Mount Benson Preservation Society is putting pressure on the logging companies and sawmills, the City of Nanaimo, the Regional District of Nanaimo, the Port Authority, the Government of British Columbia, and the Government of Canada to stop completely
the log storage and ship activities in the estuary of Nanaimo River. There is no compromise here. Take your logs elsewhere. Stop cutting
forests on Mount Benson, and no ship activities at or near the entrance of the estuary, and no other uses such as fish farming by the Natives or by any other groups.
Mount Benson Preservation Society is preparing a law sue against the above listed stakeholders of the estuary.
Mount Benson Preservation Society is very concerned about the salmon life cycle in the estuary of Nanaimo River, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. In
a previous report, we have described
impacts of ship activities and log storage in the estuary of Nanaimo River. We concluded that no activity of any kind should be
allowed in the estuary.
In this report we want to let global community citizens know that there is a legal way to stop the destructive uses of the estuary.
The Fisheries Act is Canada’s toughest environmental law. You may access the Act at the following website:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/F-14/
Section 36(3) states:
Subject to subsection (4), no person shall deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish or in any place under
any conditions where the deleterious substance or any other deleterious substance that results from the deposit of the deleterious substance may enter any such
water.
Source: Canada. Consolidated Statutes and Regulations. Fisheries Act ( R.S. 1985, c. F-14 ) (note not official versions).
As a Canadian and a global community citizen you can win with the Fisheries Act.
In 1999, environmentalist Lynda Lukasik successfully prosecuted the City of Hamilton, Ontario, for breach of the Fisheries Act in respect of a discharge from an
old landfill site. Ms. Lukasik was assisted by the Toronto NGO Environmental Bureau of Investigation and by lawyer Doug Chapman of the Sierra Legal
Defence Fund. The City pleaded guilty and was fined $300,000. The Fisheries Act provides for mandatory fine-splitting, so Ms. Lukasik was awarded
$150,000 which she used to pay expenses of the prosecution and to set up a fund for further environmental work. Lukasik said, "
This case should encourage
environmentalists across Canada to protect our waters by sampling at contaminated sites and commencing private prosecutions under the Fisheries Act." Lukasik
has become an environmental hero, currently writes first-rate environmental articles in the Hamilton Spectator, and heads a local NGO called Environment
Hamilton.
Source: Sierra Legal Defence Fund. Hamilton Environmentalist Succeeds in Private Prosecution -City of Hamilton fined $450,000 for toxic waste dump. News
Release. September 18, 2000.
http://www.e-b-i.net/ebi/Hamilton/press_sep_00.html
Contact Lynda Lukasik at Environment Hamilton.
http://environmenthamilton.org Office tel: (905) 549-0900 email:
contactus@environmenthamilton.org
The Environmental Bureau of Investigation, a Toronto-based NGO, normally investigates environmental offences on behalf of other groups.
Their are barriers private prosectors face in Canada:
1) It is a very slow process.
2) Technical and legal expertise is needed.
3) Successful prosecution requires intense attention to detail and accuracy.
4) It takes guts, determination and patience to identify essential information and to overcome deadends and roadblocks.
Source: Environmental Bureau of Investigation. Citizens Guide to Environmental Investigation and Private Prosecution.
http://www.e-b-i.net/ebi/guide/toc.html
Canadians and global community citizens don’t have as many opportunities as US residents to sue polluters, but we are not totally shut out of the courts. Even if you or your global community citizens group
are not able to sue the polluter, it is good to know the tools that are available for use by governments and citizens to enforce environmental laws.
Criminal courts are not accustomed to private prosecutions. Judges may dismiss
cases as frivolous because they do not understand the complexity of environmental damages and rights; in such cases global community citizens may be required to pay the legal
costs of the prosecution. Some legislation specifically allows citizens to litigate only with the Minister's permission (which is not likely to be given!).
See web site for CELA
http://www.cela.ca and CIELAP
http://www.cielap.org/citizensguides.html for more on citizen involvement with environmental law
including plain language Citizen Guides e.g. to National Pollutant Release Inventory.
Environment on Trial: A Guide to Ontario Environmental Law and Policy. at
http://www.cielap.org/infocent/pub/index.html.
Mount Benson Preservation Society is putting pressure on the logging companies and sawmills, City of Nanaimo, the Regional District of Nanaimo, the Port Authority, the Government of British Columbia, and the Government of Canada to stop completely
the log storage and ship activities in the estuary of Nanaimo River. There is no compromise here. Take your logs elsewhere. Stop cutting
forests on Mount Benson, and no ship activities at or near the entrance of the estuary, and no other uses such as fish farming.
Germain Dufour
President
Mount Benson Preservation Society
