Law Times

Page 12 NOVeMBeR 23, 2015 • LaW TIMeS www.lawtimesnews.com Environmental groups celebrate passing of Great Lakes Protection Act BY YAMRI TADDESE Law Times nvironmental lawyers are rejoicing over the passing of the Great Lakes Pro- tection Act in October in what was the third attempt to bring in legislation that would guard the source of drinking wa- ter for 80 per cent of Ontarians. Thanks in part to less time spent debating the bill in a major- ity legislature, Bill 66, the Great Lakes Protection Act, finally passed third reading in early Oc- tober and will take effect when it receives royal assent. The bill creates ways to protect and restore the ecological health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin. Among other things, the act commits to establishing targets to reduce algae levels that threaten the safety of the lakes' waters and creates a Great Lakes Guardians' Council to help im- prove collaboration and co-or- dination among the Great Lakes partners. In addition, it requires public progress reports on the Great Lakes every three years with reports tabled in the legislature. "This legislation gives us new tools we don't have today to pro- tect the lakes," says Theresa Mc- Clenaghan, executive director of the Canadian Environmen- tal Law Association, who says existing tools such as land-use planning provisions had fallen short of addressing the issues facing the lakes. "In the third version [of the legislation], we saw many of the improvements that we had suggested on earlier versions be adopted and accept- ed," says McClenaghan. If an area needs extra atten- tion, the new act allows for the community to come together and create a plan to address it. That plan, if approved by the cabinet, would become binding, says McClenaghan. "One of the really interest- ing things, of course, is that it does bring together a wide set of stakeholders under the leadership authority in that part of the lake," she adds. "On the whole, we have a very nice, strong bill." According to the government, many people during the consulta- tions identified a need to co-ordi- nate actions between stakeholder groups. It noted there's currently no such provincial body to focus efforts on Great Lakes issues. "Millions of Ontar- ians depend on the Great Lakes. The lakes are of profound importance to our natural envi- ronment, our communities, and our economy," said Tim Gray, executive director of Environ- mental Defence, in a statement following the passage of the bill. "With the passage of this act, the Great Lakes are finally get- ting the attention they deserve, and communities will get the tools they need to help ensure these important bodies of water are protected for current and fu- ture generations." Environmental groups had earlier expressed concerns about a broad cabinet exemption power in the act. In a letter to the premier, Gray said the exemption clause "deeply undermines the potential effectiveness of the bill and is quite unnecessary." "As broad enabling legislation, the act already provides sufficient f lexibility and the last thing our Great Lakes need is further action delays or the introduction of new loopholes in protection and resto- ration measures," wrote Gray. McClenaghan says the govern- ment thankfully removed that ex- emption. "The standing commit- tee voted unanimously to elimi- nate that exception," she says. "We were extremely happy about that." Environmental groups were sensitive about the exemption clause since a similar provision in the Endangered Species Act has allowed parties not to com- ply with it. Environmental lawyer David McRobert calls Bill 66 "a very positive development." "The need to address envi- ronmental, economic, and so- cial problems with municipal, regional, provincial, and federal planning adjacent to the Great Lakes was identified in the late 1990s. Water levels have been declining," he says. McRobert says he's particu- larly happy with a provision in the bill that requires the minister to "take into consideration the traditional ecological knowledge" of First Nations and Métis com- munities. "To my knowledge, this is one of the first times that a federal or provincial government in Canada has made this a legal requirement despite the fact that the importance of traditional ecological knowledge was recog- nized by the courts and policy- makers in the 1970s and its cru- cial importance was confirmed by the path-breaking Mackenzie Valley pipeline inquiry report released by justice Tom Berger in 1977," says McRobert. In the consultation period, McRobert and another lawyer, Burgandy Dunn, wrote to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to advo- cate for participant funding for aboriginal organizations that take part in decision-making on issues affecting the Great Lakes. "We believe that the provi- sion of appropriate levels of fi- nancial assistance, tailored to circumstances and potential impacts, is a pre-condition to meaningful involvement by First Nations and Métis com- munities in Great Lakes gover- nance," their submission said. McRobert says that while it's not apparent that the amend- ments to Bill 66 provide for par- ticipant funding, he's "optimistic that some type of support could be provided in the key stages of implementation of the act and obtaining traditional aboriginal knowledge about ecosystems that affect the Great Lakes." 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Call 1.800.387.5164 or visit www.carswell.com Untitled-1 1 2015-11-11 1:59 PM "bad public policy" that she'd like to see change. The mandates of her office, which include the environment, climate change, and energy, are very broad. Saxe admits she'll have to prioritize but she' s reluctant to say which issues are at the top of her agenda. "It seems to me that I have a f lashlight, a can opener, and a megaphone and what we're working on right now is what are the most important things we can do with those tools," she says. Saxe's law practice will move to Siskinds LLP while she serves as environmental commissioner. LT Continued from page 9 New role for Dianne Saxe

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