Oceans

Three quarters of Planet Earth is covered in oceans — and those oceans are in crisis. According to the United Nations, of the seventeen major global fisheries, fourteen have collapsed or are collapsing. Over-fishing is wiping out species after species. Pollution and inconsistent development threaten coastal areas.

As a coastal nation bordering three oceans, Canada has a strong role to play in protecting marine ecosystems and species. So far, our record is not one of which we can be proud. Canada dropped out of the International Whaling Commission, in protest over global actions to protect whales.

Our fisheries, which should be sustainable, are in decline. Sierra Club Canada is working to protect fisheries, halt environmentally destructive aquaculture, and clean up coastal sources of pollution.
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Hundreds March to Oppose Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline
8 Sep, 2010   |   Dakelh Territory (Prince George, BC, Canada) – Today, more than 500 people marched through downtown Prince George, BC, in support of First Nations and northern BC residents opposing a tar sands pipeline and tanker port proposed by Enbridge Pipelines Inc. The proposed pipeline would move up to 525,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands in northern Alberta to tanker port in Kitimat,...
Federal Court to rule on protection for endangered B.C. whales
15 Jun, 2010   |   VANCOUVER — Environmental groups will tell a Federal Court Tuesday that the government must be ordered to protect habitat for endangered and threatened pods of killer whales. "The problem before the court is what is the federal responsibility for the legal protection of critical habitat," said Ecojustice lawyer Margot Venton. Venton said Ottawa officials have narrowly...
Environmentalists in court to extend protection for killer whales
14 Jun, 2010   |   VICTORIA — Environmental groups will be in court this week arguing the federal government is failing to adequately protect critical habitat for endangered and threatened pods of killer whales. Ecojustice lawyer Margot Venton is asking the Federal Court of Canada for a judicial review, claiming the government is acting unlawfully by interpreting critical habitat only as physical space,...
Free Trade with Europe (Toronto Star Editorial )
7 May, 2010   |   “Such proposals are all hugely controversial — or they would be if anyone were paying attention. The problem is that the Canada/EU negotiations are taking place below the Canadian radar screen. Helena Guergis and Rahim Jaffer are getting more ink and air time here than free trade with Europe. In Parliament this week, just one question was asked about the negotiations. In principle,...
Extinction risks increasing?
5 May, 2010   |   Despite nearly two decades of moratoriums and other drastic conservation measures, the risk of extinction for Atlantic cod is increasing. That's one of the troubling findings of an assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, or COSEWIC. The committee has listed four populations of Atlantic cod, including the Newfoundland and Labrador population, as endangered....
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