Benjamin Ralston

We are excited to announce the Second International Conference of Critical Legal Geography at the University of Concepción, Chile, 17-20 March 2026. The call is now live @ www.clg.place on our conference page. Deadline for submissions 10 November 2025.

🔥⚖️🌐final countdown to a historic moment for #ClimateJustice: in a few minutes, InterAmerican Court of Human Rights will deliver landmark authoritative judicial opinion on States' climate obligations
#AOLetsGo #OpiniónConsultiva
🧵key elements of context & analysis in thread👇

Supreme Court Canada dismissed leave to appeal in youth Charter Rights challenge to Ontario greenhouse gas law. Per ONCA an new hearing will be held for 're-determination.' #climatechange #environment #onlaw

Prairie crocuses overlooking the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon

There's no surer sign of spring than this around here.

If you have a pile of grading to do, why not do it in the mountains, especially if you can leverage grandparents for childcare in the process?

Good to see Safe Food Matters et al continuing to demand accountability from PMRA in relation to the licensing of glyphosate-based pesticides in Canada.
And I expect this decision by Justice Zinn to become a leading authority on review of decisions w/out supporting reasons.
#canpoli

Among other impacts on Canadian law with respect to Indigenous consultation, this will mean grappling more meaningfully with the Indigenous nation's laws & customs, as well as deeper thinking over the proper representatives of the rights holders. Here are some key paragraphs.

The Commission erred in deciding it lacked jurisdiction to consider how UNDRIP impacts the Crown's duty to consult & accommodate the First Nation over a proposed Near Surface Disposal for nuclear waste near Chalk River, Ontario. Now it will have to go back & reassess the adequacy of consultation.

Justice Blackhawk of Canada's Federal Court has issued a very detailed & thoughtful decision on the relevance of UNDRIP to decision making by the federal Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in Kebaowek First Nation v Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, 2025 FC 319 decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisi...

For anyone on this platform with an interest in the ways in which law and space are entangled with one another (i.e. critical legal geographies), please check out this starter pack: go.bsky.app/4cqybPr

Consider it a living document. If you would like to be included or removed, just let us know.

Could be worth creating a CLG starter pack for a community building boost

The Critical Legal Geographies Network is now on Bluesky.

Sunset on the Meewasin in Saskatoon

A bison-watching toddler

A well maintained trail

Prairie winters don't get the love they deserve #yxe

A new Indigenous protected area in Yukon | The Narwhal The proposed protected area could cover eight per cent of Yukon, and be co-managed by the Ross River Dena Council and the territorial and federal governments

Yukon could get a new Indigenous-led protected area as big as Vancouver Island. The Ross River Dena Council, Yukon and Canada are studying protections for caribou habitat in an area where both the landscape and the Kaska people have been disturbed by colonization. thenarwhal.ca/ross-river-d...

Canada strangely argues at the ICJ that the right to life is not informed by the environment and the 'content' of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is 'undefined'. Also argues that the principle of prevention does not exist in the field of climate change.

More winter photos from Saskatoon, because why not? #yxe

Black and white photo of Neil Stonechild.

Saskatoon temps were around −28°C this week, just like 34 years ago.

Why −28°C?
Why 34 years ago?

Neil Stonechild was arrested by two #Saskatoon police officers & left in a field northwest of the city on Nov 25, 1990.

Neil was found by construction workers 34 years ago today, frozen to death.

First Full Text Draft of the Plastics Treaty - many options still open but this could be a milestone in the process. The institutional provisions are very much inspired by the #ParisAgreement
wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...

Another prairie winter appreciation post. #yxe

A gentle reminder to this new community that if you want to grow connectivity and vitality in this space you need to re-post (and not just like) those posts that resonate with you and that you think deserve a broader audience. #bluesky won't do it for you. It's not like the other place.

Kudos to my USask Law colleague, Felix Hoehn (not yet on Bluesky), for the citation to his paper on the duty to negotiate.

Among other things, the majority judgment has an interesting synthesis of principles elaborated in relation to the Crown's duty to consult and treaty infringement in past cases, including with respect to identifying credible but unproven rights claims and damages. Lots to unpack.

Expanding on lower court cases about other unique contractual arrangements like Treaty Land Entitlement agreements, the majority says the Honour of the Crown applies when Crowns contract with Indigenous peoples as collectives to address Indigenous difference and credibly claimed Indigenous rights.

The Supreme Court of Canada just released a fascinating new decision on the Honour of the Crown. Building on a recent case on legislative reconciliation in the child and family services context, it has outlined a complementary framework for contractual reconciliation: www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier...

How do carbon taxes affect food prices? In our latest paper, @dr_jen_winter and I analyze both direct and indirect impacts across the entire food supply chain: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5024885

It's the most detailed exploration of CTaxes and food yet! 🤓 #cdnecon #cdnpoli

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with fresh snow

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with fresh snow

It's a peacefully quiet day on the USask campus for the few of us who have to be here today.

Can Big Oil be made to pay like Big Tobacco? Those who want fossil fuel companies to pony up encouraged by proposal requiring tobacco giants to provide provinces, territories and smokers billions in compensation

“Climate change threatens to make almost everyone poorer. So, naturally, some governments and individuals are looking to the courts to make fossil fuel companies pony up. And they just got billions of dollars worth of encouragement.” #cdnpoli

www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with snow, including a statue of Farley Mowat and his dog.

A 3-year-old "helping" shovel his front porch.

Our first real snow came late this season. But Mother Nature seems to be making up for lost time.

Excellent short piece by Jolene Lim on the recent Shell climate change 'It would be misguided for companies and their legal advisors to read the Court of Appeal’s decision as an endorsement of ‘business as usual’.' cil.nus.edu.sg/blogs/milieu...

I'd like to sign up too, please.