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The Renewables Club is a high-level political alliance aimed at promoting renewable energy, with a view to scale up renewable energy as an essential element of a sustainable and more prosperous future.

"We are determined to work together as advocates and implementers of renewable energy at the global level," said Altmaier. "We in Germany do not stand alone with our Energiewende, but are a part of a strong group of leaders." He further said, "IRENA has made remarkable progress in advancing the renewables agenda, and the Renewables Club will work in support of IRENA's objectives and programmes".

Source: The Globe and Mail

"British Columbia thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and submissions made to the panel and asked substantive questions about the project," said Environment Minister Terry Lake.

"Our questions were not satisfactorily answered."

First Nations led the fight against the proposed Enbridge pipeline, which would connect Alberta oil sands operations with the BC coast, including for tanker shipping. The Enbridge and Kinder Morgan oil sands pipelines proposals were major issues in the recent B.C. election campaign.

The Pembina Institute commented: 
"A decision of this significance cannot be made lightly. It is clear that B.C. Premier Christy Clark has listened to the concerns of British Columbians, considered the evidence presented by Enbridge and found the proposal fails to address the province's environmental concerns."

It seems public pressure against the pipeline worked. Claims the pipeline would not have negative impacts are simply not believed.

Sierra Club Canada congratulated Premier Christy Clark and the people of British Columbia on their historic decision to reject the Northern Gateway pipeline.

Source: Wilderness Committee

Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park is located approximately 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the western shores of Lake Manitoba. The park is 108,400 hectares (ha), and is characterized by a peninsula of land, a causeway, a series of islands and adjacent waters in Lake Winnipeg. Landscapes are varied, and include areas of coniferous and mixed forests, limestone cliffs and silica sand beaches, as well as marshes, bogs, fens and wet meadows.

Classified as a Natural Park, its purpose is to preserve areas that are representative of the Mid Boreal Lowland portion of the Manitoba Lowlands Natural Region; and accommodate a diversity of recreational opportunities and resource uses.

Beaver Lake Cree Nation (BLCN) first went to court against the provincial and Canadian governments in 2008 alleging breach of treaty rights. The Canadian and Alberta governments joined forces to get the lawsuit dismissed, but lost a year ago when the Alberta Court of the Queen's Bench upheld the lawsuit despite the provincial and federal governments' attempts to throw it out, on grounds that it was frivolous.

The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the Crown in Right of Alberta ("Alberta") and the Attorney General of Canada ("Canada") by choosing to strike portions of the Statement of Claim of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation ("BLCN").

By affirming the lower court's decision, the Court of Appeal allowed the BLCN's claim for damages for treaty infringement to proceed.

The basis for the BLCN's claim is that the cumulative impacts of past Crown authorizations for resource development in their traditional territory unjustifiably infringes their rights to hunt, trap, and fish under Treaty 6.

Woodward and Company a Victoria B.C. firm represents BLCN.

The Canadian federal government is removing in situ oilsands operations from a list of projects covered by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA). The decision is an extension of the overhaul of federal environmental regulation for resource projects that began with last year's budget bill.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) arranged meetings with heads of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency over the past year as government decided which projects would remain under Ottawa's jurisdiction. The Canadian federal government removed some oilsands projects from a list of those requiring environmental screenings, after being told in an internal memorandum that these projects could affect water sources and harm fish habitat.

The aboriginal community is hoping Canada's highest court will overturn an Ontario Court decision which struck down logging restrictions inside the First Nation's traditional territory put in place by a lower court decision.

"Grassy Narrows is determined to protect its treaty rights and to protect the integrity of our lands. (The lower court judge) made the right decision when she held the governments to the agreement they made with our people in 1873. We were gravely disappointed when the Court of Appeal disagreed. We hope that the Supreme Court of Canada will agree to hear our appeal and restore the trial judgment," said Simon Fobister, the chief of Grassy Narrows.

The ruling being appealed was made by the Ontario Court of Appeal in March, where the judge found the wording of Treaty 3 does not prevent the provincial government from issuing logging for areas such as the Whiskey Jack Forest which is inside Grassy Narrows' territory.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

"Doing this work is difficult. Social change isn't easy," she says. "This award is a really important validation that the work that I've been doing for over 20 years-in trying to raise difficult environmental issues and see changes in legislation-is being recognized and supported."

A pioneer in sustainability activism, Berman is credited with helping save over 12 million acres of endangered Canadian forests, including the Great Bear Rainforest and Clayoquot Sound. In the 1990s, she organized logging-road blockades in British Columbia that were, at the time, the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada's history.

Tzeporah Berman is a founder of ForestEthics and PowerUp Canada, and a former co-director of Greenpeace International Climate and Energy. She currently works on tar sands and pipeline campaigns in Canada, the U.S. and Europe with many environmental organizations and First Nations.

Berman was one of the experts in Leonardo Di Caprio's environmental documentary 11th Hour, was one of six Canadian nominees for the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has been profiled as "50 Visionaries Changing the World" in Utne Reader.

The Guide highlights good practice principles and discusses the challenges in applying these principles at the operational level. It also explores the cost of getting it wrong. It is not intended as a one-size-fits-all but is designed to provide information and direction for both companies and indigenous communities when considering issues around engagement and participation, agreements, impact management, benefits sharing and dealing with grievances.

Principle 3:
Uphold fundamental human rights and respect cultures, customs and values in dealings with employees and others who are affected by our activities.

Principle 9:
Contribute to the social, economic and institutional development of the communities in which we operate.

The International Council on Mining and Metals - ICMM - was formed in 2001 to represent the world’s leading companies in the mining and metals industry and to advance their commitment to sustainable development.

The report is based on well drilling and water use data from FracFocus.org and water stress indicator maps developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI). The research shows nearly 47 percent of the wells were developed in water basins with high or extremely high water stress. The research was based on FracFocus data collected on 25,450 wells in operation from January 2011 through September 2012.

"These findings highlight emerging tensions in many U.S. regions between growing hydraulic fracturing activity and localized water supply needs," said Ceres president Mindy Lubber.

Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership. Ceres mobilizes a powerful coalition of investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate and expand the adoption of sustainable business practices and solutions to build a healthy global economy.

"Elijah was a wonderful man, father, partner. He was a true leader and visionary in every sense of the word," the family said in a statement.

"He will have a place in Canadian history forever for his devotion to public service and uniting his fellow First Nations with pride, determination and resolve."

The soft-spoken former chief of the Ojibwa-Cree Red Sucker Lake First Nation in Manitoba was an NDP opposition member of the legislature in 1990 when he prevented the accord from being ratified by Ottawa's deadline. Harper said the deal, designed to win Quebec's signature on the Constitution, ignored aboriginal rights.

Elijah Harper was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature in 1981, and was appointed to cabinet in 1986.

Source: Lyle Stafford

"Even a few Green MLAs will make a difference in the legislature," a confident Weaver predicted Tuesday night as he arrived at his victory party at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. "Change for the best, one seat at a time." The riding was one of the most hotly contested races in B.C.'s recent provincial election.

Weaver defeated NDP rival Jessica Van der Veen and long-time Liberal incumbent Ida Chong. The B.C. Green party fielded 61 candidates in the B.C. election, but Weaver represented its best chance for election.

Weaver was a member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with former U.S. vice-president Al Gore. Elizabeth May's solid victory in 2011 in the federal riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands raised the Green Party's profile in B.C.

"It's a technical question. Normally, when you have a credible environmental regulation system, this kind of thing can be observed, but there is no system of environmental regulation in Canada, with Stephen Harper. So, people have to say 'no' to this, because you absolutely cannot trust them to produce a result that is safe for the environment." Mulcair said in an interview.

Enbridge has applied to the National Energy Board to change Line 9's flow direction, so it can carry western oil eastward. It also wants to boost the flow to 300,000 barrels a day of either conventional crude or diluted bitumen (called dilbit) from the Alberta oilsands.

Environmentalists have decried the federal government's scaling back of environmental regulation. Environmental Defence and Greenpeace Canada argue that "the application is very difficult to find online" and "the basis on which participants will be rejected or accepted is unclear."