Court victory forces Canada to report pollution data for mines

In one of the most strongly worded decisions I have seen in a few years, the Federal Court of Canada came out with an amazing decision late yesterday that will ensure that Canada's largest source of pollution (mining waste) actually gets reported to the public each year.The court certainly didn't mince words. And in case you don't plan to skim through the 106 page decision, here are some highlights:

• It calls the federal government's pace "glacial"[paragraph 145];
  
• It says the government's approach has been simply to turn a "blind eye"[207];
  
• It notes that the frustration felt by advocates trying to uncover this information "after more than 16 years of consultation" is "perfectly understandable" [124];
• It states that not reporting "denies the Canadian public its rights to know how it is threatened by a major source of pollution"[127];
• It highlights that the minister has chosen not to publish the pollution data "in deference to" the mining industry[220];
  
• It used unusually simple language even I understand when it said that the government was simply "wrong"[177].

All this legalese is perhaps best summed up in today's news story by Juliet O'Neill:

"The court has unequivocally upheld the right of Canadians to know when the health of their communities and the environment is under threat from one of the country's largest sources of toxic pollution," said Ecojustice lawyer Marlene Cashin.

I suppose it will be an especially sunny weekend for lawyers Justin Duncan and Marlene Cashin and their dedicated clients at Great Lakes United and MiningWatch Canada who launched the case in 2007.

Thanks to each of these advocates for standing up and fighting for the right of Canadians to get the truth about what toxic nasties are being dumped into the environment each year.