Environmental Law Centre joins Faculty of Law as affiliated institute in natural and beneficial partnership

A new University of Alberta Faculty of Law partnership is poised to help students, faculty and even the environment. 

The Environmental Law Centre (ELC), an Edmonton-based advocacy and law reform charity, formally began moving into the U of A’s Weir Law Library on Sept. 25. It is now also designated as an affiliated institute with the university.

Members of both the Faculty of Law and the ELC believe that this will present many opportunities for research collaboration, student placements and knowledge sharing. 

“As dean, I am very excited to see the Environmental Law Centre move into the Law Centre, especially now that environmental considerations play such an important role in so many areas of life and the law. The Faculty of Law is fortunate to have several dedicated faculty members whose work focuses on environmental, resource and conservation issues,” says Dean Barbara Billingsley of the Faculty of Law. 

“We also have an active Environmental Law Students’ Association. I am confident that the proximity of the ELC to these faculty members and students will inspire new ideas and provide unprecedented opportunities for productive collaborations on a wide range of environmental law-related issues.”

The ELC has been operating since 1982 and, since then, it has made a name for itself as a deep well of knowledge on energy, climate, resource and pollution law and policy. The organization performs legal research and analysis for all levels of government in Canada, along with non-profit and corporate actors. 

It also drafts numerous reports, holds knowledge-building forums and events that aim to empower the public with knowledge about environmental law, and advocates for transparency and accountability in government decisions involving the climate. 

According to ECL Executive Director Jason Unger, the organization currently has several ongoing projects that focus on contaminated sites, endangered species and the public’s ability to access the information governments in Alberta and Canada use to make decisions about developing natural resources. 

Given this past summer’s onslaught of wildfires and the slew of other climate, energy and environmental issues Canada is facing, the partnership is particularly important, says Unger

“I think environmental law is fundamentally about ensuring that people have clean water, clean air, and all the other different foundations of the environment that we all need and enjoy,” he says.

Natural partnership

The Faculty of Law and the ELC make an ideal match because of the wealth of experience at the university, Unger says. Several U of A professors have expertise in the fields of climate and energy law. 

Plus, Unger adds, environmental law intersects with many other disciplines, such as constitutional law. As such, members of the Faculty of Law in many different fields may find opportunities for collaboration. 

Over the years, several Faculty of Law graduates have found work with the ELC, and there have been multiple collaborations between the two, Unger says. Professor Cameron Jefferies, an expert in international and domestic environmental law and energy law at the Faculty of Law, is currently an ELC board member, but he has had connections with the organization for years. 

In 2019, Jefferies published a report digging into the role that Alberta municipalities can, and indeed must, play in protecting local biodiversity. While the paper wasn’t a direct collaboration with the ECL, Jefferies noted that the organization was an invaluable resource during the research process. 

“It was an opportunity for me to draw on the huge amount of expertise that the ELC has,” he says. “They’re a real brain trust for environmental law in Alberta.”

According to Jefferies, the ELC’s presence on campus is likely to be both a “natural and beneficial” arrangement. The Faculty and the ELC can provide each other with direction and expertise where needed, collaborate on research efforts together and foster opportunities for student placements and work experience.

“I think there could be awesome synergies,” he says. 

The ELC and the Faculty of Law will be hosting a welcome reception on November 3 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the ELC office, located on the second floor of the John A. Weir Memorial Law Library. Light refreshments will be provided, and registration is not required.

In addition to the newly affiliated ELC, the Faculty of Law is home to four other institutes and research units, including the Alberta Law Reform Institute, the Centre for Constitutional Studies, the Health Law Institute and the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge.