West Coast Environmental Law Association (“West Coast”) is a non-profit group of environmental law strategists and analysts dedicated to safeguarding the environment through law. Since its founding in 1974, West Coast has been involved with various aspects of, including the precursors to, provincial, federal and joint environmental assessment (“EA”). West Coast was also involved in the development of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (“CEAA”) and is active with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus of the Canadian Environmental Network. We have a long history of serving on the federal government's Regulatory Advisory Committee (“RAC”) and have provided environmental legal aid to citizens and organizations involved in EA for over twenty years.
We have categorized our submissions and recommendations in response to the subjects we understand the Committee will be focusing its upcoming report on. A common theme to our recommendations is the need for the federal government to rebuild and affirm a strong role in environmental protection and environmental assessment in particular that honours federal constitutional responsibilities while still establishing efficient and cooperative relationships with provincial EA regimes.