A group of B.C. environmentalists is about to have its day in court in a high-profile case against the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
Beginning in Vancouver on August 12, the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), an oversight body, will begin hearing a February 2014 complaint that alleges CSIS illegally spied on activists and First Nations people.
This week, a year almost to the day since the ground-breaking Supreme Court of Canada decision affirming aboriginal title in the Tsilhqot’in case, another B.C. First Nation will be in federal court trying to prevent yet another destructive project that is being aggressively pursued without aboriginal consent.
Civil rights and press-freedom groups argue against allowing judge to permit security agency to override constitutional rights
Canada’s new terrorism law is being challenged in court by a journalists’ group and a civil rights organization that call it an attack on constitutional freedoms and an “extraordinary inversion” of the role of judges.
On July 15th 2015, officers of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police (RCMP) tried to enter Unist’ot’en territory. The Unist’ot’en have built a camp that stands in the way of several oil and gas pipelines. Camp supporters blocked the rcmp from entering.
The following day the RCMP threatened to arrest supporters at another checkpoint, but supporters responded by building a gate. The Unist’ot’en have requested physical support from allies. For more info on how you can help visit UnistotenCamp.com.
~~DAWSON CREEK — Anonymous, a loosely associated international network of activist and hacktivist entities, says it will use “vengeance if necessary” to seek justice for a man shot dead by police in Dawson Creek Thursday outside a public consultation meeting for the Site C dam.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C., a police watchdog, said the man had his face covered when he was shot by an RCMP officer. It will not comment on whether he was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, widely used by Anonymous, which claims the victim was one of its own.
A court in The Hague has ordered the Dutch government to cut its emissions by at least 25% within five years, in a landmark ruling expected to cause ripples around the world.
To cheers and hoots from climate campaigners in court, three judges ruled that government plans to cut emissions by just 14-17% compared to 1990 levels by 2020 were unlawful, given the scale of the threat posed by climate change.
On May 30, more than 700 people from the Atlantic region joined a march to the “end of the (Energy East pipe) line.” People linked arms on the shores of the Bay of Fundy drawing a line in the sand against the project.
A court in The Netherlands has ruled that climate change poses so much of a danger that the government must reduce emissions by 25 percent in five years.
It was the surprise outcome of a lawsuit brought by environmentalists who were upset that the Dutch government had only committed to a 14 to 16 percent reduction by 2020.
Marjan Minnesma is the founder and director of the environmental group Urgenda, which launched the lawsuit. She tells As It Happens co-host Carol Off about the scene in the court when the ruling was announced.
