Media Releases

Atico Mining: Environmental Impact and Social Injustice Issues

100+ Organizations Voice Deep Concern Over Violence to Advance Canada’s Atico Mining Project in Ecuador   Quito/Ottawa. Today 108 human rights and environmental organizations sent a letter to Atico Mining Corporation and the president of Ecuador urging a stop to the militarization, criminalization, and intimidation of the campesino, Montubio, and Indigenous communities of Palo Quemado (Sigchos, Cotopaxi)

Human Rights Due Diligence: Canada Must Act Now

Media release: Talks on a business and human right treaty need Canada’s support   (Ottawa/unceded territories of the Algonquin Nation, 10 December 2024) – One week before talks towards a business and human rights treaty, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) is calling on the federal government to support their progress and commit to urgent

Flufenacet Pesticide Banned: Health Win for Canada

Statement: Environmental, worker, and health groups welcome cancelling of dangerous pesticide   Ottawa/Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People, 4 December 2024 —Environment, worker, and health groups welcome the decision by Health Canada to cancel the registration of the pesticide flufenacet and all associated products containing the substance. Flufenacet, a herbicide used in Canadian corn and

Dutch Court of Appeal: ‘Shell has a duty to citizens to limit its CO2 emissions’

In the appeal in the Climate Case between Milieudefensie and Shell, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the oil and gas giant does have a responsibility to reduce its emissions, but has not imposed a concrete reduction obligation. “One thing is clear: the fight against the big polluters is a marathon, not a sprint.

The Mathur v Ontario Decision Is Worth Celebrating!

Court of Appeal Confirms Ontario’s Inadequate Climate Target is Harming Ontarians and Must Comply with Charter Standards.   The Ontario government lost its bid to ignore the climate crisis as the Ontario Court of Appeal overruled a lower court decision to dismiss the case of seven Ontario youths who claim the province has a duty

A Call for OHRC to Investigate Ottawa’s Heavy Truck Pollution

This article is adapted from a press release originally issued by Ecojustice titled: “Groups request human rights investigation into heavy truck routing in downtown Ottawa“ Groups call on Ontario Human Rights Commission to investigate health impacts posed by route OTTAWA/TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE — Health, community, and environmental groups are calling

In a big win for the chemical industry and big agriculture, the federal government waters down a program to monitor for pesticides in the Canadian environment

(Ottawa) — Environmental groups are expressing their frustration with the federal government’s plan to scale-back a proposed ambitious pesticide water monitoring program. Earlier this year, the federal government released a proposed water monitoring framework. Environmental groups say the originally proposed program was to be robust, including citizen monitoring and participation to help Canadians understand how

Friends of the Earth International: Global Plastics Treaty CTA

Media Release from FOE International: Kicking out polluters key to progress at negotiations for a first-ever global Plastics Treaty  Tuesday 23 April 2024, Ottawa (Canada) – As delegates gather this week to make headway on what many hope will be an ambitious legally-binding plastics treaty, civil society groups including Friends of the Earth International are pushing

Historic deal to end use of mercury in dental amalgam in the European Union

  When will Canada act?   February 12, 2024 (Ottawa) Dental amalgam (inaccurately called “silver fillings”) is approximately 50% mercury — a neurotoxin and reproductive toxin. The European Union has already banned the use of amalgam in children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers in a regulation that went into effect in 2018. The 2018 measure

Small nuclear reactors in Canada: at what cost?

The sudden cancellation last week of the first small nuclear reactor project in the United States, the NuScale project, calls into question the economic viability of Canada’s plans to develop and deploy small modular reactors. Potential customers in Utah balked at the soaring projections for the cost of electricity the NuScale reactor would generate, and the project was unable to

Expert Panel Commissioned by Health Canada Urges Caution on Gene-Edited Insects for Pest Control

Environmental groups call for a ban on releasing GMOs into the wild Halifax, Ottawa, Sutton, November 8, 2023 – Today, the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) released an Expert Panel report commissioned by the Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency of Health Canada on the regulation of genetically engineering (genetically modified or GM) insects for pest control.

Indigenous, environmental, health, and civil society groups intervene in support of youth climate case

Toronto, Ont./ Traditional territories of several First Nations including the Williams Treaties First Nations, Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation — Twelve Indigenous, environmental, health, and civil society groups have been granted intervenor status in the appeal of a historic youth-led Charter case on climate change. Sophia, Zoe, Shaelyn,