Climate Change Hits the Courts: The Public Trust Doctrine and Environmental Protection in Mathur
Centre for the Law and the Environment Assistant
Dec 4, 2023
On November 29, 2023 the Centre for Law and the Environment hosted a public talk, "Climate Change Hits the Courts: The Public Trust Doctrine and Environmental Protection in Mathur".
One of Canada’s first youth-led climate change cases, Mathur will be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal in January 2024. Climate activists have argued the provincial government’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets do not adequately mitigate ongoing climate impacts and, as such, violate sections 7 and 15 of the Charter. Citizens for Public Justice, an intervenor in the case represented by Professor Hassan Ahmad, will argue before the Court of Appeal that the public trust doctrine, a centuries-old property law doctrine that historically barred governments from blocking access to public waterways, ought to be integrated into the section 7 analysis such that governments would be required to preserve natural resources for current and future generations.
About the Speaker
- Centre for Law and the Environment