CELA represents eligible clients free of charge and provides general legal information to individuals, organizations and communities in relation to environmental justice.
These services can range from ongoing, solicitor-client relationships to one-time written explanations on how environmental laws might apply to your situation.
For example, CELA may be able to help with a local air pollution issue or drinking water case in your home or community.
Activities:
Need legal assistance? If you qualify and have an environmental justice legal issue, we may be able to help. We provide free, confidential legal help to people living on low income as well as vulnerable, under-resourced or Indigenous communities.
We also provide environmental justice legal advice to individuals and groups regardless of income.
When appropriate, we can also refer potential cases to lawyers in private firms which specialize in environmental or municipal law.
CELA lawyers represent eligible individuals, non-governmental organizations, and Indigenous communities in Ontario in the courts and before tribunals on matters of environmental law to Ontario residents and community groups who qualify for legal aid. Illustrative examples of some of our current cases are profiled on our website via the links below. A select list of CELA’s cases is available here.
Families in Elliot Lake are demanding action by the federal government and mining company BHP to clean up radioactive wastes found on their properties.
Over many decades, the Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario has experienced the direct and cumulative effects of many industrial and resource extraction activities that have adversely affected human health, degraded the environment, and impacted Grassy Narrows’ treaty rights and way of life.
CELA represents No Clearcuts Kingston, a non-profit organization that has been engaged in a lengthy community-based fight against the proposed development of a former tannery site beside the Cataraqui River.
