The Canadian Law Firm Climate Impact Report
The University of Toronto Law Union (UTLU) published today a first-of-its-kind report analyzing the Canadian legal industry’s work for fossil fuel companies, and the role that five of the largest and most influential Canadian law firms play in exacerbating the climate crisis. The report focuses on work conducted by Torys LLP; Fasken; McCarthy Tétrault LLP; Miller Thomson LLP; and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, shedding light on the ways these firms enable the energy industry’s exploitation of Indigenous communities and the planet’s natural resources.
The statistics brought to light in the report are stark. These five firms reported facilitating over $500 billion in fossil fuel transactions. McCarthy Tétrault is responsible for an astonishing $174 billion of that figure.
The report also highlights firms' facilitation of resource extraction by criminalizing Indigenous resistance. For example, Fasken successfully obtained injunctions for Coastal GasLink which ordered the Unist’ot’en Camp, established to prevent unauthorized access to the clan’s land, be dismantled. The land defenders faced three raids by heavily armed police and 19 people are currently facing criminal contempt charges for defying these injunctions.
Building upon the work of LSCA’s US and UK publications, this report adds to a growing global movement of law students looking to hold firms accountable for their complicity in the climate crisis. “Now we make the call out to all law students, lawyers, and legal professionals to join us in exercising collective power to take action against the climate crisis,” said Carson Cook, a second year law student and contributing author to the Canadian Law Firm Climate Impact Report. “This report is a testament to the power students have when working together. With only a handful of law students, we have been able to uncover important information about how a significant part of the legal industry in Canada exacerbates climate change.”
LSCA is looking forward to the impact of the report. “We are proud and humbled that our work continues to inspire law students to take action,” said LSCA National Director Haley Czarnek. “We are excited to continue to sharpen our understanding of the legal industry’s role in the climate crisis, and welcome Canadian students and firms to take our climate pledges.”
LSCA would also like to extend our sincerest thanks to our friends at Greenpeace Canada, and particularly to the Greenpeace Canada Education Fund, for their tremendous support of this project.
