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| Kaelan Leslie |
This lens is particularly salient in the Canadian Prairies, where agriculture and extractive industries are central to both cultural identity and economic survival. Here, land is not merely a commodity, it constitutes a mode of life and a site of relational, intergenerational knowledge. Ecofeminist theory offers legal actors a way to understand how protecting our environment through law can also support resilient, thriving communities.
At its core, ecofeminism challenges dominant legal and economic paradigms that treat the environment and marginalized communities as expendable or subordinate. It contends that the same hierarchical structures that drive environmental degradation often perpetuate gendered, racialized and class-based inequalities. In doing so, ecofeminism offers a conceptual framework for understanding how law can simultaneously serve ecological preservation and social justice.
As the Canadian legal system grapples with climate and biodiversity fluctuations and widening social inequality, ecofeminism provides a framework for reimagining legal responsibility, not as an abstract principle reserved for women, but as a grounded practice rooted in care, reciprocity and accountability to both human and non-human communities.
Even if ecofeminism is new to you, or at face value you think it inapplicable, its ideas open new pathways for thinking about how law can address social and ecological issues together. By incorporating ecofeminist perspectives into statutory interpretation, administrative decision-making and constitutional analysis, jurists and scholars can plant the seeds for more holistic and sustainable outcomes.
Understanding ecofeminism: What it is and its roots
Emerging from the feminist, peace and anti-nuclear movements of the 1970s and 1980s, ecofeminism originated as a theoretical response to the parallel subjugation of women and nature. Grounded in second-wave feminist thought, early ecofeminist theory emphasized that the exploitation of the natural environment and the oppression of women stem from shared patriarchal and hierarchical structures. By illuminating this connection, ecofeminism sought to cultivate a legal and ethical consciousness rooted in empathy, reciprocity and relational accountability toward the environment.
Contemporary ecofeminism has expanded its analytical scope to address broader systems of domination, integrating insights from intersectional feminist theory, postcolonialism, queer theory and environmental justice. It no longer centres women alone but engages with the intersecting impacts of race, class, sexuality, colonialism and global inequality in shaping ecological vulnerability. This intersectional approach challenges conventional environmentalism by insisting that legal and policy responses to ecological harm must account for the lived realities of those most disproportionately affected. As such, ecofeminism offers a nuanced and transformative lens for legal scholars and practitioners seeking to advance both environmental and social justice.
Ecofeminism in provincial and federal law
Contemporary legal frameworks often approach environmental regulation in fragmented ways that fail to account for the compounding effects of ecological degradation on structurally marginalized populations. This disjointed approach tends to obscure the fact that environmental harms such as pollution, land dispossession and climate vulnerability disproportionately impact communities already subject to systemic oppression. An ecofeminist legal analysis challenges this compartmentalization by foregrounding the interconnectedness of environmental and social injustices.
In the Canadian context, ecofeminism offers a critical lens through which to examine how colonialism, patriarchy and consumerism can mutually reinforce both ecological destruction and sociopolitical inequality. It calls for legal responses that are not only environmentally sound, but also attentive to the lived realities of marginalized groups. Advancing this perspective requires structural shifts, including the diversification of voices in environmental governance and legal education, which meaningfully integrates intersectional ecological justice.
In Canada, both provincial and federal developments increasingly reflect ecofeminist principles, even if not explicitly framed as such. In Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation’s Annual Advancing Women in Conservation (AWIC) Summit, established in 2022, exemplifies a regional commitment to embedding gender equity in environmental leadership. The summit promotes women’s advancement across conservation-related sectors, including law, thereby supporting a more inclusive and relational approach to environmental decision-making.
Federally, the application of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) to environmental regulation, most notably under the Impact Assessment Act (2019), operationalizes ecofeminist commitments by requiring decision-makers to assess how environmental impacts are experienced differently based on intersecting identity factors, including Indigeneity, gender and socioeconomic status. Through mechanisms like GBA+, Canadian law is beginning to reflect an integrated model of ecological and social accountability, aligning with ecofeminism’s vision for a more equitable and sustainable legal order.
Ecofeminism at a crossroads: Challenges and transformative possibilities
While ecofeminist theory has increasingly influenced Canadian legal discourse, its integration into legal systems remains contested and uneven. A central critique is that ecofeminism risks essentializing women by reinforcing reductive associations between femininity and nature, assumptions that can obscure the diversity of women’s experiences and marginalize voices outside the dominant feminist narrative, particularly those of racialized, Indigenous and queer communities.
Additionally, ecofeminism’s normative commitments often stand in tension with entrenched legal structures shaped by patriarchal and capitalist logics, which tend to prioritize economic growth and corporate interests over ecological and social well-being. The theory’s holistic and intersectional approach also challenges the compartmentalization of law, where environmental, human rights and socioeconomic issues are often addressed in isolation. Nevertheless, ecofeminism remains a vital interpretive tool for legal scholars and practitioners seeking to bridge these divides and advance integrated, justice-oriented reform.
Looking ahead, ecofeminism offers significant promise for transforming legal frameworks not only in the Prairies but across Canada by aligning ecological sustainability with social equity. Its principles invite a reconceptualization of land not as property to be extracted from, but as a relational partner to be respected and protected. This reframing supports more inclusive, community-centred approaches to environmental law and resource governance, particularly in regions where settler-colonial land use practices continue to shape legal and ecological outcomes.
By embracing ecofeminist insights, lawmakers and legal educators can foster greater attention to interdependence, reciprocity and long-term stewardship, principles that are essential to building a more resilient, just and sustainable legal order for future generations.
Kaelan Leslie is a Juris Doctor candidate (Class of 2027) at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law, holding a First Class Honours Bachelor of Arts in Law and Society with a minor in History from the University of Calgary, where she developed an interdisciplinary foundation in legal, historical and sociopolitical analysis. Through her recent work with Pro Bono Students Canada and the Saskatchewan Association for Environmental Law, she has cultivated a commitment to creating accessible, community-engaged legal content that bridges the gap between complex legal frameworks and public understanding.
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