La Rose youth in climate lawsuit goes to court to determine if case proceeds to trial

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These young Canadians are the plaintiffs in the climate lawsuit La Rose v. Her Majesty The Queen suing the federal government for its role in climate change. Photo credit: Robin Loznak.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the legal team representing 15 young Canadians in their climate lawsuit against the federal government will appear before the Federal Court. The government is asking the court to strike the plaintiffs’ claim before trial.

The hearing will begin 8:30am Pacific Time. You can watch the proceeding live by registering at this link. Once you’ve registered, another Zoom link will be sent to your email address, which you can click on when the hearing starts to join the Zoom session as an observer.

The case — La Rose et al. vs. Her Majesty the Queen — argues these youth are already being harmed by climate change, and the federal government is violating their rights to life, liberty and security of the person under s. 7 of the Charter and failing to protect essential public trust resources. The youth also allege that their government’s conduct violates their right to equality under s. 15 of the Charter, since youth are disproportionately affected by the effects of the climate emergency.

The young plaintiffs are represented by the law firms Arvay Finlay LLP and Tollefson Law Corporation, and are supported by the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation (CELL)David Suzuki Foundation, and Our Children’s Trust.