The Ontario Superior Court has dismissed a constitutional challenge from seven youth activists who argued the province is discriminating against young people by setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets dangerously low, putting their futures at risk.
In a decision issued last week, Justice Marie-Andrée Vermette called the youths — all aged between 15 and 27 — remarkable young people committed to fighting climate change. But while she voiced sympathy about their concerns for the future in light of scientific evidence on the impacts of climate change, she did not find Ontario's policy breached their Charter rights.
The lawsuit, backed by Ecojustice environmental lawyers, dates back to 2018 when the newly elected Progressive Conservative government repealed a law from the former Liberal government that had established a cap-and-trade system for reducing emissions. That law had set a target of reducing emissions 37 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.
The Ontario government had previously asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing against "judicial control over environmental and climate policy." There is no constitutional right requiring a government to take certain actions now to avoid future climate-related harms, government lawyers said in written arguments.
"While Ontario's contribution to global warming may be numerically small, it is real, measurable and not speculative," she wrote. "Every tonne of CO2 emissions adds to global warming and leads to a quantifiable increase in global temperatures that is essentially irreversible on human timescales." "While this decision is disappointing, we remain inspired by the courage and determination of these young applicants to advocate for a better, safer future for us all. We remain behind them to support their fight, to the Court of Appeal and beyond.”
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