For immediate release: February 24, 2026
Land of the Halkomelem speaking peoples / New Westminster, BC – New Westminster has become the latest municipality to join a growing movement of communities across British Columbia seeking to recover a fair share of rising municipal expenses from the world’s largest fossil fuel companies. With the approval of the budget at its Feb 23 Council meeting, New West is now the twelfth BC municipality, and the second largest after Burnaby, pledging to work towards suing Big Oil.
“The City of New Westminster remains committed to climate action, and increasingly that means investing in protecting the community from the impacts of climate disruption,” said Mayor Patrick Johnstone. “By joining the Sue Big Oil Campaign, we are reaffirming our conviction that those who profited from creating the climate disaster are held accountable for those costs, instead of those costs being downloaded on local residents and businesses already struggling in this fractured global economy.”
Like many BC communities, New Westminster is facing increasing infrastructure and emergency management costs due to climate change. For example, the City’s Flood Resilience plan estimates that they must spend over $150 million to upgrade city dikes to prevent flooding from causing still greater losses. New Westminster is also grappling with protecting residents from future heat waves after suffering 28 deaths in the 2021 Heat Dome, the highest rate per capita in the province.
With New West’s decision, over 470,000 British Columbians are now represented by local governments committed to a class action lawsuit to make Big Oil pay its fair share. The proposed lawsuit – which would be the first of its kind in Canada – follows a global trend of legal action against major polluters, backed by new research showing companies like Chevron are responsible for trillions in climate-related damages.
“Congratulations to New Westminster Mayor and Council for recognizing that climate costs cannot simply be passed onto taxpayers, but that the global fossil fuel industry must be made to pay its fair share of those costs through a class action lawsuit,” said Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law speaking on behalf of the Sue Big Oil Campaign.
“Like Big Tobacco companies, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other global fossil fuel giants responded to their scientists’ warnings about their products with misinformation campaigns and false solutions intended to keep the world hooked on their products – and we are all paying more as a result.”
After first receiving a request from New West Secondary School students to hold fossil fuel companies accountable almost a year ago, New Westminster’s Council and staff worked diligently to assess the merits of the proposed lawsuit and to ensure that a pledge of $1 per resident towards the costs of the case (when it proceeds) was included in the 2026 budget.
“Sue Big Oil isn’t just about making them pay. It’s about doing what’s right, and giving back what was stolen to those who need it. There is no later; the time is now.” said Luisa, a member of the Monkey Rebel group at New West Secondary School.
“Thank you, New West! We are grateful to our city council for their commitment to the Sue Big Oil class action lawsuit. We are proud to live in a city that makes decisions that make moral and fiscal sense,” said Karen Crosby, President of the New Westminster Climate Action Hub. “Since extracting, processing and burning fossil fuels has caused about 70% of the climate impacts we are feeling, it is only fair for Big Oil to pay part of the costs. By seeking to have extremely profitable and polluting corporations pay their share for our infrastructure upgrades and new services needed, our city is protecting us. We call on other municipalities to join in.”
The proposed Sue Big Oil class action lawsuit is the first of its kind in Canada, but there are similar examples in other jurisdictions. Seventy US cities and states, including California, Michigan, Honolulu and Chicago, are already suing Big Oil because they recognize that major polluters are responsible for the climate crisis and have a responsibility to compensate communities for some of the harms.
A 2025 paper published in Nature demonstrated the scientific basis for attributing liability for climate-related harms to global fossil fuel companies. For example, the research calculated that Chevron’s contribution to climate change has caused between $791 billion and $3.6 trillion in heat-related losses between 1991 and 2020.
New West joins Burnaby, Cumberland, Gibsons, Nelson, Port Moody, Pemberton, Qualicum Beach, Sechelt, Slocan, Squamish and View Royal in committing to work together to bring a class action lawsuit against global fossil fuel companies. The lawsuit is expected to be officially launched once a lead plaintiff is identified and sufficient funding is committed.
New West Climate Action Hub, the Monkey Rebel Society at New West Secondary School, and West Coast Environmental Law are urging other local governments to stand with New West and the 11 other municipalities already committed to this groundbreaking lawsuit.
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Link to PHOTOS HERE
Download our INTRO TO SUING FOSSIL FUEL GIANTS HERE
Read a Q&A HERE
For more information, contact:
Andrew Gage | Staff Lawyer | West Coast Environmental Law
604-601-2506, agage@wcel.org
Karen Crosby | New West Climate Action Hub
nwcahub@gmail.com