Ecojustice

Practice areas

Administrative & Regulatory Law Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution Class Actions Indigenous Law

Milestones & recognition

• Founded in 1990 as the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, created as a direct response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
• Took the name Ecojustice in 2007, after 17 years as the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, partly to reduce confusion with the Sierra Club.
• In 2001, obtained the first injunction in Canada to stop logging in endangered species habitat, in a case involving Spotted Owls.
• Won a 2012 Federal Court ruling establishing that critical habitat for Southern Resident Killer Whales includes the biological features the species needs to recover, not just a location on a map.
• Successfully challenged the Northern Gateway pipeline approval at the Federal Court of Appeal, arguing the government had failed to consider all the relevant science.
• Named to Charity Intelligence Canada's Top 100 charities list in 2025.

In the community

• Registered charity (Charitable Registration Number 13474 8474 RR0001) that says it's 100 percent donor funded, supported by more than 19,000 individual and organizational donors, and that declines donations from donors whose activities conflict with its mission or who might try to influence its strategic decisions.
• Has held accreditation under Imagine Canada's Standards Program since 2014.
• Runs an active blog covering its litigation, including a youth climate Charter case against the Ontario government and a Court of Appeal challenge to Ontario's Bill 212 restrictions on bike lanes.

Good to know

Wheelchair accessible

Lawyers 19

This firm’s lawyers at a glance

Called to the bar

2007–2018 · median 9 years in practice 3 of 19 lawyers

Law schools

University of Toronto (3), McGill University (2), University of British Columbia (2), University of Ottawa (2), Dalhousie University, Dalhousie University, Schulich School of Law and 2 more 13 of 19 lawyers

Who handles what

• Administrative & Regulatory Law
  Anna McIntosh, Charlie Hatt, Daniel Cheater, Dyna Tuytel, Fraser Thomson, Ian Miron, Imalka Nilmalgoda, James Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Kacie Oliver, Karine Peloffy, Kegan Pepper-Smith, Lindsay Beck, Matt Hulse, Rachel Gutman, Reid Gomme, Sarah McDonald, Sean Nixon, Susanne Calabrese, Tanya Jemec
• Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution
  Charlie Hatt, Fraser Thomson, James Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Lindsay Beck, Rachel Gutman, Sarah McDonald, Susanne Calabrese, Tanya Jemec
• Indigenous Law
  Matt Hulse, Sean Nixon
• Class Actions
  Tanya Jemec

Offices 5