Nine in 10 Canadians support legal recognition of their right to a healthy environment, yet Canada is among a dwindling number of countries refusing to take action. So it’s not surprising that it’s becoming a topic of discussion across our country.
The op-ed by Avnish Nanda (“The Blue Dot Tour: Right goal, wrong focus,” Jan. 9) is a great example of how the David Suzuki Foundation’s Blue Dot Tour has kickstarted an impressive national conversation.
Since the Blue Dot movement began, communities big and small have passed municipal declarations protecting their citizens’ right to a healthy environment. Richmond, Montreal, Vancouver and Yellowknife have all joined the movement, and Victoria is the most recent addition to this fast-growing list.
It’s a right that already enjoys constitutional recognition in more than 110 countries, including France, Argentina, South Africa and Norway. Recognizing this right leads to stronger environmental laws, stricter enforcement of those laws and more citizen involvement in the decisions that affect our health and well-being. But most importantly, research suggests that recognizing this right leads to cleaner air, safer water and a healthier environment.
Given Canada’s poor environmental record (15th out of 17 wealthy industrialized nations, according to the Conference Board of Canada), recognizing environmental rights and responsibilities would be a vital step in protecting the people and places we love.
Although no one is suggesting that updating the Canadian Constitution is going to be easy, it isn’t the non-starter that Nanda suggests. In fact, our Constitution has been amended 11 times on specific issues since 1982. Only the comprehensive reform packages of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords were failures.
Nanda suggests that supporters of environmental rights should focus on legal challenges rather than political pressure, but lawsuits arguing that the right to a healthy environment is implicit in the charter also face an uphill battle. At least a dozen such cases, involving a range of environmental issues, have been filed in Canada since 1982. All have failed.
The good news is that courts have left the door open for the right case, and efforts are ongoing. Ecojustice is involved in a case in Sarnia to prove that pollution from a local oil refinery represents a basic human rights violation under sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In at least 20 other countries, courts have ruled that the right to a healthy environment is implicit in the right to life and therefore enjoys constitutional protection. The Sarnia case could finally do the same for Canada. But while we wait for those proceedings to slowly wind their way through our legal system, doesn’t it make sense to also pursue the other avenues available to us?
As more and more people from across Canada stand up and demand their local communities recognize their right to a healthy environment, a growing constituency of Canadians will put pressure on higher levels of government to act. This is the same kind of broad organizing we’ve seen from successful social-justice movements in the past.
From progressive harm-reduction policies to marriage equality, our political and justice systems take their cues from this kind of dedicated organizing. Sometimes the result is a legal case involving a charter challenge and other times political leaders simply can’t ignore the voices of thousands upon thousands of voters who have made it clear what they expect.
B.C. and the rest of Canada face a host of environmental threats, including runaway oil and gas development, coal exports and toxic air and water pollution. Solving these problems will be difficult, but recognizing environmental rights and responsibilities would increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.
For example, Norway, where the constitution was amended in 1992 to recognize the right to a healthy environment, is still a major oil and gas producer, but with far stronger environmental rules and a greater share of revenue going into the public purse instead of private pockets.
Rather than focusing on a single approach to environmental rights, supporters should join hands and use all the tools we have at our disposal to demand that governments rectify this undemocratic and unsustainable situation. Working together, we can build a future where no matter who you are or where you live, every Canadian has their right to fresh air, clean water and healthy food recognized.
David R. Boyd is an environmental lawyer, professor and author of The Right to a Healthy Environment: Revitalizing Canada’s Constitution.
