For Immediate Release – April 16, 2025
Pemberton BC [Lil’wat traditional territory] – The Village of Pemberton Council voted unanimously yesterday to work with other BC local governments to bring a class action lawsuit against the world’s largest polluters to recover a fair share of the communities’ rising climate costs. The vote also allocated $1 per resident towards the case from Pemberton’s Speĺkúmtn Community Forest Legacy Fund. Nine BC municipalities have already committed to support the lawsuit, making Pemberton the 10th.
“Since my wife and I moved to Pemberton in 2021, we have lived through the heat dome with record temperatures hitting 43 degrees C and the consequences of the atmospheric river the same year, flooding low lying areas of Pemberton,” said Erich Baumann, Pemberton resident.
“Devastating wildfires are moving closer and closer to our community, destroying properties around Gun Lake and Downton Lake in 2023 and in the Elaho Valley in 2024. Every year now, we get alarmed by wildfire smoke and the threat of property damage right here. Apart from safety concerns we are also expecting rising insurance costs. How are people living in small communities like Pemberton with limited resources going to be able to cope in the coming years?”
The Sue Big Oil campaign, and partner organizations West Coast Environmental Law and My Sea to Sky, applaud Pemberton Council for demonstrating climate leadership to recover some of the community’s climate change costs.
“Small BC communities like Pemberton cannot afford the emergency and disaster management programs and massive upgrades to infrastructure that are increasingly needed because of climate change,” remarked Fiona Koza, Climate Accountability Strategist at West Coast Environmental Law.
“The fossil fuel industry has known for decades that coal, oil and gas would lead to catastrophic climate harms, yet they blocked climate action, promoted false solutions, and spread misinformation, so that they could rake-in trillions of dollars in profits.”
“Like the tobacco industry, which was forced to pay tens of billions of dollars in compensation to victims and governments, fossil fuel companies should also be required to ‘pay up’ to protect communities from the harms that they’ve knowingly caused,” said Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. “Climate change is costing BC communities billions of dollars, and it’s time that global polluters paid a fair share”.
“We commend the Village of Pemberton for stepping up and joining the growing movement of communities demanding accountability from the fossil fuel industry,” said Tracey Saxby, Executive Director of My Sea to Sky. “By signing on to the Sue Big Oil campaign, Pemberton is standing up for climate justice and protecting their residents from the rising costs of climate change. We encourage Whistler, West Vancouver, and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District to follow their lead.”
The proposed Sue Big Oil class action lawsuit would be the first of its kind in Canada, but similar lawsuits are being filed by communities around the world.
Pemberton joins Squamish, Burnaby, Cumberland, Slocan, View Royal, Sechelt, Gibsons, Qualicum Beach, and Port Moody in committing to work together to bring a class action lawsuit against global fossil fuel companies for the costs of climate change. The Sue Big Oil campaign is endorsed by 40 organizations in BC and has volunteer action teams in communities throughout the province that are asking their local governments to join the action.
–30–
For more information, please contact:
Fiona Koza | Climate Accountability Strategist | West Coast Environmental Law
604-684-7378 ext. 236, fkoza@wcel.org
Andrew Gage | Staff Lawyer | West Coast Environmental Law
604-601-2506, agage@wcel.org
Tracey Saxby | Executive Director | My Sea to Sky
tracey@myseatosky.org
