celgs bulletin - university of ottawa · of environmental law (kluwer international, 2011) and the...

Message from the DeanSustainability and the protection of the environment are important val-ues for the Faculty of Law. Not only do we have a large group of Faculty members working in the area and an active group of students interested in applying law to environmental issues, we support a variety of activities and institutions dedicated to the protection of the environment. Read about some of our activities in this newsletter that celebrates the accomplish-ments of the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability.

Nathalie Des Rosiers — Dean, Common Law Section

Message from CELGS Co-DirectorsThis past year, the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS) continued to support our partners and members in producing cutting-edge legal research in the field of environmental law and sustain-ability. This second issue of the newsletter features some of these efforts.

The CELGS and the Institute of the Environment (IE) co-sponsored two special events involving high-profile guests: His Excellency Bruce A. Hey-man, Ambassador of the United States in Canada and Julie Gelfand, Com-missioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (p.13). The CELGS proudly sponsored the celebration of the launch of “The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts” by professors Heather McLeod-Kilmurray and Lynda Collins (p.14). The Canadian Association for Environmental Law Societ-ies (CAELS), a national network established at the University of Ottawa, headed West this year - the conference took place in Calgary and brought together some of the brightest academics and professionals in the energy and environmental law fields (p. 15). Finally, the IE successfully launched an interdisciplinary “Masters’ of Environmental Sustainability” designed to train professionals to have the skills needed to transition us to a new econ-omy, to sustainable communities and to a better future (p. 6).

We hope that you will enjoy reading about the activities of CELGS faculty and students.

Nathalie Chalifour & Heather McLeod-Kilmurray — CELGS Co-Directors

In this Issue

Messages 01

FACULTY• Spotlight: Jamie Benidickson 02 • Areas of Expertise 03

PARTNERS• Ecojustice 04• IUCN Academy of Environmental Law 05• Institute of the Environment - initiatives 06• Sustainable Prosperity 07• ELSA 08

STUDENTS• Spotlight: Carla Sbert 09 • Graduate Students 10 • Spotlight: Mark James 11

EVENTS• Lunch Series 12 • Major Events 13• Book Launch 14 • CAELS Conference 15

AHEAD 16

C E L G S B U L L E T I N

CELGS BulletinUniversity of Ottawa Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability

ISSUE 1I J U L Y 2 0 1 5

2J U L Y 2 0 1 5 P A G EC E L G S B U L L E T I N

Jamie Benidickson has been a Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa since 1992. He teaches Canadian and International Environmental Law, Water law, Sustainable Develop-

ment Law and legal history. Some of his most notable publications in these areas include The Essentials of Canadian Law: Environmental Law, 4ed. (Irwin Law, 2013); Environmental Law and Sustainability after Rio, edited with Ben Boer, Karen Morrow, and Antonio Herman Ben-jamin (Edward Elgar, 2011); “Canada” in International Encyclopoedia of Environmental Law (Kluwer International, 2011) and The Culture of Flushing: A Social and Legal History of Sewage (UBC Press, 2007), short-listed in 2008 for the Harold Adams Innis Prize. His ongoing re-search projects centre on governance regimes for watersheds, biodi-versity and sustainable development in Canada, a social history of the Lake of the Woods, and the regulation of beer and breweries. Profes-sor Benidickson’s non-academic interests in canoeing and wilderness travel have also led to a number of publications, including Idleness, Water and A Canoe: Reflections on Paddling for pleasure (University of Toronto Press, 1997).

Public Policy Experience and Research: Professor Benidickson’s experience with inquiries and public policy began in 1973 when he worked as a research assistant for Professor T.H.B. Symons on a re-port for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, To Know Ourselves: Report on Canadian Studies. He was subsequently Special Assistant to the Chairman (Hon. Donald S. Macdonald) and Policy Co-ordinator for Federalism and Institutions with the Royal Commission on Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, and later assisted Justice Willard Z. Estey with his Inquiry into the Collapse of the CCB and Northland Banks. Professor Benidick-son’s other policy-related research includes co-authoring with J.R.S. Prichard a paper on “Securing the Canadian Economic Union: Fed-eralism and Internal Barriers to Trade” in M.J. Trebilcock et al eds.Federalism and the Canadian Economic Union, (University of Toron-to Press for the Ontario Economic Council, 1983). He later worked for Dean Prichard on the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Inquiry into Health Care Liability and Compensation. Additional policy research includes a background study on the history of royal commissions and inquiries for the Ontario Law Reform Commission’s Public Inquiries Project, (Kent Roach, Director of Research). Recently, he wrote an Issue Paper for the Walkerton Inquiry on Water Supply and Sewage Infrastructure in Ontario, 1880-1990s: Legal and Institutional Aspects of Public Health and Environmental History, (Toronto, 2002).

Administrative Experience: Professor Benidickson has held a series of administrative experience with academic, professional and volun-tary organizations. He was the initial Executive Director of the Coun-cil of Canadian Law Deans and then held the same position with the Council of Canadian Administrative Tribunals. From 1994-1997 he was Vice Dean of the Common Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, where he was later Vice Dean, Research. He is currently the Co-Director of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law.

Canoeing and Recreational History: A personal enthusiasm for ca-noeing as a hobby and recreational pastime developed over time into a research and writing interest. The Temagami Experience: Recreation, Resources and Aboriginal Rights in the Northern Ontario Wilderness with Bruce Hodgins (University of Toronto Press, 1989) began as an idea on the shores of Lake Temagami. Idleness, Water and A Canoe is a social history of recreational paddling. The book discusses the social, cultural, and environmental values of canoeing as expressed primarily by paddlers from Canada and the United States.

FACULTYSpotlight: Professor Jamie Benidickson

Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS)CELGS is the University of Ottawa’s forum for research, teaching, discussion and advocacy related to environmental law. CELGS aims to:• Promote policy-relevant environmental law research and teaching.• Encourage collaboration amongst faculty and students on research, teaching and community outreach relating to environmental law.• Recruit, assist and train the best environmental law researchers and students.Find out more about us at celgs, or contact us at [email protected]


Main Areas of Research and Expertise

CELGS is home to one of the largest concentrations of environmental law researchers and practitioners of any law school in Canada. Their areas of research and expertise span a diversity of domains, including water law, toxic torts, environmental justice, climate change, sustainable agriculture,international environmental law, economic instruments and indigenous law.

Full Professor, Co-Director – IUCN Academy

Jamie Benidickson

FACULTY

Associate Professor, Co-Director –CELGS

Nathalie ChalifourAssociate ProfessorLynda M. Collins

Part-time Professor, Director – Ecojustice Clinic

William Amos

Associate ProfessorStewart Elgie

Full ProfessorEllen Zweibel

Part-time Professor; Founder – Ecovision Law

Stephen Hazell

Associate ProfessorJeremy de Beer

Full Professor, Co-Director – IUCN Academy

Yves Le Bouthillier

Associate Professor, Co-Director – CELGS

Heather McLeod-Kilmurray

Manager of Law and Policy, Ecojustice Clinic

Pierre Sadik Associate ProfessorSophie Thériault

Staff Lawyer, EcojusticeClinic

Tanya NaylerAssociate ProfessorChidi Oguamanam

Full Professor, Hyman Soloway Chair

Don McRae

Professor Ed Couzens (left) (University of Sydney, Australia) taught an intensive course during the January 2015 semester as IUCN Academy of Environmental Law visitor. Prof. Couzens’ course was entitled “International Wildlife and Conservation Law’. This seminar course examined the past, present and future status of international wildlife and conservation laws and the origins and meanings of the terms ‘conserva-tion’ and ‘preservation’; significant global and regional international conventions in the wildlife context; the histories and futures of particular selected species; problems with the creation and enforcement of interna-tional wildlife and conservation laws and innovative ideas and programmes for improving the effectiveness of international laws relating to wildlife and conservation.In addition, David Estrin (right) one of Canada’s leading environmental lawyers continued to speak at conferences organized by the faculty and has thought several classes at the University over the years.


Since 1976, the same-season relief well requirement hasprotected Arctic wildlife and wilderness from a catastrophic offshore oil spill. Energy companies must prove they can stop

a breached oil well by drilling a relief well in the same season.otherwise, a spring or summer spill could release oil under the winter ice for months and there would be no way to stop it before the next year’s thaw.

Without proof that they can drill a relief well, companies can not get permission for their offshore projects. But Chevron and Impe-rial oil want to drill for oil in the deep waters of the Beaufort Sea. And they’ve asked the National Energy Board to exempt themfrom this long-standing requirement. Worrisomely, the Board is considering their request and could decide to abandon this im-portant requirement. Representing WWF-Canada this past August, we told the Board to maintain this regulatory requirement. Our objective is to help WWF-Canada show the Board why the same-season relief well cannot be replaced with an “equivalent”. In our letter to the Board,we explained how removing this requirement would erode envi-ronmental protections in the Arctic. We also provided some his-

torical context on the same-season relief well issue, which was reviewed in 1991 and 2011. Both times the government decided the environmental risks of abandoning the policy were too grave. In 2010, oil from BP’s Deep water Horizon well leaked into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days. The damage ravaged marine and wildlife habitats. A relief well was required to stop the blowout. Chevron and Imperial oil want to drill what could become the world’s deep-est Arctic offshore wells. Doing so without the same-season reliefwell requirement endangers the conservation of a fragile environ-ment. The Board’s decision on same-season relief wells aloneis not permission for Chevron or Imperialoil to drill in the Arctic.There are still more regulatory hurdles. We’ll be there on behalfof WWF-Canada, helping them present evidence about this pro-posed project’s possible environmental impacts. There’s still time for Canada and northerners to decide thatthese projects present too great a risk to such a uniqueenvironment. — Will Amos, staff lawyer, and Delaney Greig, summer student

Ecojustice Environmental Law ClinicPARTNERS

Please visit Ecojustice’s website and read the Latest Newsletter.


PARTNERS

Last July, the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law held an-other successful Annual Colloquium in Tarragona, Spain at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, on the theme of energy with par-

ticipation of over 300 environmental law scholars and graduate stu-dents from over 40 countries in different parts of the world. The two Pre-Colloquium Workshops (Research Workshop and Teach-ing Workshop) organized by the Academy’s Research Committee and Capacity & Teaching Committee also attracted large numbers of attendance for both Workshops. The Graduate Students Forum addressed the topic of “Professional Perspectives: What to do af-ter the PhD?” and looked at different career directions that can be followed after the thesis dissertation. It was very well attended and students benefited from learning from Professors Jamie Benidick-son (University of Ottawa), Nilufer Oral (Istanbul Bilgi University); Melissa Powers (Lewis & Clark Law School) and David Estrin (Legal Practitioner in environmental Law and Visiting Professor at Univer-sity of Ottawa and University of Toronto). We were particularly grateful to Dean Nathalie Des Rosiers who joined us at the Collo-quium and chaired a plenary session on Energy Transition, Policies and Fundamental Rights.

Another momentous event for the Academy was the launch of the “Essential Readings in Environmental Law” project in April 2014. This is an ongoing project under the direction of Professor Yves Le Bouthillier. Currently, 45 essential reading recommendations on various topics of environmental law by environmental law scholars in their areas of expertise from different parts of the world are made available on the Academy’s website www.iucnael.org.

The Academy had just held a very successful “Training the Teach-ers” course in environmental law in Manila, Philippines. This project was sponsored by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and 26 par-ticipants (law professors from 8 Asian countries) took part in the five-day training course.

This year, the Academy’s 13th Annual Colloquium on the theme of forest and marine biodiversity will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia at Atma Jaya Catholic University from September 7-12.

IUCN Academy of Environmental Law

Graduate Students Forum at the Tarragona Colloquium in Spain (Summer 2014)


PARTNERS

The Institute of the Environment now offers a master’s level Collaborative Program in Environmental Sustain-ability and an interdisciplinary Master of Science (MSc) in

Environmental Sustainability. The MSc is aimed at providing future professionals and scholars with the skills and capacities needed to develop effective regulatory and policy solutions to today’s complex, multi-dimensional environmental problems. Students will gain foundational knowledge relevant to environmental sus-tainability from science, law, economics and policy; learn a set of methodological skills for synthesizing and integrating knowledge from these disciplines; and, apply this knowledge and these inte-gration skills to today’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Two options are available : the M.Sc. with thesis and the M.Sc. with research paper. Both options can be taken full-time or part-time (except that all students will have to complete the first session full-time). The MSc with research paper option can be completed in 12 months of full-time study, and the MSc with thesis option can be completed in 24 months of full-time study. Students in the MSc with research paper option may register for an additional session of full-time study if needed to fulfill the program requirements

- Download the brochure here

Master’s of

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

PRAGMATIC. RIGOUROUS. REAL.

Institute of the Environment - successfully launched its new and unique Master’s Program!


PARTNERS

Sustainable Prosperity

A Breakout Year for Green Bonds - Addressing climate change is going to require a lot of investment. The International Energy Agency estimates that the tran-

sition to a global low carbon economy will require upwards of US$53-trillion in cumulative investment in energy supply and energy efficiency by 2035. The National Round Table on the En-vironment and the Economy estimated in 2012 that an “annual investment on the order of $13 to $17 billion” was required in Canada to achieve our climate change objectives.

So, there are large investment needs…but the good news is that we are not starting from scratch. Investment is a constant in our economies, and the tools to orient that investment towards better environmental outcomes already exist.

A case in point is bonds – which can be thought of as IOUs be-tween the issue and investor. You buy a bond, and you receive a stream of income back from the issuer. Bonds, as an investment vehicle, are almost perfectly suited to the needs of a low-carbon economy. Much of the needed investment is in infrastructure, which is capital-intensive and returning a long-term flow of reve-nues back to bond holders. And bond markets are big: outstand-ing bonds total over US$150 trillion globally, and the US bond market trades over US$800 billion each day.

Using bonds to achieve environmental outcomes is starting to happen more and more. As detailed in Sustainable Prosperity’s recent report, 2014 has been a breakout year for green bonds, with new issues totalling almost US$40 billion globally. That is the number for what are called “labelled green bonds”, meaning they are explicitly called green by the issuer and have specific environmental criteria built into them. A much larger set of bonds called “climate-themed” bonds captures those that do not have an explicit green label attached to them, but which are designed – in the activities they are used to fund – to deliver environmental outcomes.

In Canada, the green bonds news has been made by three new players. First, the Export Development Corporation issued a US$300 million AAA rated green bond to fund environmental

projects. Then, TD Bank issued its first green bond, totalling C$500 million, and finally the province of Ontario issued its first green bond and raised C$500-million as part of its regular financing activities. Ontario plans on using proceeds from their bond to fund the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit project.

In all cases, the bond issues were over-subscribed, which reflects growing demand for green bonds from investors. In fact, what we are seeing from the investment side are two dynamics: first, “green” investors are seeing in green bonds a way to access an asset class that has not always matched their investment objectives, and second, traditional investors are moving into green investment using a vehicle in which they have history and confidence. For the issuer of the bonds, diversifying the investor base is seen as a good thing as it drives greater demand and higher prices.

As the market has grown, so too have concerns over the po-tential for greenwashing around the bonds. How can investors be assured that the proceeds generated by the bond are being applied to environmentally-beneficial activities? To address that question, efforts are being made to create standards for green bond activities and transparency. That’s a start, but the stakes are high, both in terms of the investment needed and in terms of the credibility of the institutions involved. Green bonds are building real momentum right now, and we need to ensure that they don’t stumble at the gate. Getting it right on green bonds will go a long way to help us achieve the low-carbon future we want and need.

Alex Wood, Senior Director, Policy and Markets, Sustain-able Prosperity


PARTNERS

Environmental Law Students’ Association

The Environmental Law Students’ Association (ELSA) is

a student-run group based at the University of Ottawa.

The group’s primary goals are to promote awareness

of environmental law issues and to provide opportunities for

members to apply their legal skills toward bettering our local,

national, and global environment. This year, ELSA held various

events aimed at raising awareness about the fact that environ-

mental law is far more than mere green activism. In September,

ELSA participated in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

where students spent the morning cleaning up parts of the

Ottawa River.

Also, ELSA organized a panel on ‘Careers in Environmental

Law’ where practitioners from the private, non-for-profit, and

government sector gave students insight and advice on how to

achieve their career goals. Furthermore, the panel provided a

chance for students to learn about the different career paths in

environmental law. Most recently, ELSA organized a success-

ful fundraiser for the Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic

by showing a documentary about climate change and social

movements. William Amos, Director of the Clinic, gave a short

talk about the clinic and student opportunities.

Upper Picture: ELSA Students at the Ottawa River participating in the “Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup”.

Bottom Picture: “Panel on Careers in Environmental Law” - Panelists from left to right: Theresa McClenaghan (CELA); Anne Daniel (Department of Justice); Charles Birchall (Willms&Shier LLP); Stephen Hazell (University of Ottawa).

Next year, Iman Hosseini, ELSA Vice-President is looking

at organizing a TEDx event which will bring together

a number of professors from the Faculty of Law (and

members of CELGS) as well as judges in Ottawa to speak about

different issues, including Environmental Justice. This year’s TED

talk featured a general social justice theme with a high student

presence among the speakers. Check the CELGS website for

updates!

Looking Ahead

Iman Hosseini, ELSA VP at the TEDx event he organized this year in collabo-ration with the SFUO.


Carla Sbert is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. She was born in Mexico City and has lived in Canada since 1998. Carla has an honours

degree in law from the Mexican university ITAM and a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School.

Over nearly twenty years, Carla worked in diverse settings with a focus on sustainable development, environmental law and policy. Early on she was with the Mexican government, then a law firm in Mexico City and in New York, and Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company. Carla came to Canada to work at the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation in Montreal, where she devoted six years to preparing ‘factual records’ on citizen allegations of government failures to effectively enforce their environmental laws. During another six-year tenure at Nature Canada, she managed the organization’s international program and led on policy and legal issues related to protected areas, migratory birds and species at risk, and environmental assessment of major resource projects. She has also worked as a consultant, including for the World Bank.

While rich, challenging and engaging, Carla’s professional expe-rience has led her to question the ability of environmental law

to address the deepening ecological crisis. Inspired by the work of Geoffrey Garver on ecological law and degrowth, she became interested in these new paradigms. Unexpectedly, degrowth has brought back many of the radical ideas that Carla heard debated by her father and his friend Ivan Illich when she was growing up. Both have passed, but their critiques of progress, development and industrial society inform and inspire Carla’s work today.

Through her research, Carla wants to contribute to the develop-ment and debate of ecological law, exploring the role law can play in the transition from the current economic-growth-based society to one based on ecological justice and ecological integrity. She has begun to examine the challenges of transitioning to ecological law in two papers: “The Nunavut Wildlife Act from the Lens of Ecolog-ical Law”, which is being considered for publication by a peer-re-viewed journal, and “Re-imagining Mining: The Earth Charter as a Guide for Ecological Mining Reform”, forthcoming in the 6th issue of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law e-Journal.

Carla’s doctoral studies are supported by a SSHRC–Joseph Ar-mand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholarship – and a University of Ottawa Excellence Scholarship. Her supervisors are Professor Heather McLeod-Kilmurray and Professor Nathalie Chalifour. She credits their support and guidance, as well as that of Professor So-phie Thériault (who is also part of her committee), for her highly stimulating and rewarding student experience so far.

Ecological law is a new field of research, offering many possibili-ties to focus doctoral research. Carla is considering other topics, but she will most likely devote her doctoral thesis to examining the obstacles and opportunities for ecological law reform in the Canadian mining context. If so, her thesis will identify the key prin-ciples of ecological law from the existing scholarship on ecological law, critique Canadian mining law based on those principles, and identify the fundamental contradictions and consistencies between them. A case study examining potential mineral development in the area known as the Ring of Fire will further explore the chal-lenges and opportunities identified in the critique. The thesis will propose concrete legal changes to create a system of ecological Canadian resources law, including specific recommendations for the case study region.

Carla is under no illusion that a transition to ecological law will be easy. She describes it as “a pragmatist’s nightmare.” Still, she believes we need to develop alternative legal tools and is currently interested more in what ecological law looks like, than on the mainly political question of whether it is feasible or not.

STUDENTSGraduate Student Spotlight: Carla Sbert


STUDENTSCurrent Graduate StudentsThese profiles represent just a few of the many graduate students working in envi-ronmental law

Alexandre Lilo, Ph.D. CandidateAlexandre’s research covers water law in Canada and Europe. His doctoral dissertation deals with problematic dimensions and multidisciplinary aspects associated with water and aims at exploring responses available through the Canadian justice sys-tem. Alexandre is particularly interested in transboundary water issues considering it is a natural resource with social and political characteristics.

Dmitry Fedosov, Ph.D. CandidateDmitry’s main area of interest lies in the domain of climate change regulations with a particular focus on emissions trading systems and mechanisms allowing efficient interactions between them. He has work experience at the Prosecutor’s Office in Russia, including the branch supervising compliance with the Environmental Law by governmental and private organizations. Previously Dmitry conducted research in England, where he was a recipient of an International Merit Scholarship, focusing on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Daouda Yaméogo , Ph.D. CandidateDaouda’s interests lie in matters related to climate change. His Doctoral thesis is concerned with adaptive mecanisms available to vulnerable communities particularly in light of the high volatili-ty of weather patterns.Dadouda worked as an analyst in sustainable development for several years. He has completed several research studies on the transport of hazardous waste and dispute resolutions related to the protection of the ozone layer.


STUDENTSAlumni Spotlight: Mark James

Mark James graduated cum laude from the English Com-mon JD program with the Option in Environmental Law in 2014. He is currently a 2016 LL.M in Energy Law

Candidate at Vermont Law School and a Global Energy Fellow in the Institute of Energy and the Environment.

As a Global Energy Fellow, Mark leads the SunShot Plug-&-Play research team which provides legal advice on the development and commercialization of solar PV modules that can be adhered to asphalt shingle roofs. Mark is also involved in the Institute’s newly formed Energy Law Clinic which provides transactional law services to communities developing renewable power projects.

Growing up on a pig farm in Eastern Ontario, Mark always had a fascination with the natural environment but no inclination that he would attend law school. After receiving an Ecology degree, he returned home to his family farm where he spent the next decade running his family’s automotive rustproofing business, working as an educator at an outdoor environmental centre, starting an organic poultry business, and serving as president of his local soccer club.

When the time came to change careers, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law was the place that allowed him to combine his environmental passions with his business and community organiz-ing skills. He knew that the school’s extensive environmental law course offerings and experiential learning opportunities were the perfect fit for his interests.

After starting school, Mark noticed that there was an absence of communication between the environmental law groups at the different Canadian law schools. Along with two uOttawa law col-leagues, Mark founded the Canadian Association of Environmental Law Societies (CAELS) to bring together Canadian environmental law students to network with leading academics and practi-tioners, and discuss emerging issues in the field of environmental law.

Mark co-chaired the 2013 and 2014 CAELS environmental law conferences hosted at the University of Ottawa. He attributes much of the success of the conferences to the support of the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability. Faculty members presented at conferences, provided institutional sup-port, and ensured that CAELS became a fully-fledged organiza-tion.

Mark would like to teach and practice public interest environ-mental law, a career path that he attributes to his experiences at uOttawa. Working as a research assistant taught him the power of cutting edge legal research and the value of developing practi-cal solutions to environmental problems. As a student clinician in the Ecojustice Clinic and a member of the inaugural Legal Writing Academy, he witnessed the power of communicating environmen-tal law principles and goals. In his final year, he participated in a public interest immigration law project and completed internships at two American law schools.

Mark believes that studying law on both sides of the border will give him a unique legal perspective on environmental issues. He hopes one day to use that perspective to work on pressing Cana-dian-American environmental problems.

Mark is the 2014 CELGS Environmental Law Essay Contest winner: his winning essay is entitled ‘’Addressing Cumulative Environmental Effects in the Oilsands: Parens Patriae, Public Trust Doctrine and the

Federal Government’’


EVENTSEnvironmental Law Speaker Series

During the 2014-15 academic year, CELGS hosted a number of speakers who presented their research on significant current issues in environmental law.

“WHAT DOES CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION MEAN IN AGRARIAN ASIA: Drawing on cases from rural India and Mongolia, this talk examines what is at stake in the politics of adaptation” — Marcus Taylor, Associate Professor in the Department of Global Develop- ment Studies and the School of Environmental Studies, Queen’s University, January 15th, 2015. *

“QUEL AVENIR POUR LE GAS DE SCHISTE ? Expériences québecoise et comparées” — Paule Halley, Professeure titulaire à la Faculté de droit de l’Université Laval, February 11th, 2015.

“The role of International Law in sustainable Natural Resource management” — Konstantia Koutouki, Professeure agrégée, Université de Montreal, February 18th, 2015. **

“AU-DELÀ DE LA BIOPIRATERIE: Quelles solutions pour des relations respectueuses entre les chercheurs et les populations autoch-tones?” — Thomas Burelli, Doctorant en droit et assistant de recherche à la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la diversité juridique et les peuples autochtones, March 4th, 2015.

* Hosted in collaboration with the laboratory for the Interdisciplinary Study of food (LSIF), the Centre of Environmental Law and Global Sustainabili-ty (CELGS), the International Political Economy Network (IPEN) and the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) ** Hosted in collaboration with the International law group (ILG), the International Law Association (ILA) and the Centre of Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS)

You are invited : Thursday, January 15, 2015

11:30 am

Location: University of Ottawa

Social Sciences Building120 University Street

Room 4006

WHAT DOES CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION MEAN

IN AGRARIAN ASIA :

Presentations will be in ENGLISH only.

The laboratory for the Interdisciplinary Study of food (LSIF), the Centre of Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS), the International Political Economy Network (IPEN) and the Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) are happy to present:

Marcus Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Develop-ment Studies and the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. He has written widely on the political economy and political ecology of development. The talk draws upon the speaker’s new book, The Po-litical Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation: Livelihoods, Agrarian Change and the Conflicts of Development (Earthscan/Routledge, 2014)

Drawing on cases from rural India and Mongolia, this talk examines what is at stake in the politics of adaptation.

SÉRIES DE CONFÉRENCES EN DROIT DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT

Vous êtes invités :

Le Mercredi 11 Février 2015de 11:30 à 13:00

Université d’Ottawa Pavillon Fauteux57 Louis Pasteur

à la pièce 351

Le déjeuner sera servi

QUEL AVENIR POUR LE GAS DE SCHISTE ? Expériences québecoiseet comparées

Paule Halley, Professeure titulaire à la Faculté de droit de l’Université Laval

SÉRIES DE CONFÉRENCES EN DROIT DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT

évènement offert en français seulement

Vous êtes invités :Le Mercredi 4 Mars 2015

de 11:30 à 13:00

Université d’Ottawa Pavillon Fauteux57 Louis Pasteur

à la pièce 351

Le déjeuner sera servi

Thomas Burelli, Doctorant en droit et assistant de recherche à la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la diversité juridique et les peuples autochtones

AU-DELÀ DE LA BIOPIRATERIE: Quelles solutions pour des relations respectueuses

entre les chercheurs et les populations autochtones?

Le mercredi 18 février 2015, 11 h 30 à 13 hPavillon Fauteux, FTX 351Université d’Ottawa, Faculté de droit, 57, rue Louis-Pasteur

Wednesday, February18, 2015, 11:30 am - 1:00 pmFauteux Hall, FTX 351University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, 57 Louis-Pasteur Street

“The Role of International Law in Sustainable Natural

Resource Management”

KoNSTaNTIa KouTouKIProfesseure agrégée, Université de Montréal

Série de conférences en droit internationalInternational Law Speaker Series

Université d’Ottawa | University of Ottawa

Déjeuner compris - Toutes et tous sont bienvenusLunch included - All are welcome

*La Faculté de droit pourrait prendre des photos et enregistrer cet événement pour parution sur ses sites Web et ses publications.*Photos may be taken at this event and it may be recorded for use on Faculty of Law websites/publications.

** Cette conférence se déroulera en anglais seulement | This lecture will be in English only **

Commanditaires :Sponsors:

Le Groupe de droit internationalThe International Law Group


Fighting Air Pollution across Borders: The Inside Story of the Canada-US Air Quality Agreement

Air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk, responsible for one in eight global deaths, according to the WHO. Canada and the United States have made great strides in combatting harmful air pollution, and saved thousands of lives, through the Canada-US Air Quality Agreement. Initially forged to address acid rain in 1991, this Agreement has been instrumental in tackling a number of continental air issues – although the work is far from done. It has become a model for effective cross-bor-der environmental management, in a time when such examples are badly needed. The CELGS and the IE, in partnership with the Embassy of the United States, hosted senior government officials from Canada and the United States including Ambassador Bruce A. Heyman in a panel session, to share the inside story on the success and challenges in fighting transboundary air pollution in North America over the past 23 years. Coinciding with a meeting of the Canada-US Air Quality Committee in Ottawa, the panel shared insights on what has made the Air Quality Agreement work,

and what lessons can be applied to other cross-border efforts.

MAJOR EVENTS

Canada’s Environmental Performance: Taking Stock and Issues on the Horizon:

In early October 2014, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development tabled her Report, featuring assess-ments of some of Canada’s most important environmental efforts. In two panels, the Institute of the Environment explored some of the pressing concerns raised by the Report. First Commissioner Julie Gelfand and her team shared highlights of the report, focus-ing on two key chapters, Environmental Monitoring of Oil Sands and Implementation of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. The Commissioner’s Report asks hard questions about whether we are prepared to meet the environmental challenges of the future. Building on the Commissioner’s overall findings, a panel of experts debated the challenges for Canada in achieving world-class environmental regulatory frameworks. The panel con-sidered cross-cutting issues including our capacity in monitoring of

environmental projects, our methodologies for assessment of cu-mulative effects, and our commitment to ensuring effective public

engagement on environmental issues.

Bottom right: His Exellency, Ambassador Bruce A. Heyman speaking in Fauteux Hall

Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development - Julie Gelfand

The IE in partnership with CELGS co-sponsored two special events during the 2014-2015 school year - Both events took place in November 2014 and featuring: His Excellency Bruce A. Heyman, Ambassador of the United States in Canada and Mrs. Julie Gelfand, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.


EVENTSBook Launch - Toxic Torts

The CELGS proudly sponsored the celebration of the launch of “The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts” by Profes-sors Heather McLeod-Kilmurray and Lynda Collins. The

celebrations started with a lunch in Fauteux Hall during which Professors Collins & McLeod-Kilmurray delivered a seminar on current developments in Canadian toxic tort law. The celebrations continued with an official book launch party at the Flying Banzini.

The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts provides readers with a cur-rent and comprehensive analysis of the Canadian law of “toxic torts” – those that involve environmental contamination and/or toxic products. The work addresses the unique challenges of toxic tort litigation for litigants, counsel and judges, including leading precedents, the appropriate treatment of scientific ev-idence, and policy considerations that will shape the evolution of Canadian toxic tort law in the future.

The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts is “the only resource that offers a complete review of Canadian Toxic Tort law, Policy and Practice”. (Carswell.com)

“The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts is the first Canadian book to deal exclusively with the subject of toxic torts – torts arising from environmental contamination or a toxic product. This is an excellent book and an important one...It fills an important need in Canadi-an tort law and Canadian environ-mental law.”– Justice (Retired) and Professor Allen M. Linden and Professor Bruce FeldthusenOfficial Book Launch Party held at the Flying Banzini, on

Wellington St. West in Ottawa (November 5th, 2014)


EVENTSCAELS 2014-2015 conference headed West this year! The Canadian Association of Environmental Law Societies (CAELS) is a national environmental law student group based at the University of Ottawa, whose mandate is to connect law students with academics, practicing lawyers, and commu-nity members to further a discussion on current Canadian environmental law issues.

The 2015 Canadian Association of Environmental Law Societies (CAELS) Conference took place on February 13 and 14, 2015. This year the event was hosted by the

Environmental Law Society of the University of Calgary. The two-day CAELS Conference aimed to facilitate discourse on envi-ronmental and energy law issues of public and academic interest. Attendees included students from environmental law societies across Canada, students and practitioners from many other pro-fessional and academic disciplines beyond law, the general public, and the legal community in Alberta. This year’s theme – “Igniting a Spark: innovations and solutions for Canada’s environment”– fo-cused on Innovations and Solutions for Canada’s environment on key topics at the forefront of environmental, energy and natural resources law and policy. Panel examples are provided below:

Muddying the Waters or Minimizing Red Tape? Assessing the Federal Omnibus Legislation - This panel focused on a discus-sion of the Federal omnibus legislative changes to various statutes which impact the environment. Anna Johnston provided a summary of what the changes have been to the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Water Protection Act (now Navigation Protection Act), and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. Anna also provided insights and suggestions as to how the changes to these three statutes could have been more effective and what is needed moving forward. Dave Wright provided an overview of the imple-mentation of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012.

Species at Risk - This panel assessed how resource development and offset mechanisms affect wildlife in Alberta. Shaun Fluker discussed the intersection of laws governing the protection of species at risk and resource project development approvals, which included an overview of endangered species protection law in Canada and a discussion of how endangered species issues have been addressed by energy regulatory proceedings recently. David Poulton discussed whether Biodiversity Offsets can help save species. The panel included a review of offsetting in federal and Alberta law and policy, the difference between voluntary offsets and offsets ordered by regulators, and an analysis of some of the issues with offsetting.

Prospects for LNG in Canada: Environmental Regulation, Royalty Schemes, and Broader Environmental GoalsThis keynote debate featured two experts in the LNG industry who shared their insights, challenge perceptions, andoutlined the realities, as they see them, regarding the future of LNG in Canada. Questions included whether the touted benefits of LNG truly outweigh the potential environmental costs; what are the impacts of Canada’s environmental regulations on the LNG industry’s ability to compete globally; how can respective policies touting LNG expansion and combating climate change co-exist; and much more.

The CAELS team is looking forward to returning next year with its fourth annual conference. Students interested in participat-ing in the organizing effort can contact [email protected] to get involved.

University of Calgary’s Environmental Law Society - host of the CAELS 2015 conference - Photo by Riley Brandt, University of Calgary


AHEADCELGS faculty and students are looking forward to another exciting year in 2015-2016. We will once again be offer-ing a wide range of courses including the practically-oriented Environmental Law Clinic, offered in conjunction with Ecojustice. We are also particularly looking forward to the launch of Willms & Shier speaker series; David R. Boyd’s book launch and the visit from Professor Ben Richardson from the University of Tasmania.

FALL

CML3163A - Law of the Sea - Prof. Donald McRae

CML3369 - Environmental Law - Prof. Stephen Hazell

CML3180F - Environmental Law Clinic - Prof. Lynda Collins

WINTER

CML1105C - First Year Thematic Course: Climate change and legal change - Prof. Heather McLeod-Kilmurray

CML1105C - First Year Thematic Course: Natural Resources Law - Prof. Stewart Elgie

CML3769 - Droit de l’environnement - Prof. Sarah Morgan

CML3180W - Environmental Law Clinic - Prof. Lynda Collins

CML3148 - Toxic Torts Law - Prof. Lynda Collins

JANUARY

CML3180 - Environmental Law Clinic: Prof. Lynda Collins

CML4134 – Studies in Environmental Law: To be confirmed

This newsletter was designed and translated by Kenza Salah, the Coordinator for the Centre.Donations in support of the work of CELGS should be so marked and sent to Development Office, University of Ottawa.

Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability CELGS email us: [email protected]

celgs bulletin - university of ottawa · of environmental law (kluwer international, 2011) and the...

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