CISDL Symposium Workshop Report:

Legal Aspects of Climate Change in Canada’s North

On the occasion of the 2005 COP 11 / MOP 1 of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol in Montreal, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), in collaboration with the McGill University Faculty of Law and the Centre d’Études et de Recherche Internationale de l’Université de Montréal (CERIUM), organized “Strengthening Climate Cooperation, Compliance & Coherence”, an international law symposium on sustainable developments in law and policy on climate change. Thanks to Arcticnet, the impacts and pressing issues of climate change in Canada’s North took center stage, and were debated with high profile in the symposium.

The event took place on December 2nd and 3rd, at McGill University Faculty of Law in Montreal and brought together over 200 participants, amongst which were academics, lawyers, scientists and policy-makers, to debate the most recent trends and practices in sustainable development law related to climate change. It also provided for participants to build their knowledge and capacity in this important emerging area.

The focus of the event, through its expert panels and workshops, was threefold;  

• Cooperation: Recent developments in law and policy to support Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and the potential for future implementation and advancement.
• Compliance: Recent developments in international law and policy to strengthen compliance with the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, and future directions for facilitation and enforcement mechanisms.
• Coherence: Intersections between global and domestic climate regimes, and other international regimes (trade and investment, indigenous peoples & other human rights, biodiversity, desertification, law of the sea, etc.).

Keynote speakers in the high level opening plenary highlighted the importance of climate change for the peoples, wildlife and land of the Arctic. Dr. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, stressed the urgency of addressing climate change for the peoples of the North, especially the Inuit, especially the present and ongoing impacts on Inuit livelihoods. Professor Gordon McBean, a research leader of ArticNet, professor of Geography and Political Science at the University of Western Ontario and Research Chair, of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, focused on the changing climate and weather systems in the Arctic, the changing occurrence of extreme weather events with climate change, their influence on public systems and strategies for adaptation, and the importance of lawyers working with scientists to resolve pressing issues related to the impacts of climate change in Canada’s North.

At the Symposium, one of the most significant and well-attended Workshops addressed the Legal Implications of the Changing Climate for Indigenous Peoples Claims. The issues addressed in the workshop related to the legal and policy implications of a changing climate in governance and interactions with Inuit Land-claims organizations, to indigenous peoples with regard to environmental protection and human rights and international sovereignty and diplomacy. The Workshop was chaired by Professor Gordon McBean of the University of Western Ontario, leader of the law and policy theme for ArticNet Canada. The expert speakers were Mr. Terri Fenge on climate law and policy affecting Inuit peoples and Mr. Paul Crowley on the physical effects of climate change in Canada’s North and their impacts on indigenous peoples livelihoods and land, both from the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Mr. William David from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami on climate change impacts and adaptations, and Mr. Don Goldberg from the Centre for International Environmental Law on environmental and human rights implications, and the Inuit claim against the United States before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. The experts and participants discussed the legal research needed to formulate adaptation strategies and national and international policies to address the impacts and opportunities of climate change and globalization in the Artic. The workshop was co-sponsored by Inuit Circumpolar Conference and ArticNet, with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law.