About the ELC

The Environmental Law Centre (ELC) was incorporated in 1982 with the express purpose of providing Albertans with an objective source of information about environmental and natural resources law. Over the years, its mandate has broadened to extend the provision of service across the country.

The ELC’s vision is a clean, healthy and diverse environment protected through informed citizen participation and sound law and policy, effectively applied.  Its mission is to ensure that laws, policies and legal processes protect the environment.  To achieve this vision and mission, the ELC pursues these ends:

• People are actively engaged in decisions to protect the environment.
  • People are informed about environmental laws and decision-making.
  • People understand how and why decisions are made that affect the environment.
  • People are aware of and know how to use appropriate laws and regulatory processes that protect the environment.
  • People are informed about the environmental implications of laws and decisions.

• Laws are effective in protecting the environment.
  • There is continuous improvement in the laws, policies and regulatory decisions that affect the environment.
    • Gaps, adverse effects, shortcomings, and deficiencies in environmental laws, policies and regulatory decisions are identified and addressed.
    • Emerging issues that could be dealt with by environmental laws, policies and regulatory decisions are identified and addressed.

The ELC’s main focus is on service to individuals, community groups and non-governmental organizations, but it also provides services to other audiences, including the legal community, businesses and governments.  ELC activities and services cover two broad categories: public legal education and information, and law reform and research.  There are seven public program areas:

• Information and education;
• Water and aquatic ecosystems;
• Land use;
• Cumulative environmental effects;
• Public participation;
• Greenhouse gas emissions; and
• Emerging issues.

The ELC engages in public policy in a variety of ways:

• Participating in government consultation processes;
• Participating in multi-stakeholder policy development processes, such as the Clean Air Strategic Alliance or the Alberta Water Council;
• Serving on government advisory groups;
• Making submissions to government (both invited and unsolicited);
• Addressing policy matters through ELC publications, projects and public education activities; and
• Meeting with government officials and politicians.

Much of the ELC’s public policy involvement occurs at the provincial government level, with some engagement with municipal government levels (mainly in Edmonton and Calgary) and limited involvement with federal government policy.