Their constitutional challenge, backed by Ecojustice environmental lawyers, is set to be heard Monday in Ontario Superior Court.
The crux of the lawsuit dates back to 2018 when the newly elected Progressive Conservative government repealed a law from the former Liberal government that had established a cap-and-trade system for reducing emissions. That law had set a target of reducing emissions 37 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.
"Youth — and, in particular, youth under 18 years old — and future generations will bear a disproportionate burden of climate change’s most devastating impacts due to their unique characteristics, and the fact that the escalating nature of the impacts of climate change means the most devastating effects will occur during their lifetimes," the activists and their lawyers say in their written arguments.
"It is fanciful to imagine that invalidating Ontario’s plan and target could avert the harms caused by anthropogenic climate change," they write, arguing that Ontario's emissions represent less than one per cent of the global total.
So impressed by their commitment.