Young Canadians sue federal government over climate change inaction

VANCOUVER · Fifteen young Canadians are taking the federal government to court, arguing its failure to adequately cut greenhouse gas emissions violates their constitutional rights. The group, aged 17 to 24, will present their case at a trial in Vancouver over five weeks starting October 26. They contend that successive governments have breached their rights to life, liberty and security through insufficient climate action. This lawsuit is part of a global trend where activists use courts to push for stronger government responses to climate change.

Kira Young, a 20-year-old plaintiff from Yellowknife, had to evacuate her home during a wildfire in 2023. She said she and her family "had to pack up everything we could into our car and leave our home," driving 18 hours south. Young stated the lawsuit's message is that climate change "is a challenge we can address. There is hope." Another plaintiff, 22-year-old Lauren Wright, said climate-fueled disasters "can’t just keep happening" and that missed targets cannot be met with an "oops." Wright argued, "There has to be accountability and Canadians deserve that."

The group's legal fight started in 2019 and was initially dismissed before a federal appeals court ruled they could proceed to trial in 2023. A win would add to recent international legal victories for climate activists. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights sided with a group of Swiss women who said their government's climate efforts were inadequate. The next year, the International Court of Justice advised that countries have a legal duty to protect the climate for current and future generations.

Plaintiff Albert Lalonde, 24, said young people face the dilemma of "how to plan ahead, how to build a life in a world that is going through collapse." He criticized the policies of Prime Minister Mark Carney's government for worsening the situation. The prime minister has supported expanding oil production to reduce economic reliance on the United States and has said the previous government's climate targets are not achievable. Lalonde expressed dismay that the lawsuit is proceeding amid what he called climate policy "backsliding," saying, "We are literally going back to the 1970s." He hopes the trial will "send a signal." A federal report last month noted Canada's temperatures have warmed at nearly double the global rate since 1970. It also said wildfires, intensified by climate change, have burned record areas in recent years. The upcoming trial follows a setback for a similar youth-led climate case in the United States last year, where a federal judge rejected arguments that pro-fossil fuel policies violated constitutional rights.

With files from Kuwait Times