The complicity of five major Canadian law firms in the climate crisis is examined ahead of Toronto Recruit Call day.
Students at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law have released a report detailing major Canadian law firms’ complicity in the worsening climate crisis. The Canadian Law Firm Climate Impact Report (the “Report”), published by the University of Toronto Law Union (UTLU), focuses on work conducted by Torys LLP, Fasken, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Miller Thomson LLP, and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. With the support of Greenpeace and Law Students for Climate Accountability, the report attempts to shed light on the ways these firms enable the energy industry and its exploitation of Indigenous communities and the planet’s natural resources.
The results of the Report are stark—collectively, the five firms reported over $500 billion in fossil fuel transactions, an exorbitant amount considering that only a small fraction of the legal community is represented in the Report. The top firm, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, facilitated $174 billion in fossil fuel transactions, while Torys LLP facilitated the highest amount of renewable energy transactions, totalling $45.1 billion from 2008-2023. The report outlines a clear discrepancy between transactions in the fossil fuel sector versus the renewable energy sector.
The Report also highlights the firms’ facilitation of resource extraction by criminalizing Indigenous resistance. For example, Fasken successfully obtained injunctions for Coastal GasLink which ordered the Unist’ot’en Camp, established to prevent unauthorized access to the clan’s land, be dismantled. The land defenders faced three raids by heavily armed police, and 19 people are currently facing criminal contempt charges for defying these injunctions.
The report is the first attempt to bring Canadian law firms’ work with the energy industry into the public eye. The Report builds on previous climate change report cards evaluating American and UK law firms, completed by Law Students for Climate Accountability. This report adds to a growing global movement of law students looking to hold firms accountable for their complicity in the climate crisis.
The report is also a call to action that calls on all law firms to stop working for fossil fuel clients and for climate-conscious companies to refuse representation from firms that represent fossil fuel corporations. However, the report recognizes that real power comes from below. The report calls on students and lawyers to critically consider their employment decisions and collectivize because, together, we have the capacity to stall extractive systems, confront those responsible for the destruction of our planet, and fight for a climate-just future.
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