Seven Ontario youth are celebrating a landmark victory handed down by the province’s top court. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of their youth-led climate lawsuit against the Ontario government.
Ontario argued that its climate actions were not subject to the Charter. This was rejected by the Court. The Court of Appeal has simplified the issues, shining a light directly on Ontario’s inadequate climate target and confirming that Ontario must conduct its climate response in accordance with high standards of the Charter. A new hearing has been ordered, and Ontario will have to answer for its record as a climate laggard.
The seven youth are optimistic and will push forward with the new hearing, with all the urgency the climate crisis demands.
This highly anticipated decision comes at a time when the direct impact of climate change is being felt more and more — with deadly heatwaves, catastrophic forest fires, and other climate-caused disasters becoming near regular occurrences. As these harms continue to worsen, they are disproportionately impacting youth and Indigenous communities and nations. With the best available science saying the next ten years are critical in averting climate chaos, the Court’s ruling injects a renewed sense of hope for meaningful climate action.
“With this ruling, these seven young Ontarians have proven how crucial youth voices are in the fight against climate change. Their victory is a significant moment for climate action in Canada and serves as a beacon of hope,” said Ecojustice lawyer Fraser Thomson.
The Court’s ruling is an affirmation that the Charter applies to Ontario’s climate targets and confirms that the government’s actions are harming Ontarians. With this decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal significantly advances the law in holding the Ontario government to account.
This case has been closely watched by both the legal and environmental community and the broader public, setting new legal precedents in Canada as it moved through the courts. Backed by environmental law charity Ecojustice and Stockwoods LLP, the seven young activists launched their case in 2019 in response to the Ontario government’s decision to significantly weaken the province’s 2030 climate target. The case was the first Charter-based climate case to reach a full hearing.
The decision put governments across the country on notice that they cannot continue to fuel the climate crisis without risking similar lawsuits under the Charter.
The Mathur et. al. case is part of a growing number of climate litigation cases around the world, with the United Nations Environmental Programme and the Sabin Center reporting the total number of these cases has more than tripled since 2017 and continues to grow worldwide. Courts around the works, including in Germany, the Netherlands and Colombia, are increasingly ruling that climate change poses an existential threat to human rights and ordering governments to set and implement science-based reductions targets.
Background of the case
Mathur et al. is a case brought on the basis of rights protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These young people went to court to argue that when the government repealed relatively strong carbon pollution reduction targets and replaced them with one inadequate target for 2030, it violated Ontario youth and future generations’ constitutional rights to life, security of the person, and equality.
In 2018, the provincial government set an extremely weak 2030 target: to reduce its emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels. The scientific consensus states that emissions reductions needed to avoid climate disaster is at least 45 per cent below 2010 levels by 2030, which equates to at least a 52 per cent reduction of Ontario’s 2005 emission levels.
The seven young applicants launched the case in 2019. Following attempts by the Ontario government to have it thrown out, they made history by being the first climate lawsuit based on Charter-protected rights to be heard on its merits in a Canadian court in September 2022.
In April 2023, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the application but made several positive findings.
The Ontario Court of Appeal heard the youths’ appeal of this lower court decision in January 2024 and issued its decision today.
A copy of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision is available here. A summary of the youth’s appeal factum is available here.
As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change and fight for a healthy environment. The firm operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.
Featured image credit: Ecojustice
