The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
CanadaClimate Action/"Blockadia"Human Rights & MigrationLegal & Regulatory
Home›Jurisdictions›Canada›TODAY: 15 Canadian Youth File Suit Against Ottawa’s Slow Response to Climate Crisis

TODAY: 15 Canadian Youth File Suit Against Ottawa’s Slow Response to Climate Crisis

October 25, 2019
October 25, 2019
 
340
3
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story
Six of the 15/Our Children's Trust

Fifteen Canadian youth are filing a lawsuit against the federal government today, accusing Ottawa of violating their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by contributing to the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for the climate crisis.

The case is based on the young plaintiffs’ right to life, liberty, and security of person under Section 7 of the Charter, as well as their equality rights under Section 15, on the basis that they’ll be more severely affected by the climate crisis than any other age group, Star Vancouver reports.

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

The youth will be filing their suit with support from the David Suzuki Foundation and Oregon-based Our Children’s Trust. “The lawsuit calls on Canada to cease its activities that violate the youth plaintiffs’ rights and to prepare and implement a Climate Recovery Plan that reduces Canada’s GHG emissions in a manner consistent with the best available science,” Our Children’s Trust writes. “P.S. A renowned youth climate activist from Sweden will be there too…”

The youth are represented by two law firms, Arvay Finlay LLP and Tollefson Law Corporation, with support from the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation.

Our Children’s Trust senior attorney Andrea Rodgers said climate litigation dates back 40 years, but most cases against individual companies and projects have been unsuccessful, since “it was difficult to prove direct causation coming from emissions from a particular project,” Star Vancouver explains. Gradually, environmental lawyers learned that “it’s not these individual permits that are the problem—the problem is the overall system, and the pattern of government issuing these permits over decades,” Rodgers said.

The change in strategy paralleled a shift in public awareness of the climate emergency as a fundamental human rights issue.

“I think climate change started out as environmental issue, but it is a societal problem and there are environmental effects that are happening,” she told Star Vancouver. “We are starting to see climate change as a human rights problem as opposed to an environmental one.”Other legal experts said they’d expected a constitutional challenge in Canada, after a similar case succeeded in The Netherlands and an unsuccessful suit last year by Montreal-based ENvironnement JEUnesse established a basis for litigation in Canada. “We’ve seen this coming for a while,” said Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP litigation partner Maureen Killoran. While ENJEU’s attempt at a class action based on Sections 7 and 15 failed, the Quebec court “recognized the issue that was raised, and they said it was in the scope of executive branch.”

Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
CanadaClimate Action/"Blockadia"Human Rights & MigrationLegal & Regulatory

    3 comments

    1. Rick Tonita 25 October, 2019 at 11:27 Reply

      Thank you youth leaders for taking on the elephant in the room that all our leaders would not address. Justin Trudeau, John Horgan and Jason Kenney are all expanding fossil fuel projects. The clean up cost for abandoned and closed oil and gas well and mine and the toxic tailing ponds already exceed $260 Billion dollars. Not one question in the election about who is going to pay these costs, yet expanding this toxic nightmare is in the countries and planet’s interest???? The Beaver Lake’s People are also going to be heard by the Alberta Supreme Court and they have listed over 20,000 treaty infringements by the Canadian and Alberta Governments who spent millions trying to defer this case from being heard. The motto seems to be with our politicians and corporate executives is get the money, give a few shackles in royalties and leave the water, air and land damage costing billions to tax payer and risk the very future our our younger generations to survive this genocide. earth-law.org

    2. Derek Hill 25 October, 2019 at 12:37 Reply

      Wonderful. We fully support your efforts. We also strongly support the Green party both Provincial and Federal with Elizabeth May our MP and Adam Olsen our MLA.
      Regards,
      Derek Hill & Betsy Johnston

    3. Ken Draayer 26 October, 2019 at 10:11 Reply

      Grandparents need to get behind this one!

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • ‘Red Alert for Planet’ as UN Report Projects Only 0.5% Emissions Cut by 2030
      ‘Red Alert for Planet’ as UN Report Projects Only 0.5% Emissions Cut by 2030
      March 1, 2021
    • Lookback: Anjali Appadurai Speaks for ‘Silent Majority’ at COP 17
      Lookback: Anjali Appadurai Speaks for ‘Silent Majority’ at COP 17
      March 1, 2021
    • B.C. Pushes Forward with Site C Hydro Megaproject Despite $16-Billion Price Tag
      B.C. Pushes Forward with Site C Hydro Megaproject Despite $16-Billion Price Tag
      March 1, 2021
    • RBC Adds $500 Billion to Sustainable Funds, Faces Mounting Pressure for Fossil Investments
      RBC Adds $500 Billion to Sustainable Funds, Faces Mounting Pressure for Fossil Investments
      March 1, 2021
    • ‘Future Belongs to Renewables’ as Norwegian Wealth Fund Blacklists Four Alberta Fossils
      ‘Future Belongs to Renewables’ as Norwegian Wealth Fund Blacklists Four Alberta Fossils
      March 1, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Alberta Budget Makes ‘No Provision’ for Keystone Cancellation
      February 28, 2021
    • GM Unveils Retooled, Less Expensive Chevy Bolt
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • GM Unveils Retooled, Less Expensive Chevy Bolt
      February 28, 2021
    • Battery Technology Funding ‘Exploded’ in 2020
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Alberta Budget Makes ‘No Provision’ for Keystone Cancellation
      February 28, 2021
    • Sask First Nations Rally Behind Community in Fight Against Uranium Firm
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Empire State Building to Run on 100% Renewables
      February 28, 2021
    • Minnesota Governor Sets 2040 Carbon-Free Power Target
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • Climate Figures Prominently in German State Elections This Month
      February 28, 2021
    • Spanish Broadband Firms Tap In to Solar
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.