Past Priorities 2018-2020

 

Forest Practices for Forest Resilience

The 2004 re-write of BC’s forest practices legislation largely turned over management of BC’s public forests to industry and left it there for 15 years. Our forests, and the wildlife and communities that depend on them, are in desperate need of a new approach that will ensure we can maintain or restore healthy, fully functioning forest ecosystems that support ecological, social, cultural and economic resilience. 

Under this policy priority, we advocated for government to turn BC’s forest policy framework on its head. Central to this was a call for long-overdue legislative changes to put our forests, not timber, first.

Outcomes:

  • Our member and allied groups engaged extensively, and continue to do so, on legislative reforms to the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA). OFC coordinated and co-wrote a joint submission from 33 environmental groups in response to the government’s 2019 Discussion Paper, Forest and Range Practices Act, Improvement Initiative: Renewal and Resilience, setting out the comprehensive changes we advocated for.

  • Government passed two rounds of legislative changes (in 2019 and 2021) to FRPA, the governing forest management legislation in the province. One of the major outcomes of the 2021 amendments was the introduction of the Forest Landscape Planning (FLP), tactical level planning we advocated for in our 2019 submission. Four FLPs were piloted across the province starting in 2021.

  • In 2019, the government appointed an independent panel to conduct an Old Growth Strategic Review process. The Review process included extensive meetings and written submissions, including those from OFC members. The resulting Review report, released just before the fall 2020 election, outlined 14 critical recommendations for action. These included immediate actions to halt biodiversity loss on the ground, forward-looking shifts to transform forest management, and recommendations related to process and transparency among others. We were very pleased to see the NDP commit, during the election, that if elected they would “fully implement” all fourteen recommendations. 

Much-needed advocacy in this area continues under OFC’s 2020-2024 Old Growth policy priority. This includes advocating for a new approach to forestry and resource development that prioritizes biodiversity and ecosystem health, and urgently protecting at-risk old growth, both of which were recommendations under the Old Growth Strategic Review process and which remain outstanding in whole or in part.

An Endangered Species Law for BC

Despite having some of the richest wildlife in North America, and more species at risk than any other province or territory, British Columbia is one of the last provinces  in Canada without an endangered species law. 

Under this policy priority, we advocated for a provincial endangered species law in order to protect the habitats and ecosystems these species depend on. Critically, we called for this law to be designed to incorporate interim habitat protections. We also advocated for this law to be proactive in its design, given the fact that it is easier and less costly to recover species before they’re endangered.

Outcomes:

  • In 2017, the new provincial government committed to an endangered species law in their election platform, and instructions to move forward this commitment appeared in the mandate letter for the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy that same year.

  • Disappointingly, a standalone endangered species law has not materialized, with language about endangered species watered down significantly in 2020 mandate letters to include no mention of a law at all. In more recent interviews, government officials have confirmed that this legislation will not be forthcoming and are instead looking to the proposed Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework to provide necessary endangered species protection (with more of a habitat focus). To be determined whether the Framework will move forward, and if so, if it provides needed species protections.

Climate Target Accountability

BC has been setting and missing targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction since they were established in 2007. A strong, legislated accountability framework is key to helping BC break that target-busting habit.

That is why we were so pleased to see government announce in their 2018 CleanBC plan that they intended to implement a new climate accountability framework.

Our member and allied groups have long advocated for both stronger climate targets, and for robust accountability mechanisms to ensure we reach the targets set. Under this policy priority, we focussed on advocating for those accountability mechanisms in the form of a legally binding accountability framework. Elements that we advocated for the framework to incorporate included:

  • Strengthened planning and reporting requirements, including detailed annual reports by all ministries;

  • A formalized mandate and powers for the independent Climate Solutions Council;

  • The addition of shorter-term carbon budgets or interim targets on the way to our 2030, 2040 and 2050 climate goals;

  • The introduction of sectoral targets;

  • A clear process for reviewing and revising provincial targets based on the progression of science and in line with global climate agreements.

Outcomes:

  • Amendments were made to the provincial Climate Change Accountability Act in 2019. The Amendments included a requirement to establish sectoral targets, legislating the role of the independent advisory council, and setting out detailed annual reporting requirements, among other matters.

  • Sectoral targets were set in 2021, breaking down BC’s overarching climate goals to include specific emissions reduction targets in the areas of transportation, industry, oil and gas, and buildings and communities. Having targets broken down allows the public to better hold each sector to account (as OFC and members are doing under our ensuing Oil and Gas policy priority). However, having even more specificity in the sectoral breakdown, including more granular categories, would have allowed for even greater accountability.

Next-Generation Environmental Assessment for BC

The government’s 2017 commitment to reform environmental assessment and planning in BC put our province at the doorstep of a major opportunity to transform the way we approach development activities in the province. 

A range of environmental, social justice, and community groups worked together to develop a vision for next generation EA in BC to ensure an informed, transparent and accountable assessment process that furthers sustainability, advances reconciliation and involves the public in decisions that affect their communities. 

Under this policy priority, our members and allies advocated for a transformative approach to environmental assessment reform, including a strong environmental assessment law and similarly strong regulations.

Outcomes:

  • Following a period of engagement and public comment, BC passed a new Environmental Assessment Act in November 2018. 

  • The Act included several significant improvements worth celebrating, including:

    • Mandating that certain key matters be assessed. Positive additions include mandatory assessment of effects on current and future generations, consistency with applicable land-use plans and regional or strategic assessments, and consideration of greenhouse gas emissions, including potential effects on the province being able to meet its targets under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act;

    • A provision enabling Indigenous-led assessments;

    • Provisions enabling regional and strategic assessments;

    • Legislated purposes of the Environmental Assessment Office expanded, including the promotion of sustainability, and support for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples;

    • Establishing a community advisory committee as a default part of the assessment process, and increasing the number of opportunities for written public comment;

    • Enabling a suite of stronger follow-up and compliance tools, such as a new power to require independent audits of approved projects.

Safe Salmon

There is clear evidence that to protect wild salmon, marine mammals, other species and their habitats, BC needs to get open-net fish farms out of our waters. 

Developments in late 2017 and early 2018 converged to create an unprecedented opportunity for change in BC salmon farm operations: 

  • Washington State banned salmon farming following a catastrophic escape of Atlantic salmon; making BC the only west coast jurisdiction remaining to allow open-net farming, with an already-existing moratorium on BC’s north coast;

  • A graphic video of virus-infected, blood-water discharging from a farmed salmon processing facility off Vancouver Island made international news;

  • New science emerged indicating that salmon farm viruses can cause disease in chinook salmon and impede wild salmon migrations; and

  • A scathing Auditor General’s report was released on the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ mismanagement of salmon farming risk to wild salmon.

Under this policy priority, our members and allies seized this historic opportunity for advocacy, and urged the province to continue working with First Nations and the federal government for a speedy removal of  open-net farms out of salmon migration routes.

Outcomes:

  • Through a ground-breaking government-to-government process, the BC government announced a historic agreement in December 2018, with the ‘Namgis, Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwa’mis and Mamalilikulla First Nations, involving the federal government, and the salmon farming industry, to remove 17 salmon farms from the Broughton Archipelago by 2023 and initiate First Nations-led monitoring.

  • Progress on the salmon farm transition continues more broadly, though clearly much more remains to be done. The following blog provides a timeline of key milestones through the early 2020s, and our partners and allies continue to advocate on this issue.