It’s heartening to see a group of students digging into an issue at 8am, especially when they are immersed in a mellow morning vibe with Fleetwood Mac tunes, bubbling river videos, a table full of study snacks, and the aroma of coffee in the air.
The annual ELC Research-a-thon is a one-day event where students gather to focus on a single issue and generate research to support public interest environmental law in BC. Organized by the ELC Club with support from the Environmental Law Centre and UVic Libraries, this year’s theme was The Power of Restraint: Exploring Provincial Injunctions as Legal Responses to Environmental Challenges. At the event, students were asked to research provincial injunction policies and cases across Canada. The work involved gathering information on injunctions specifically filed for or against natural resource extraction projects and companies, and the permitting of use of the environment. In the environmental law context, injunctions are court orders that are typically used to remove land defenders from the sites of proposed industrial or natural resource projects, as has happened at Fairy Creek, the Trans Mountain pipeline’s Burnaby terminal, and the UniSt’ot’en Camp.
Lunchtime guest speaker Patrick Canning shared his wealth of experience with injunctions, an area of law he called, “beautiful, elegant, frustrating and horrifying.” Originally intended as equity law to bring fairness and flexibility to activities that may involve protest and freedom of speech, Patrick noted that changes in procedures over the years have made it more challenging and dangerous for land defenders and others to respond successfully to injunctions. While this trend is concerning, Patrick is convinced there is lots of room for new arguments to be made, particularly given the conflict between Indigenous legal orders and common law injunctions.
Information produced by the Research-a-thon will assist ongoing ELC Clinic work.