It has become apparent that the fabric of environmental decision-making in Canada is in need of mending. Major judical rulings have laid bare many of the inadequacies of institutional arrangements designed and modified through time to resolve natural resource conflicts among stakeholders. The Cullen (1989) and Muldoon (1989) decisions, for example, exposed the failings of the federal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in the context of the Rafferty-Allemeda and the Oldman Dam projects. They raised concerns about process abuse in the form of political expediency, political payoff, and political deceit. Further, a negative, residual impression was left of the federal Justice Department. Why was the advice given the federal Minister of the Environment so clearly the wrong interpretation of the EIA Guidelines contained in the Corporations Act? One would assume that the federal minister had consulted with the appropriate legal advisers on-call from Justice within Environment Canada.
In addition, the Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, Allan McEachern, on March 9, 1991 shocked Canadian native and non-native populations with an extreme and unexpected decision. His judgment dismissed the massive land claim of the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en Indians of northwestern British Columbia. 'It is my conclusion.., that the difficulties facing the Indian populations of the territory, and probably throughout Canada, will not be solved in the context of legal rights' (The Globe and Mail, March 12, 1991, p. A16). Many now fear that the debate about the extinguishment of aboriginal rights will be, by necessity, refuelled by lengthy court appeals of this legal interpretation. But, is this event a symptom of a larger socio-political ill? Why was the legal interpretation needed in the first place? Have institutions such as the Indian Act and the Land Claims Review Process now become incompatible with the economic, political and social reality of Canada in the 1990's?
As reported by Bregha in this volume, in 1986 the Muir and Sudar report -Toxic Chemicals in the Great Lakes Ecosystem -was released to the public. It described suspected links between contaminants in the Great Lakes and human health problems. However, the federal Environment Department was extremely concerned about public