An Act to give legal capacity to the St. Lawrence River and to provide for measures respecting its protection

Bill C-271 was a Bloc Quebecois Private Member's Bill to give legal capacity to the St. Lawrence River, creating the river as a legal person under federal law (parallel to the 2017 New Zealand Whanganui River legal-personhood framework and the 2017 India Ganges and Yamuna Rivers cases). Sponsored by then-Bloc MP Mario Simard (Jonquiere). The St. Lawrence River system flows approximately 3,058 kilometres from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, supporting approximately 35 million people in Canada and the US. The bill would have established a Guardianship Council with Indigenous-Nation representation including the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, the Mohawks of Akwesasne, and the Wendat First Nation. Did not pass second reading; companion to broader rights-of-nature advocacy by the David Suzuki Foundation.