The right to live, to exist and to flow

February 9, 2024 12:35 AM

This pristine Canadian river has legal personhood, a new approach to conserving nature, is a review of the documentary "I am the Magpie River".

If you have a [free] CBC account and are in Canada or "in Canada" you can watch it here; there's also a conversation with the director, Susan Fleming, on YouTube.

Related:
How 'personhood' works as a legal defense of nature [The Week]
Environmental personhood [Wikipedia]
Nature as a legal person [Vertigo]
Environmental Personhood as a Tool to Protect Nature [Philosophia]
Environmental Personhood a Solution to Claim Justice for Nature [FutureLab]
Nature Rights: What Countries Grant Legal Personhood Status to Nature And Why? [Earth.org]

posted by chavenet (6 comments total)

This is good. Rivers should have more of a right to exist than corporations.
posted by mhoye at 6:23 AM on February 9 [11 favorites]

This is so cool! Thank you for sharing. Protecting waters has been so challenging globally, with very few early laws in most countries about it. Trying to pass protections after people have gotten used to exploiting them as a "resource" is very challenging. This is a great approach in places where indigenous people have some power over control of their lands.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:21 AM on February 9 [1 favorite]

I like the mapping of a river to a person who can travel without losing their independence & autonomy.

I hate that corporations have more rights than many humans.

I am still fitting these two feelings together. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:40 AM on February 9 [2 favorites]

Wonderful, thorough post. This is my practice area and on top of all the other positives, it has been really exciting to see someone try the strategy of legal personhood here in Canada.

Huge kudos to the municipality of Minganie and the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit. It's a ton of work being the test case for a new legal approach but the Magpie River sounds worth fighting for.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:53 AM on February 9 [4 favorites]

If you have a [free] CBC account and are in Canada or "in Canada" you can watch it here

And if you don't and aren't and "aren't", 1080p and 720p rips are readily available via BitTorrent.

Thanks, chavenet, this is good.
posted by flabdablet at 10:33 PM on February 9 [2 favorites]

I really have to get back into watching The Nature of Things, that was fantastic, thank you
posted by signsofrain at 6:51 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]