Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa

— filed under: Robert Peterson, Melanie Cousineau, Will Amos

The Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa is the nation's first public interest environmental law and policy clinic.

The Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa is the world’s first interdisciplinary public interest environmental law clinic.

A partnership between Ecojustice, Canada’s leading charity using the law to protect and restore the environment, and the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, the clinic provides free legal expertise to community groups and citizens, drawing upon the University’s strengths in environmental law and Ecojustice's 20-year track record in defending Canadians' right to a healthy environment.

The Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa (formerly, the uOttawa-Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic) provides an empowering learning environment where students earn course credits as they assist Ecojustice lawyers and scientists in providing strategic advice and pro bono legal counsel to groups across the country. Each semester, 15 students assist in legal education and community outreach, summary legal advice, law reform assistance and submissions to Parliament. In this setting, practical education becomes genuine impact for the environment, as students take on supervised work on active legal cases that represent community members and hold governments and other organizations accountable to environmental laws.

The Ecojustice Clinic at the University of Ottawa is supported by direct and in-kind contributions from Ecojustice, the University of Ottawa, the Law Foundation of Ontario, McConnell Foundation, the Barber Family Trust Foundation and Mountain Equipment Co-Op.

We also recognize the Community Foundation of Ottawa: The Canyon Foundation Fund for their support of our Environmental Hansard website. The Environmental Hansard is an easy-to-use collection of all House of Commons discussions and debates about Canada’s environment. Its purpose is to make Parliamentary debate accessible and transparent to the Canadian public, researchers and environmental community. The website is non-partisan and a valuable tool for anyone interested in sustainability and the environment.

(En francais)