St-Laurent Technoparc   See photo (Courtesy of Hubert Gendron) of Petit Marais Hubert Reeves above, as it was in 2015. 

The Legacy Fund for the Environment arose from the perception that citizens’ groups need something in addition to the political tools and tactics they use to preserve biodiversity and protect the natural environment. Citizens also need the power of the courts to ensure that our environmental laws are enforced, and they usually need the funding and support of an organization that can assist them. In 2015 the Legacy Fund was created to fill that need.

Our first case was in aid of the group Sauvons L’Anse-à-l’Orme, the result of which played a significant role leading to the creation of le Grand parc de l’Ouest.  Our next case, an injunction heard in February 2020, was in support of the Green Coalition and TechnoparcOiseaux’s defence of the Montreal Technoparc wetlands (the number one birding spot on the Island of Montreal). 

Since then, we have supported twenty-eight citizen groups defending local green spaces, watercourses, wetlands and forests from Mille-Isles to Lac-Mégantic. Eight of these cases are currently ongoing, and the Legacy Fund is proud to support legal action for environmental protection across the province.

Our direct help to citizens’ groups is opening up a new chapter in the fight for the preservation of our environment. By empowering citizens to defend their environment through legal means, the Legacy Fund for the Environment ensures that the Canadian justice system represents the will of the majority to protect the environment and leave behind a green legacy.