Golf Creek flowing during a first-flush event after rainfall.
Photo Credit: Ken McDonald, 2021.
VANCOUVER, B.C. (16 May 2025) — Supported by a team of UVic Law students, earlier this month Chris Tollefson was in BC Supreme Court on a precedent-setting water pollution case. Tollefson Law represents a Comox couple that has sued the municipality over pollution of a stream that runs through their backyard. In this suit, Ken and Norine McDonald claim a common law riparian right to water quality.
This is an ancient right going back to Roman times — whose important role in combatting water pollution has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Town of Comox, however, has defended Ken and Norine’s suit claiming that this time-honoured common law right has been impliedly abrogated by BC water legislation, despite its continued vitality in jurisdictions across Canada. The Province of BC has stepped into the litigation to support the Town’s position.
A year ago, the BC Court of Appeal unanimously sided with the McDonalds holding that the question of whether this common law right to water quality survives should be remitted to Supreme Court. Chris was juniored at the hearing by Katrina Darychuk and ably assisted by Sina Rudrum-Steinhauer, Sean Vriesen and Ben Barnes. Justice Robin Baird has reserved his decision. The case received financial support from West Coast Environment Law.