VANCOUVER — Attorneys for the 15 youth plaintiffs who claim their federal government contributes to and allows dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions have appealed an earlier ruling that granted the Canadian government’s motion to strike the plaintiffs’ claims.

On October 27, Justice Michael D. Manson of the Federal Court of Canada ruled against the plaintiffs in La Rose et al v. Her Majesty the Queen, while acknowledging that “the negative impact of climate change to the Plaintiffs and all Canadians is significant, both now and looking forward into the future.”

The plaintiffs, who come from seven provinces and one territory, say they are already being harmed by the government’s contributions to dangerous climate change by being exposed to deadly wildfire smoke, sea level rise, extreme temperatures, more frequent hurricanes and other devastating impacts.

The Canadian government’s actions in making the climate change crisis worse violates their rights to life, liberty, security of the person and equality under s. 7 and 15 of the charter, the plaintiffs claim. The government is also failing to protect essential public trust resources, including the atmosphere and permafrost.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Canada is interfering with the youth’s charter rights and calls on Canada to prepare and implement a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in a manner consistent with the best available science.

The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph J. Arvay, QC, and Catherine Boies Parker, QC, of Arvay Finlay LLP, and Chris Tollefson and Anthony Ho of Tollefson Law Corp., and are supported by Our Children’s Trust, the David Suzuki Foundation and Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation.

– 30 –

Read the Notice of Appeal.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

  • Legal counsel:
    • Joseph J. Arvay, QC and Catherine Boies Parker, QC of Arvay Finlay LLP
    • Chris Tollefson and Anthony Ho of Tollefson Law Corp.
    • Andrea K. Rodgers, Senior Litigation Attorney, Our Children’s Trust, 206.696.2851, andrea@ourchildrenstrust.org
  • For Canadian media interviews with youth plaintiffs: Brendan Glauser, 604-356-8829, bglauser@davidsuzuki.org
  • For U.S. media interviews with youth plaintiffs, Beth Kim: beth@ourchildrenstrust.org