view . spring 2010
7
Opposite page: Mark Mattson LLB ’88 has dedicated his career to supporting a national clean water movement.
“I believe all of our water
was meant to be swimmable,
drinkable, fishable.” This is the credo of Mark Mattson LLB ’88. It
has also become a national clean water movement.
In the process, the environmental lawyer and grassroots activist
has marshaled the forces of some very high-profile people to his
cause. Among them: musicians Gord Downie of The Tragically
Hip, TV producer Moses Znaimer, Canadian Olympic skier Karen
Percy Lowe and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is effusive in his praise.
Kennedy, whose work in cleaning up the Hudson River in New
York spawned a global movement of ‘riverkeepers’, told
VIEW
that
Mattson’s grassroots work has helped establish “one of the fastest-
growing water protection movements in Canada.”
Mattson, who serves as president and waterkeeper for the Lake
Ontario Waterkeepers (LOW) is the Canadian board representative
for the Waterkeeper Alliance a collection
of more than 200 Waterkeeper
organizations worldwide. According to
Kennedy, Mattson “embodies the best
values and traditions of Canada.” He
especially praised Mattson’s talents
as an activist and leader in agitation,
legislation, litigation, education
and innovation.
“It’s all because of Mark’s leadership. I love Mark. I love Mark
Mattson. He’s a national treasure for Canada.”
Mattson started his career in the early 1990s in criminal and
environmental law. He then specialized in environmental law, doing
pro bono work for environmental groups, and set up LOW in 2001.
In 2007, he wrote that the main difference between
environmental and criminal law was due process. Unlike criminal
court, where a defendant has the opportunity for access to justice,
“decisions about environmental hazards that also take away
freedoms of people and communities are not given the same access
to justice,” Mattson argued. “Threats to drinking water, air and
food are also threats to our rights to safely fish, drink and swim
in our waters. Illegal pollution is normal and environmental law
enforcement is mostly non-existent.”
Over the last decade, Mattson has established himself as one
of Canada’s most dedicated environmental lawyers and activists.
He has acted as counsel for environmental and public interest
groups at more than 50 hearings, including the Walkerton Inquiry.
In 1992, Mattson has appeared before the International Water
Tribunal in Amsterdam as a joint plaintiff with Cree opponents of
Hydro-Quebec’s controversial James Bay hydroelectric dam project.
The tribunal ruled that Hydro-Quebec should stop the project to
preserve the rights and culture of the Cree.
Mattson says his group strives to hold large corporation to “the
highest standards.” The battle isn’t easy though. While government
regulators have no trouble enforcing licensing laws against small
fishermen, hunters, family owned gas stations and those who have
septic tanks, large corporations and municipal operations “have
special status. Money, influence and political clout often determine
who gets the short end of the environmental stick and not laws.”
Mattson co-authored
The Citizens Guide to Environmental
Investigation and Private Prosecution
.
With LOW vice-president Krystyn
Tully, he hosts a weekly radio show
and podcast, and helped create
swimdrinkfishmusic.com, an online
music and audio community devoted to
clean water.
Mattson twitters his views on
everything from nuclear energy and
Ontario’s
Green Energy Act
to invasive species on the Great Lakes.
Through LOW, he has established the Clean Water Workshop,
which mentors law students in environmental legislation. Mattson
says he hasn’t been able to include students from his alma mater so
far, but hopes the workshop will spread to Windsor.
He says his experience at UWindsor was “amazing,” adding that
he met great friends and professors and loved living and studying
next to the Detroit River.
Whether arguing for greater public involvement in the citing of
wind farms or extolling the benefits of a new Google app that allows
homeowners to monitor the amount of energy they are using,
Mattson has been a warrior for clean water. As he puts it: “You
have to push the democratic tools from the grassroots over a lots
of places.”
Which is music to the ears of ardent admirers like Kennedy:
“He is a visionary.”
n
v
“I BELIEVE ALL OF OUR WATER
WAS MEANT TO BE SWIMMABLE,
DRINKABLE, FISHABLE.”
MARK MATTSON LLB ’88
LAW GRAD
VISIONARY
BY PAUL RIGGI
an environmental
