Author: Tomas Wang
Date: March 25, 2026
Area of Impact:
Atlantic Canada
Article Information and Location:
What a ruling by Ontario’s top court could mean for the future of climate litigation
Benjamin Shingler, David Thurton, CBC News, October 19, 2024
INTRODUCTION
Immediately after the scientific identification of climate change in the late 19th century, it became a significant topic worldwide. And after the end of the world wars, the establishment of the United Nations, and what one may consider as the beginning of a peaceful era, governments began to take action against the issue of climate change. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (2021), Canada was the second country to establish a formal department dedicated solely to the environment. Over the years, Canada has been a pioneer in the war against climate change; in the past decades, the Canadian government has signed and forged innumerable amounts of acts and agreements concerning climate change, including the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement(1972), Canadian Environmental Protection Act(1988), Canada’s Green Plan(1990), etc. However, although we as a country have done a phenomenal job around climate change, there is still much room for improvement. The Court of Appeal for Ontario’s ruling on climate litigation is possibly revolutionary to the government’s actions toward climate change.
The article What a ruling by Ontario’s top court could mean for the future of climate litigation details a case of climate litigation against the Ontario government that was brought to the Court of Appeal for Ontario by a group of young activists. Experts believe this to be a game-changer for future climate litigations and governmental policies on climate change. Litigation is the process of seeking legal action on some issue. That was exactly what the group of young activists did in Ontario. The said group pushed forward a lawsuit against the provincial government regarding their questionable climate change targets. Recently, this case was brought up in Ontario’s Court of Appeal. And the ruling of the Court of Appeal was decently promising for the group of activists.
INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANCE
Ontario’s Court of Appeal ruled that the lower court’s ruling on the case was flawed and sent the case back down for further judgment. Although this ruling might appear unimpressive, it actually has multiple levels of significance. First and foremost, this ruling gave the case a second chance of success; the young activists who filed the litigation were given a second opportunity to argue their case, and with the results from the Court of Appeal, this process may be somewhat easier. According to Politics Professor Emmett Macfarlane of the University of Waterloo, this ruling is “a reversal of the application judge’s initial dismissal of the claim, and breathes new life into the case for the claimants.” The results mentioned in the previous sentences refer to the points made by the young activists that the Court of Appeal agreed upon. Those points are the key to why the Court of Appeal ruled the previous ruling as flawed, and they would be strong arguments against the Ontario government moving forward.
The first of those results is the argument that the environmental policy of Premier Doug Ford is in violation of Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which focuses on the “life, liberty and security of the person.” The activists argued that the environmental goal under Premier Ford is violating the rights of Canadians under said section; the goal under Premier Ford was changed from 37% below the 1990 level to 30% below the 2005 level. The Court of Appeals noted that said goal was indeed weak according to international science. The second result is the argument that the weak environmental policy of the Ontario government is in violation of Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which focuses on preventing the “laws or government policies from discriminating against Canadians based on age and other criteria”. The activists argued that the lack of environmental progress in Ontario will cause harm to future generations, which is in violation of said section. The Court of Appeal agreed to this argument explicitly, concluding that Ontario was “obligated to produce a plan and a target that were Charter compliant.”
The only remaining question is: How is this case significant? After all, this case is in Ontario, and changes in Ontario’s environmental policy can’t possibly have a profound impact on Atlantic Canada. The implication here is the fact that this is one of the first and possibly the strongest cases of climate litigation. The success of this case would likely affect many other similar cases throughout Canada. Many speculate that this may be the beginning of an era of climate litigation, where the people fight against the government’s poor environmental decisions through the legal system. Jordin, a supporter of climate litigation, said: “This decision opens the door for other cases that challenge policy decisions made by governments where they are backtracking on climate targets they’ve set in the past, or moving away from climate targets that the previous government might have set.” With that in mind, the effect of this case is no longer limited to one province; we will be able to feel its impact 1000 km away from the center of action. It is perhaps beneficial for Atlantic Canadians to pay closer attention to the future results of this case since the final result could affect all Canadians throughout our country.
CONCLUSION
Although the odds are looking decent for the young activists, the final result is still up in the air. However, no matter the result, the case will achieve great success; even if the case was dismissed in the end, its legacy will continue to inspire future advocates to pursue climate litigation. And the effect of the case on the general public is much more important than the result; only through the power of the masses of Canadians could we make great and profound changes for the better. It is our greatest hope, as a non-profit organization dedicated to combating climate change, to inspire you, the reader, to join the fight against climate change, whether through actions like the young activists or simply through your everyday life.
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