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The channel was constructed between December 2009 and February 2010 without a license as required through Manitoba’s Environment Act. It affects crown lands and waters, and was constructed by a private land owner.

Concern about the environmental impacts of the project as well as the retroactive nature of the permitting, with no apparent consequences, caused serious concerns among local residents and others. The local residents lodged complaints and banded together to form the Eastern Beaches Conservation Coalition (EBCC).

Following these complaints Manitoba Water Stewardship issued a stop work order on the project in March of 2010 until an Environmental Assessment could be completed. An Environment Act Proposal was filed in late October and comments were accepted until November 22, 2010.

Manitoba Wildlands, and numerous others, submitted comments asking EALB: "...not to license this project, and to issue an order for remediation and restoration of the lagoon."

"The tiger has made the world realize that there is a crisis in nature taking place. Our development philosophy needs to find a balance between the economy and nature," said Keshav Varma, director of the Global Tiger Initiative at the World Bank.

The high-profile conservation conference called by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and World Bank chief Robert Zoellick mobilized political, financial and celebrity support to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

"This summit has created the high-level government backing that we needed to create a platform to immediately reverse the decline of wild tigers, which is threatening them with extinction," said Michael Baltzer, head of WWF's Tigers Alive initiative.

But the summit ended with concerns remaining about financing and concrete action. Several states are skeptical that the World Bank – which has funded many hydropower and other infrastructure projects that have eroded tiger habitats – has genuinely changed its spots.

"Overall, this summit has been positive for tigers, but it won't stop poaching and trafficking because they haven't put in place a mechanism to support enforcement," said Steven Galster, director of Freeland, an organisation that helps to train wildlife authorities in south-east Asia. "They spent $1.4m on this meeting. Why not spend $7m to set up an emergency fund to support enforcement?"

The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Hon. James S. Cowan, stood up the following day and declared: "Yesterday, this government thumbed its nose at the House of Commons and at Canadians from coast to coast to coast who care deeply about climate change, arguably the most important issue facing Canada and the world. Yesterday, this government refused to allow a bill that came to us with the support of a majority of the elected members of the other place to proceed even to committee, where it could receive careful scrutiny and allow Canadians to be heard on the merits of the bill."

If passed the bill would have required the federal government to set regulations and establish targets to bring greenhouse gas emissions 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and to set a long-term target to bring emissions 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

"Stephen Harper has done what he always promised never to do: use unelected officials to counter the will of Parliament and the Canadian public." Said Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada.

An online poll by CBC determined that 86.54% of respondents felt the Senate defeat of Bill C-311 was an abuse of democracy.

Two Akaitcho First Nations have concerns that the Vancouver-based company's bid to drill for lithium at its Phoenix site near Aylmer Lake, about 340 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, could disturb their ancestral burial grounds.

The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board issued the land-use permit to North Arrow on July 16, 2009, but First Nation officials said they had not been consulted before the permit was awarded.

"There were no face-to-face meetings with chiefs on issues; no real meetings with the communities and no attempt to address any of the communities' or leaders' ideas into North Arrow's proposal. North Arrow simply refused to negotiate," stated Justice Michael L. Phelan in his decision.

"This decision sends a clear message to companies who want to operate in Akaitcho Dene territory. This is our land. We are open to working with industry, but companies need to respect us, respect our rights, and respect what we have to say. We have to ensure that our treaty rights and our land and environment are protected," explained Yellowknives Dene Chief Edward Sangris.

Climate change was front-and-center in California. Regardless of partisan stripe the state's voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 23, an oil industry backed ballot initiative, which aimed to repeal California's climate law.

In the midst of an economic slump, Californians are seeing the benefits of a low carbon future. Green jobs in California have grown 10 times faster than the statewide average over the past five years, and the clean tech sector attracted $9 billion venture capital investment from 2005 through 2009.

"Voters understand clean energy jobs already exist and offer the best promise for economic growth. They recognize that we can have a clean environment and a healthy economy," said Tom Steyer, co-chairman of the Stop Dirty Energy Proposition campaign.

"We cannot sit back and wait for politicians to act in the interests of people right across the world while those very people continue to suffer. Climate litigation provides a real possibility in terms of bringing those responsible to account," declares Oxfam.

In 2010 Oxfam is supporting a number of hearings to take place in India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Brazil, and the Philippines. Oxfam India recently hosted a November 16, 2010 hearing in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. People from communities across 10 different Indian states, with climate and legal experts, met to explore possibilities for litigation on the impacts of climate change, both at national and international level.

Meanwhile, senior academics, judges and lawmakers from around the world are backing the International Court for the Environment. It would be an over-arching global institution to provide improved access to justice following incidents of environmental damage and breaches of international treaties. The Court would sit above - and adjudicate on - disputes arising out of UN environmental treaties, such as the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, its Framework Convention on Climate Change. and the Kyoto protocol.

More than three years later, Canada has changed positions and offered conditional "support" for UNDRIP. "The Declaration is an aspirational document which ...is a non-legally binding document that does not reflect customary international law nor change Canadian laws," declares the Canadian Government's letter of support.

"Now is our time to work together towards a new era of fairness and justice for First Nations and a stronger Canada for all Canadians, guided by the Declaration's core principles of respect, partnership and reconciliation," stated National Chief Shawn Atleo.

"Canadians need to understand that the purpose of instruments like the declaration is to encourage governments to change policies and laws that are discriminatory or that fail to uphold and fulfill the human rights protections guaranteed to Aboriginal Peoples," said National Inuit Leader Mary Simon.

"The more these lawsuits succeed, the more that puts pressure on the industry groups to support comprehensive climate legislation, or at least not oppose it," says Jonathan Zasloff, an expert in tort and environmental law at the University of California-Los Angeles.

All three suits rely upon the theory that climate change is a public nuisance and, therefore, state and local governments, as well as individuals who have been harmed, can sue for damages or injunctions. They also make arguments that proved successful against the big tobacco companies in the 1990's arguing corporations conspire to create a false scientific debate about global warming in order to deceive the public. ExxonMobil, for example, is accused of channeling $16 million over a seven-year period to 42 organizations that promote false information on global warming.

All three cases were dismissed by the District Courts. Connecticut and Comer were reinstated on Appeal and are scheduled for further review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The appeal of Kivalina is still pending.

"If the Court does not act on Connecticut or Comer, I think Kivalina will go forward. I think that one could end up being the most dangerous of any of them. But getting into court is one thing; proving causation is a very hard row to hoe," stated Environmental litigator Steven Jones.

The 102 page report presents 22 key findings and voices concern over declines in certain bird populations, increases in wildfire, and significant shifts in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial food webs.

Some key findings identify ecosystems in which natural processes are compromised or increased stresses are reaching critical thresholds. Examples include: fish populations that have not recovered despite removal of fishing pressure; declines in the area and condition of grasslands, where grassland bird populations are dropping sharply; and, fragmented forests that place forest-dwelling caribou at risk.

"What we do know, from a biodiversity trend perspective, is that things have been getting worse - much worse," said Dalhousie University's Jeff Hutchings, who reviewed a draft of the report.

Climate Action Network Canada launched an "Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper and Minister Flaherty: An appeal to end special tax breaks to oil, coal and gas companies" on November 10, 2010, encouraging organizations to sign-on in the lead up to the 2011 federal budget.

"Prime Minister Harper hands out more money in tax breaks to oil and gas companies every year than the entire operating budget of Environment Canada," says Steven Guilbeault of Equiterre. "This is part of a broader recklessness that this government demonstrates in terms of dealing with climate change."

"Canadian governments give kind words to those who reduce pollution gases and cold, hard cash to oil companies for increasing pollution and greenhouse gases," added Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, Keith Stewart.

The open letter follows the release of several studies that quantify the cost of subsidies to fossil fuel companies. A November 2, 2010 report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development pegged the value of Canadian subsidies at $2.84 billion (CAD) per year.

A November 9, 2010 International Energy Agency (IEA) report estimates that all told G20 Nations provide $312-billion (USD) in annual support to the fossil fuel industry.

"Fossil-fuel subsidies result in an economically inefficient allocation of resources and market distortions, while often failing to meet their intended objectives," said the IEA in its 2010 World Energy Report.

The arrestees were mainly Quebeckers who traveled to Toronto for the summit, and billeted at a gymnasium in a U of T building. Early on the morning of Sunday, June 27, police raided the building and rounded up nearly 100 people. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a criminal act. Police did not obtain a warrant because they thought they did not need one. The Crown decided otherwise, and dropped all charges related to the June 27 arrest.

Faced with numerous complaints and pictures which showed Toronto Police not wearing their badges as required, the Toronto Police launched an investigation and identified nearly 100 officers who were not wearing their name tags. The officers now face disciplinary measures of lost days pay.

"The entire system of police accountability turns in large measure on individuals who believe they have legitimate concerns having an ability to address those concerns with some certainty. If police or anyone in a position of authority has the ability to not disclose their identity, it raises a series of concerns both for the individual involved but also on a broader, societal level," said Toronto lawyer Eric Gillespie, who's heading up one of two class actions related to the G20.

Taseko Mines Ltd. planned to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) in central British Columbia (B.C.) to access gold and copper deposits and make room for a toxic tailings pond. A Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) panel report found that creation of the mine and destruction of Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) would impose irreversible harm to the environment, fish and wildlife and on First Nations rights, lives, culture and spirituality. The proposed Prosperity open-pit mine is on the traditional lands of the Xeni Gwet'in First Nation, a member of the Tsilhqot'in National Government.

"We were very pleased to see many of our concerns about this project reflected in the Panel Report," commented Ramsey Hart of Mining Watch Canada, "We are even more pleased to see the government respect those findings and reject the project."

"Now we must close the legislative loophole that allows destruction of Canada's freshwater bodies for toxic mine tailings," said Sierra Club B.C. Executive Director George Heyman, referring to changes made to Canada's Fisheries Act which allow metal mining corporations to use Canadian lakes to dispose of millions of tonnes of toxic waste rock and tailings. Fish Lake would have been Canada's fifth pristine natural water body authorized for as a tailing pond.

First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) founding member Chief Marilyn Baptise and her fellow Tsilhqot'in National Government chiefs intend to follow up their recent victory saving Fish Lake with a court appeal to establish their Title and Right.

Takla Lake First Nation Chief Dolly Abraham explained, "before we can start to deal with individual proposals effectively we need Land Use Plans that clearly state where mining - and other resource extraction - can be pursued, and where it cannot - and this must take into account the accumulative effects of all projects on the environment."