The Quebec Court of Appeal on Monday rejected the case of Environnement Jeunesse, which wanted to overturn the decision of the Superior Court which refused to authorize its class action against the Government of Canada. The organization, which accuses the federal government of violating the rights of young people by betting on an inadequate climate plan, intends to submit an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal takes issue with the position of the judge of first instance, according to which the questions submitted to the court by Environnement Jeunesse are justiciable. Rather, according to the three judges of the Court of Appeal, matters fall to the legislative and executive bodies. In this context, any order of a court of justice in this regard would encroach on the powers devolved to political bodies.
“I am very disappointed to see this second refusal of the courts, but we will not give up,” reacted Monday Catherine Gauthier, designated member of the collective action and general manager of Environnement Jeunesse. “Climate change threatens our lives and our security, and experiencing its increasingly tangible and threatening impacts worries me. I know that I can count on the young people we represent to continue fighting and asserting our rights, ”she argued.
In a decision rendered in July 2019, Judge Gary Morrison of the Superior Court had already dismissed Environnement Jeunesse’s request to take legal action against the Government of Canada. Even if it underlined “the undoubted importance of the subject raised by the request” presented by Environnement Jeunesse, the 25-page judgment concluded that “the procedural vehicle of a collective action is useless”.
Collective action
Youth environment, represented pro bono by Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, filed in 2018 an application for authorization to bring a class action on behalf of all young people aged 35 and under in Quebec against the Government of Canada.
The collective action aims to obtain a declaration to the effect that the behavior of the federal government in the fight against climate change “infringes the rights of young people”, as well as a “conviction for punitive damages”.
The legal arguments of the group are based in large part on the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, article 7 of which states that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” . His request also invokes the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and more specifically article 1, which stipulates that “every human being has the right to life, as well as to safety, integrity and personal freedom ”.
However, the expected impacts of climate change should threaten the safety of people, but also the quality of the environment and biodiversity. A situation for which today’s young people will also have to pay a high price over the coming decades, according to Environnement Jeunesse.
In Canada, climate change threatens to increase the number of extreme weather events, such as those that hit British Columbia this year. The repercussions of climate change point to “astronomical costs” in Canada over the coming decades, but also an unprecedented increase in the number of premature deaths, concludes a new scientific report funded by the federal government.
Globally, failing to reduce substantially – and rapidly – global greenhouse gas emissions, global warming already caused by human activity risks reaching catastrophic levels within 20 years, warns the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a report published last August.
In the Supreme Court?
Judging moreover that the file represents a “fundamental” cause for Canadian youth, Ms. Gauthier stressed Monday that an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada will be presented shortly.
“The Supreme Court recognized in a recent decision that climate change will have particularly serious and devastating effects in Canada. With the application for leave to appeal from Environnement Jeunesse, it will now be called upon to decide what role the Canadian courts should play in the face of this unprecedented crisis, ”summarized Me Bruce Johnston, of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.
According to the Government of Canada, not only does the country’s climate plan depend solely on the political power in place, but there is no evidence that the federal government acted negligently to respond to the climate crisis.
This youth lawsuit comes on the heels of numerous lawsuits launched to force governments to act to address the climate crisis, notably in the United States, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.