Article content

Not every 11-year-old sues their government – ​​but that’s exactly what I did.

Article content

It all started six years ago when I decided to join Greta Thunberg and the Fridays For Future movement in striking for climate action. Shortly after, I joined a trial led by Ecojustice, and that’s when everything changed.

I was 11 then and just beginning to understand the scale of the climate crisis – but I already knew I had to do something. Little did I know that my strike in Sudbury would turn into something much bigger. Today, six years later, I am still in this fight and we are celebrating a major victory.

On October 17, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in our favor and overturned an earlier decision that rejected our Charter challenge to Ontario’s low emissions targets. With six other young activists, I spear this legal challenge in 2019, arguing that the province’s failure to act on climate change violated our rights to a safe and healthy environment. This decision means that we are heard.

Article content

When we first brought the case, Ontario argued that climate policy was a matter for government, not the courts. They also said the science behind our claims was too vague.

But the Court of Appeal disagreed. The justices confirmed that the courts have a responsibility to ensure that the government respects our Charter rights, including when it comes to our climate. They stressed that international science-based standards on emissions targets are clear and that it is not too much to call for Ontario’s climate policies to follow science.

This decision is a great victory, not only for us, but for all young people fighting for a livable future. This shows that we can stand up to our governments when they fail to protect us. Courts recognize the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for action, not excuses.

Article content

Ecojustice, the law firm representing us, called the decision “important.” Our lawyer, Fraser Thomson, said this case proves how important young people’s voices are in the fight against climate change. And he’s right.

We are part of a global movement of young people who are taking governments to court to demand they do their part. The United Nations and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law report that the number of climate trials has tripled since 2017. Courts around the world – in Germany, the Netherlands, Colombia and elsewhere – are increasingly ruling that climate change poses a real threat to our rights, and ordering governments to fix and achieve science-based emissions targets. .

This is exactly what we are asking for in Ontario. We want concrete measures that actually reduce fossil fuel pollution and protect our future. Young people like me will have to live with the consequences of today’s decisions, and that is why we are fighting so hard.
Our cause can help put Ontario back on the path to real climate action. This is a step forward for all young people in Canada and around the world who want a more secure future.

Article content

We still have a lot of work ahead of us. This decision, however, gives us hope. It reminds us that when we come together and fight for what is right, we can create change. And we haven’t stopped asking for more.

That’s why on Friday, November 1, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., we’re hosting a special Climate Justice Fridays event on the corner of Paris and York Street in Sudbury, across from Bell Park.

Fridays for Sudbury’s Future will celebrate six years since our first school strike with dance, community building and conversations that will change the world. We will also celebrate this legal victory and push the City of Greater Sudbury to fully fund the Climate and Emissions Emergency Plan and approve the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

We have come this far and we are not going back now. Together, we prove that young voices can and will change the world.

Sophia Mathur, a student from Sudbury, participates in Fridays for Future Greater Sudbury, is a leader with Climate Reality Canada and a plaintiff in Mathur et al v. Ontario

Article content