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The Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain began in 1981 and for most of the 1980's was Canada's largest environmental group. It played a central role in raising awareness of the acid rain issue, through advocacy, educational programmes and by lobbying the governments of both Canada and the United States for the passage of legislation restricting acid rain-causing emissions. With the passage of amendments to the U.S. Clean Air Act in 1990 the Coalition's mandate was completed and the group disbanded. During the decade of its existence the Coalition was headed by Michael Perley and Adele Hurley, its executive co-ordinators and chief lobbyists. Starting in 1981 with 12 member groups representing tourism, naturalist and sportsmen's associations, the CCAR maintained offices in both Toronto and Washington. Registered as a charitable organization in Canada, the CCAR was registered as a lobby group in the United States, and was the first-ever Canadian lobby group to be so registered in Washington. By 1991 the Coalition had grown to 58 member groups, representing over 2 million Canadians.

CCAR worked closely with the Canadian Acid Precipitation Foundation, a registered charitable organization created to carry out a variety of educational projects on the acid rain issue, and to support the educational work of the Coalition. The Foundation's activities included extensive direct mail campaigns asking for private donations, the sale of merchandise, charitable dinners featuring such prominent speakers as Senator Edward Kennedy and Alan Gotleib (former Canadian ambassador to the United States), and the AirWatch monitoring project.

Fonds consists of records of the Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain documenting all aspects of its activities and operations during its 10-year existence from 1981-1991. These include correspondence, minutes and reports, research files, financial records, legal records, publications, ephemera, audio-visual material, realia, and other material created or received by the CCAR and CAPF in the course of their business, and constitute a study in Canada-U.S. environmental relations.

Fonds is arranged in 7 broad series with sub-series:
100. Acid Rain : Canada
       100. Surveys and Summaries
       110. Abatement
       120. Impacts
       130. Polluters
       140. Legal
       150. People, Groups
       160. Provinces
       190. Miscellaneous
200. Acid Rain : United States
       200. Surveys and Summaries
       210. Abatement
       220. Impacts
       230. Polluters
       240. Legal
       250. People, Groups
               251. Senators
               252. House of Congress
       260. States
       270. Media
       290. Miscellaneous
300. Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain
       300. Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain
       310. Member Groups
       320. Fundraising
       330. Staff
       340. Board of Directors
       350. Volunteers
       360. Photographs, Slides
       370. Administration
       380. Foreign Agents Registration Act
       390. Miscellaneous
400. Acid Rain : Foreign
500. Canadian Acid Precipitaion Foundation
       500. Canadian Acid Precipitation Foundation
       510. Administration
       520. Fundraising
       530. Projects
       540. Board of Directors
       550. Financial
       560. AirWatch
       570. AirWatch: United States
       580. AirWatch: Canadian Programs
       590. AirWatch: Miscellaneous.
600. Financial Records
700. Non-textual Materials.

Title based on contents of the fonds.

Includes 33.5 m of textual records, 3 cm of photographs, 0.5 m realia, 23 sound recordings, 14 videorecordings.

Donated in 1994.

The first five series numbers are as assigned by the Coalition while series numbers 6 and 7 have been arbitrarily assigned. CCAR's complex series and file numbering system has been retained and some gaps and inconsistencies in numbering are present.

Finding aid available: file level.

Call number: GA87