THIS Magazine: The real reason few law students are ruling in favour of activism

Legal Challenges
The real reasons few law students are ruling in favour of activism

BY Meribeth Deen
Illustration by Joshua Leipciger

When the Federal Court of Appeal struck down a challenge last November that would have seen a massive power plant built in Sumas, Washington, residents of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia were jubilant. The proposed Sumas Energy 2 Generation Facility power plant would have spewed up to three tonnes of toxins a day across the border into southern BC, and required that a massive power line be run through the town of Abbotsford. The battle was protracted, lasting five years, and the court’s decision to uphold a 2004 ruling by the National Energy Board that a power line would not benefit Canadians and should therefore not be built, was a major environmental victory.