakening of Canada’s environmental laws made in 2012 by our previous administration and affirmed its intention to build stronger, modern environmental safeguards for nature and democracy.

Last November, in a federally-unprecedented move, Prime Minister Trudeau made public his mandate letters to Canada’s new Cabinet. 

Help us congratulate Justin Trudeau on his new job as new Prime Minister.

When a government makes changes to a regulatory framework, it takes time – sometimes years – before its actual impacts can be known. Now, almost two years since the last of the amendments came into force (the last of the Bill C-38 changes to the Fisheries Act came into effect in November, 2013), results have started to come in, and a new paper by a law professor from the University of Calgary tells us that things are not looking good for fish or the environment.

Morrison Creek is a healthy and productive salmon-bearing stream in the Comox Valley. Home to chum, coho and pink salmon, as well as cutthroat and rainbow trout, the stream also contains the Morrison Creek Lamprey, an endangered species under the Species at Risk Act (“SARA”). While it may not be the most attractive fish in the stream, it is extremely rare, living exclusively in Morrison Creek. Little is known about the rare lamprey and questions as basic as what it eats are still unanswered.  If you don’t look too hard at its mouth, it’s kind of cute. According to Jim Palmer, a stream technician and Morrison Creek Streamkeeper volunteer, it is also of great interest to the scientific community.

Photo by Rachel Gutman

“How many times a week do you get out on the river to fish?”

“That’s the wrong question…you should have asked me, ‘how many times a day.’”

You would be hard pressed to find someone with more local knowledge of British Columbia’s coastal fisheries than Roger Pinnete. Roger moved from the Caribou to the lower mainland as a child, and has been fishing along the Fraser River ever since.   

Photo by Rachel Gutman

Des Wilson and his wife Adrienne Peacock have lived in Belcarra for 16 years. Thirty-five kilometers northeast of Vancouver, the community is located along Indian Arm, a deep-water fjord. Also near their property is the terminus of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.

Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/pAKwAy 

Discussions of climate change tend to be predicated upon some far-off future. When reading about sea level rise, feedback loops, or other ramifications of global climate change, I often find myself honing in on timelines. I’m comforted by the hope that the dystopian future will be after I’m dead. Or so I like to think.

Photo by Rachel Gutman

It has been a tough wildfire year for BC. From May to mid-August, the province saw over 1,700 fires and 293,068 ha burn – an area more than three times greater than the provincial annual average. The province budgeted $63 million dollars to fight fires this season, which went up in smoke ages ago. It is predicted that the costs of this year’s season could reach $400 million.

What is at stake if we allow our voices to be silenced in decisions that affect our communities?