The legal liability of directors and officers of corporations for environmental degradation

This thesis focuses specifically on the personal liability of corporate executives for criminal and quasi-criminal environmental offences. The central question this thesis addresses is whether the personal liability imposed by statute is essential to effective implementation of environmental standards.; The Canadian Environmental Protection Act as well as provincial environmental statutes now provide for the personal liability of corporate executives for environmental offences committed by the corporations of which they are directors or officers. The majority of these offences fall in the category of strict liability offences thus allowing the accused to bring up the defence of due diligence: they must establish that they took all reasonable steps to avoid the commission of the environmental offence. In reality, this defence is intended to encourage good corporate environmental management. In the event of a conviction, directors and officers may seek corporate indemnification or liability insurance. Pollution liability insurance coverage may be even more difficult to obtain since most directors' and officers' liability policies contain total pollution exclusion clauses. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...