Our Children’s Trust has supported youth plaintiffs in Canada since 2019, most recently in the youth-led federal climate case, La Rose v. His Majesty the King.

In October 2019, fifteen youth plaintiffs, ages 10 to 19 years old, filed the La Rose lawsuit, claiming that the federal government of Canada is contributing to dangerous climate change. The case argues that the 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 section 7 of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for failing to protect essential public trust resources. The youth plaintiffs also allege that Canada’s conduct violates their right to equality under section 15 of the  Charter, since youth are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change.

The lawsuit asks the Federal Court of Canada to declare that the government’s conduct violates the Charter and the government’s public trust duties, and order the government to prepare and implement a climate recovery plan to reduce Canada’s GHG emissions and decarbonize Canada’s energy system in line with what scientists say is necessary to stabilize the climate system and protect the rights of youth.

The youth plaintiffs are represented by Catherine Boies Parker, QC and David Wu of Arvay Finlay LLP and Chris Tollefson of Tollefson Law Corporation; the brilliant trailblazer Joseph J. Arvay, QC was also an architect and co-counsel for this case before his passing in 2020. The plaintiffs are supported by Our Children’s Trust and The David Suzuki Foundation, a leading Canadian environmental non-governmental organization, as well as the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation (CELL), an educational partner using this lawsuit to train the next generation of public interest lawyers.