In 2000, water contamination in the town of Walkerton Ontario sickened more than 2000 people and resulted in 6 deaths. Two town officials eventually plead guilty to ‘common nuisance’. At that time, victims of environmental harm were not widely recognized as victims in the criminal law context. In 2012, an ICCLR Senior Associate, Eileen Skinnider, authored the report “Victims of environmental crime: Mapping the issues”.

In the report she sought to map out the issues relating to victims of environmental crime and identify topics requiring further study. Since it was first published on the ICCLR website in 2012, the report has been cited by other scholars over 56 times. The seven recommendations for further study have all been followed in reports that cite this visionary work.