Youth-led climate change case goes back to court
After a 6-year legal journey that has seen many twists and turns, the 7 young Ontarians behind the landmark Mathur, et al. v. His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario go back to court this spring.
Earlier this month, Ecojustice announced that the Court of Appeal for Ontario will hear the youths’ motion to revisit their case and rule on whether the Ford government’s climate record violates their Charter rights. Filings of legal arguments by the youth and Ontario will be complete by April 20. The court will issue its decision afterward.
The journey began in 2019, when 7 youth, ranging in age from 13 to 25, launched a landmark public interest lawsuit over the Ontario government’s decision to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions targets. They have been represented throughout by lawyers from Ecojustice and Stockwoods LLP. The youth argue that, by significantly weakening the 2030 provincial climate targets under the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, the government endangers future generations and violates Ontarians Charter rights to life, liberty, and security of the person under Section 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The case has made history as the first Charter-based climate litigation in Canada to be litigated on its merits. It has overcome repeated attempts by the Ontario government to shut it down. The last court date of December 1, 2025, had to be adjourned when the province repealed the climate law that had been a focus of their case, days before the case was set to be reheard by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The youth suing the provincial government are part of a growing international movement of youth challenging government and corporate inaction in the face of climate change. The movement, which started with Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future strikes, gives a voice to those whose futures are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis and have the least power to affect change. Youth throughout the world are fighting their governments’ irresponsible climate actions through legal means. In the Netherlands, Germany, Colombia, Pakistan, and the United States, among other countries, young people have gone to court to demand that governments take stronger climate action to safeguard their future and those of future generations.
As Zoe Keary-Matzner – one of the Mathur et al litigants – commented in OJEN’s webinar – Teaching the Mathur et al. Case in High School: An Update (2022) – “Our governments are failing us so we have to take them to court.”
She went on to discuss how she became involved in the Mathur case:
“I started going to Fridays for Future when they got going in Toronto… A lot of students and young people were taking to the streets with the idea that we can’t vote so we might as well protest in order to change the systems that we’re seeing causing climate change. And I think that the reason I, and a lot of other young people, started taking mass action was that we realized that fundamentally we will be the last generation to know what a partially stable climate looks like if everything continues as business as usual.”
For the many young people who are growing up today concerned about the climate emergency and the state of the world, the courageous actions of Sophia Mathur, Zoe Keary-Matzner, Shaelyn Wabegijig, Shelby Gagnon, Alex Neufeldt, Madison Dyck, and Beze Gray are a source of hope and inspiration.
For the litigants, a lot has changed since launching their case in 2019. Some have graduated from high school, begun or completed university, or started careers. They have all remained committed to the case and the cause of climate justice. Read more about them here.
The eyes of the world will be on them in April as they advance this landmark case to the next stage.
For more information check out:
Teaching the Mathur et al. Case in High School: An Update (2022)
Environmental Law – Teaching about Mathur et al. in high schools (2020)