ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE EIS: LOW-LEVEL MILITARY FLIGHTS IN CANADA

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the environmental justice of the Canadian military proposal to expand low-level training flights over lands traditionally occupied by the Innu and other aboriginal peoples who practice the last semi-nomadic hunting existence in North America. It reviews the implementation of the EIS process and the environmental justice of the decision. The fairness of the decision depended on how the EIS review was implemented: whether the reviewers and the procedures they followed were fair to the Innu, and whether they acted ethically in deciding to expand low-level military flights. This paper examines the history of the proposal, its two EIS reviews, the actions of the implementing agency, and the justice of the review process.