Member-only story
ISSUES: By allowing toxic spraying, does Canada breach its legal obligations under the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)?
It’s been a few years but while researching the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in relation to several proposed LNG terminals in the Quoddy Region of the Bay of Fundy, I had shown, I think, that Canada was obliged under UNCLOS to protect the Canadian waters in the vicinity of Passamaquoddy Bay and that the United States has no rights under this international agreement since it has never signed UNCLOS.
This whole concern about Canada’s legal obligation relative to ocean pollution made me revisit my files on UNCLOS. It seems that I remembered that Canada has some serious legal obligations relative to the impacts of forest and agricultural sprays, fracking wastes, brine dumping and other pollutants on shared waters and the ocean area that it holds in trust under the agreement.
I am no lawyer, but as my mentor Dr. John Anderson would say, “in my simple mind” it would appear that Canada, the Maritime Provinces, and a gaggle of corporations, both public and private, are in breach of the UN International Law of the Sea.
TIME FOR SOME HEAVY THINKING! You can form your own opinion. Everything is wrapped up in Article 194 which is reproduced in annotated form below.
Article 194
Measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment
1. States shall take, individually or jointly as appropriate, all measures consistent with this Convention that are necessary to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from any source, using for this purpose the best practicable means at their disposal and in accordance with their capabilities, and they shall endeavour to harmonize their policies in this connection.
It has been clear for decades now that the governments involved with forest, agriculture, and other pesticide and herbicide sprays have never attempted “to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment”. In fact, the opposite has been true and, to my knowledge, no effort has been made to prevent pollution from reaching waters covered under UNCLOS and our own Oceans Act, including:
