Victoria's Wastewater:

Land-Based Treatment ... or Something Better?

Speaker Biography

Lara Tessaro

Lara Tessaro is a Staff Lawyer at Ecojustice Canada (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund). Canada’s largest and foremost non-profit environmental law organization, Ecojustice has offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa – and in the near future, Alberta.

Ms. Tessaro advises and represents clients in matters ranging from mining, energy and environmental assessment, to species at risk, fisheries, and marine pollution – with a particular focus on sewage pollution. She currently represents Douglas Chapman in a private prosecution of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Province of B.C., who have been charged under the Fisheries Act with depositing or permitting the deposit of acutely toxic sewage into the Georgia Strait. Mr. Chapman is an environmental investigator who was once a Crown Prosecutor for Ontario’s Ministry of Environment.

Ms. Tessaro joined Ecojustice in 2006, having articled for the organization in 2003. Before returning to Ecojustice, she served as Commission Counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar (the Arar Commission). She has also practiced with a boutique litigation firm in the areas of environmental, municipal, constitutional and civil liberties law. Her law degree, and her undergraduate degree in international relations and economics, were both received from the University of Toronto.