Ontario asks Supreme Court to hear youth climate case

(Toronto) Ontario is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to urgently decide whether it will hear a historic, youth-led challenge to the province's climate plan.

This is the first case decided in Canada that examines whether a government's climate plan violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In their application to the Supreme Court, Ontario lawyers say this is an “excellent opportunity” to clarify governments' constitutional obligations to combat climate change.

Seven young people say the Ford government's lowered greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target violates their right to life by committing the province to dangerously high levels of GHG emissions and discriminating against them, because they are the ones who will suffer the most from these emissions.

After initially being dismissed, the youths won an appeal victory in October, when Ontario's highest court sent the case back to a lower court for a rehearing and left open the possibility of prevail in the constitutional challenge.

Lawyer Fraser Thomson, who works with the charity Ecojustice and represents these young people, said Ontario's request “paves the way for a generation-defining hearing before Canada's highest court.”