Media Releases

Oil exploration licence at Old Harry - Enviro groups sue over drilling in Gulf of St. Lawrence

Posted on May 16, 2017
Fishermen loading lobster trap
The Gulf of St. Lawrence, home to thousands of species, with robust fishing and tourism industries as well as Indigenous harvest must be protected from risky oil exploration, groups say.

TORONTO – Environmental groups took legal action today against the renewal of an exploration licence at Old Harry to protect the Gulf of St Lawrence — home to more than 4,000 species including blue whale, salmon and cod — from unlawful oil exploration.  

Federal, Provincial Governments Have 30 Days to Protect the Gulf

Posted on December 16, 2016
Blue Whale tail flukes

Sierra Club Canada Foundation has learned that the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board will take the unprecedented step of issuing a new license for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Corridor Resources. In the last nine years, Corridor has been granted three free extensions on its license in the Gulf, and has reached the maximum term set out in the Accords Act for holding an offshore exploration license.

Scientists raise the alarm about seismic blasting near newly discovered population of endangered whales

Posted on November 25, 2016

For Immediate Release: November 21, 2016

Halifax, NS -

Scientists studying Northern bottlenose whales are alarmed about seismic surveys (used to find oil and gas deposits below the sea floor) and where they are being conducted in the marine regions off Newfoundland. The lack of consistent application of mitigation measures is raising further alarms that populations are being harmed even before they can be adequately studied and identified.

Stop Gambling on Big Oil, Invest in Nova Scotia

Posted on November 15, 2018

K’JIPUKTUK (Halifax) – News of BP Canada’s dry well offshore Nova Scotia is an opportunity for change, according to the Offshore Alliance, a coalition representing fishermen, environmental groups, and coastal communities. But that’s not the end of offshore drilling in Nova Scotia - BP has permission to drill six more wells, and Equinor (formerly StatOil) is planning seismic blasting in waters adjacent to George’s Bank.

Defending a charity's right to engage in public policy advocacy

Posted on October 16, 2018

Huffington Post quotes Gretchen Fitzgerald, Sierra Club Canada's national program director, on the issue of blocking charities from public policy dialogue:

"Instead of bringing legislation to "allow charities to pursue their charitable purposes by engaging in non-partisan political activities and in the development of public policy," as Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier's office promised in August, the Liberals are instead proposing new rules that recreate an untenable situation, said Gretchen Fitzgerald, the Sierra Club's national program director.

CNSOPB Public Engagement A Sham – Offshore Alliance

Posted on March 5, 2018

MARCH 5, 2018

(Lunenburg, N.S.) – The Offshore Alliance says a so-called 'public engagement exercise' by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) was totally inadequate and is happy to see it scrapped.

The Alliance, a growing association of over twenty Nova Scotia environmental, fisheries and citizens’ organizations, was formed to press the Trudeau government to make good on its promise “to make environmental assessment credible again.”

Watch for Wildlife While Driving this Thanksgiving Weekend

Posted on October 6, 2017

October 6, 2017

Watch for Wildlife, a wildlife vehicle collision prevention program of Sierra Club Canada Foundation, is asking drivers to take extra care to avoid collisions with wildlife over the Thanksgiving long weekend.