MLJ Volume 36-1.pdf - Robson Hall Faculty of Law

B O O K R E V I E W
Dams of Contention:
The Rafferty-Alameda Story and the
Birth of Canadian Environmental Law
by Bill Redekop
B R E N D A N J O W E T T
T
he modern generation of environmental interest groups, activists
and lawyers relies heavily on statutory environmental review
processes to ensure that environmental factors are taken into
account for projects which may have major environmental impacts. While
the opportunities presented by binding environmental review processes
are often attributed to the Supreme Court of Canada’s [SCC] decision in
the Oldman River case, 1 one of Bill Redekop’s aims in Dams of Contention:
The Rafferty-Alameda Story and the Birth of Canadian Environmental Law is to
dispel that mistaken belief. 2 While it is clear in a reading of Oldman River
that the SCC hung its hat on the decision of the Federal Court Trial
Division (affirmed by the Federal Court of Appeal) in Canadian Wildlife
Federation Inc v Canada (Minister of the Environment), 3 the pivotal
importance of Canadian Wildlife 1 is often overlooked and has not received
nearly the attention that it deserves. In Dams of Contention, Redekop walks
the reader through the political, judicial, environmental and human
J.D. (Manitoba), LL.M Candidate, Osgoode Hall Law School.
1
Friends of the Oldman River Society v Canada (Minister of Transport), [1992] 1 SCR 3, 88
DLR (4th) 1 [Oldman River].
2
Bill Redekop, Dams of Contention (Winnipeg: Heartland, 2012).
3
Canadian Wildlife Federation Inc v Canada (Minister of the Environment), [1989] 3 FC 309
(TD), aff'd (1989), 99 NR 72 (FCA) [Canadian Wildlife 1].