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Environmental Law

The Peter A. Allard School of Law

Series

2020

Legislation

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Law

Cle Working Paper No.1/2020--Rights Of Nature Legislation For British Columbia: Issues And Options, Rachel Garrett, Stepan Wood Aug 2020

Cle Working Paper No.1/2020--Rights Of Nature Legislation For British Columbia: Issues And Options, Rachel Garrett, Stepan Wood

Centre for Law and the Environment

This paper explores how the rights of nature could be protected through legislation in British Columbia (BC). Canada is far behind other countries in protecting rights of nature. Canadian law does not currently recognize the rights of nature in any meaningful way. Numerous statutes in Canada making nature—from fisheries to wildlife, to the land itself—the exclusive property of humans, with no inherent right to exist, flourish or be restored. We explore two potential avenues for protecting the rights of nature in British Columbia: 1) amendment of existing legislation, and 2) a new stand-alone rights of nature statute. We examine trailblazing …