CELA

Canadian Environmental Law Association is a legal aid clinic dedicated to environmental equity, justice, and health.

Founded in 1970, CELA is one of the oldest environmental advocates for environmental protection in the country. With funding from Legal Aid Ontario, CELA provides free legal services relating to environmental justice in Ontario, including representing qualifying low-income and vulnerable or disadvantaged communities in litigation. CELA also works on environmental legal education and reform initiatives.

CELA Foundation

Canadian Environmental Law Foundation

The CELA Foundation is the charitable arm of Canadian Environmental Law Association. The Foundation was established in 1993 and supports CELA’s research and education work on environmental law and justice issues.

CELA FOUNDATION

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Air Quality

Air Quality Issues in Ontario

Air pollution is a major source of harm to human health and the environment. Ontario needs to set and enforce strong standards for local air quality in order to protect people from being exposed to air pollution.

Climate Change

Climate Change and Vulnerable Communities

The impacts of climate change are deeply unfair. Low-income people in Canada are least responsible for the devastating impacts of climate change but most impacted by them. CELA has new resources on extreme heat, flooding, and more.

Our Legal Services

How can we help?

Public Legal Education

Learn about the law

Advancing Environmental Law

Action on Environmental justice

CELA's Latest Activities

Discover staff blog posts, publications, reports, alerts, and media releases.

August 2023 Bulletin

CELA’s summer student profiles, updates on Keep Napanee Great hearings, Chalk River near-surface disposal facility hearing, and Glencore’s application for

August 31, 2023

Fact Sheets: Environmental Justice

A series of fact sheets discussing Environmental Justice, as it pertains to the built environment, food security, and climate change.

August 29, 2023

Making the Links in Southeastern Ontario: CELA’s Toolkit for Environmental Action

This Toolkit has been created to pair critically urgent environmental issues with legal mechanisms for change and public advocacy.

August 29, 2023

Blog: Update on Site-Specific Air Standard Approval – Glencore Canada Corporation

Details regarding the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks approval of Glencore’s site specific standard proposal for sulphur dioxide.

August 28, 2023

Blog: Last Day of Chalk River Nuclear Landfill Hearing

An update on the the CNSC public hearings regarding the proposed Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’

August 25, 2023

CELA Brief in response to proposed 2023 Changes to the Provincial Policy Statement issued under the Planning Act (ERO #019-6813)

Canadian Environmental Law Association (“CELA”) writes to provide our comments in respect of proposed changes to the Provincial Policy Statement and the Place to Grow Policy by MMAH as a new consolidated policy statement. CELA Submission to PPS Review 2023

August 2, 2023

Casework: Proposed Near-Surface Disposal Facility at Chalk River

In 2016, the privately-owned Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) proposed a Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) for their Chalk River site. The NSDF is required to undergo a federal environmental assessment (EA) under the legislation that was in place at the time, specifically the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA). The CNSC must issue a decision statement under section 54 of the CEAA as to whether the designated project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

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Canadian Environmental Law Association
1500-55 University Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario
M5J 2H7

info (at) cela.ca

1-416-960-2284
1-844-755-1420

This site contains general legal information for Ontario, Canada. It is not intended to be used as legal advice for a specific legal problem.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.