THE ADVOCATE 893
VOL. 79 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2021
submissions under the North American Agreement on Environmental
Cooperation.
The centre’s events are open to the public, and recordings are available on
its website: <allard.ubc.ca/cle>. Many are eligible for CPD credit. Most are
free. As pandemic restrictions are relaxed, more of the centre’s events will be
held in person, usually at the law school. The centre will host an in-person
training workshop in February 2021 for individuals interested in campaigning
for protection of the legal rights and capacities of rivers, ecosystems and
other non-human entities. In spring 2022, it is planning public screenings of
the two-part documentary film Necessity, along with a Q&A session and a
public talk by the director, Jan Haaken. More webinars and “No Fly Zone” virtual
talks are also planned. Check the centre’s website for details.
Respect for Non-Human Relations
The goal of the centre’s “Non-Human Relations” project is to provide
research and public legal education for people interested in pursuing legal
recognition of the capacities and rights of non-human relations like lakes,
rivers, wild species and sacred places.
In collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations and
with financial support from the Franklin Lew Innovation Fund, the centre
is hosting a webinar series in which people involved in such campaigns
share their experiences related to rivers and waterways (September 2021),
supernatural beings and sacred places (October 2021) and non-human
species (January 2022). The webinars will culminate in an in-person training
workshop on law reform strategies at Allard Law in February 2022 led
by rights of nature pioneer Mari Margil.
The centre is also producing a series of public legal education pamphlets.
The first, planned for late 2021, surveys the legal form, content and implementation
of “rights of nature” laws around the world. The second, planned
for spring 2022, examines the synergies and tensions between “rights of
nature” and Indigenous peoples’ laws and rights.
Green Rights and Warrior Lawyers
Another core project of the centre highlights the roles of courageous
lawyers around the world who use law to advance the human right to a
healthy environment and the rights of nature itself. This project brings
these issues to life through the power of stories of individual environmental
defenders around the world and the “warrior lawyers” who represent them
in their pursuit of “green rights”.
The project began as a collaboration between the centre and renowned
Canadian environmental journalist and educator Silver Donald Cameron.
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