Guardians Equipped with Easy-to-Use Guidebook on Environmental Laws

Indigenous Guardians on the west coast decided that they needed a quick and easy summary of the most important laws that visitors in their territory should be following. The information needed to clear and understandable. It also had to be accessible when guardians were out patrolling their lands and waters.  

As a result of a collaboration between the Coastal Stewardship Network and some dedicated law students and professors at the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Clinic, A Field Guide to Environmental Laws was developed.  

The guardian-friendly field guide to provincial and federal environmental laws provides highlights and summaries of the Canadian rules and regulations that guardians are most likely to encounter while on the job. The guidebook covers information on common environmental offences, including fishing, hunting and trapping offences, pollution, forest practices, cultural and archaeological sites, parks and protected areas, species at risk, and boating.  

Equipped with information about environmental laws, guardians on the west coast are now more informed and confident when speaking with visitors to their territories about the rules and regulations.  Guardians are helping to ensure people are following these laws by educating visitors and also collecting evidence and reporting any infractions they observe.  

Download Environmental Laws: A Field Guide for BC’s North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii.