Forest History Association of British Columbia Speaker Series

50 YEARS OF WEST COAST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Jessica Clogg (West Coast Environmental Law Executive Director & Senior Counsel)

Tuesday, September 17th, 2024 7:00pm PST

JESSICA CLOGG (she/her/hers) West Coast’s Executive Director and Senior Counsel. In her third decade of legal practice as an environmental and Indigenous rights lawyer at West Coast, Jessica has said that she does the work she does “because she loves the land, and because she believes in justice.” She is a white-bodied settler of mixed European ancestry who grew up in Stó:lō country in the Fraser Valley, drawn to environmental and social justice work because of the impacts of unsustainable clearcut logging on her community.

Throughout her career, Jessica’s work has focused on providing legal and strategic support to First Nations – working alongside Indigenous leaders and community members who are using their own Indigenous laws as the foundation for powerful strategies to care for the lands and resources of their territories and to catalyze broader shifts in Canadian law. In 2016, based on learnings and partnerships developed through this work, West Coast launched the RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water) Program, a unique co-learning and legal support program focused on researching, applying and enforcing Indigenous law. Jessica continues to work with the RELAW program today, and on law reform initiatives aimed at transforming the legal landscape in ways that are more democratic, more sustainable and more just.

Jessica holds a joint Masters in Environmental Studies and law degree from Osgoode Hall, York University and an Ashoka fellowship recognizing her work bridging between Canadian and Indigenous legal traditions. In 2020 Jessica was voted one of the top 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine.

Feature Image: “Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (April 2016)” by @CarShowShooter is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.