RAVEN

RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs) is a charitable non-profit organization that provides financial resources to assist First Nations with Canada in lawfully forcing industrial development to be reconciled with their traditional ways of life. RAVEN’s mission is to assist Aboriginal peoples within Canada in protecting or restoring their traditional lands and resources; as well as addressing critical environmental challenges such as global warming by strategically enforcing their Constitutional rights through the courts in response to unsustainable settlement or industrial exploitation. RAVEN fills a critical gap within Canada. No other NGO focuses on enforcing Aboriginal groups' legal rights to environmental protection. Aboriginal rights are the strongest environmental laws in Canada, but they are difficult and expensive to enforce. RAVEN was formed because we recognized the need to redress an inherent imbalance. To obtain justice in the courts for Canada’s First Nations in their struggle to protect rights and lands, native leaders, advocates and their legal teams almost always face overwhelming odds when going against the established interest of large corporations. RAVEN believes first and foremost that our legal system should dispense justice based on the best evidence available regardless of wealth and power imbalances. Our goal is to bring light to this issue, and in so doing, also bring some balance to the legal game.