Controversial B.C. Innovations

Allowing First Nations the Same Private Property Rights as Everyone Else
Over a hundred years in the making, the Nisga’a Final Agreement was the first modern native treaty in British Columbia. But what made the treaty special was the innovative way i

Taxing Carbon Emissions
Taxes are never an easy sell, but neither is conservation, so implementing a combination of the two is ambitious. But the Liberals did it, and B.C. became the first place in North America with a carbon tax.
As an appeasement to d

Building a New Brand of Environmental Activism
Greenpeace is one of B.C.’s most famous (or infamous) exports. Few groups are its peer in raising awareness of, and confronting indifference towards, environmental issues.
From old growth logging to wha

Reducing the Harm Drug Addicts Do to Themselves By Giving Them Better Options
Insite is the first supervised injection site in North America. Vancouver Coastal Health opened the facility in 2003 in response to the grave side-effects of rampant drug use i

Putting Residential, Retail, and Academic Under One Roof, With Rich and Poor People Both
Woodwards is as much a social experiment as a business enterprise. The development is the first in Vancouver to mix social housing and condos, and has mixed in a lot

Getting the World Running on Hydrogen
It wasn’t long ago that fuel cells were touted as the next big thing in the auto industry, and the best chance at reducing its heavy impact on the environment. B.C.’s Ballard Power was at the forefront of res

Powering the Province, Using Rushing Water
Run-of-river power in B.C. is an attempt to rise to the challenge of providing clean energy. It takes advantage of the thousands of coursing mountainous streams and rivers in the province to harness hydro power