Today, the Inter-American Court issued a landmark advisory opinion on the intersection between state obligations and the climate emergency, including duties to protect human rights in the face of climate threats.
The opinion, which confirmed that we are in a climate emergency, could have implications on similar cases here in Canada and across the globe.
Ecojustice lawyer Fraser Thomson joined legal voices from around the world on the impact of the Inter-American Court opinion, sharing:
“Today’s historic advisory opinion reinforces a growing consensus from judges around the world: the climate crisis is a human rights crisis. We’re currently seeing this play out across Canada through extreme heatwaves in Ontario and Quebec and devastating wildfires across the western and central provinces. Increasingly, opinions like these give hope to our clients in the precedent-setting Mathur case — and to all Canadians — that it’s only a matter of time before our courts recognize that governments who fuel the climate crisis are violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
