Category: Canada
Lessons from the Aarhus Compliance Committee on Legal Costs and Access to Environmental Justice
by Anna Stabb This post is part of the Lessons from the Aarhus Convention and Escazú Agreement for Procedural Environmental Rights in Canada blog symposium. Introduction Access to justice is a fundamental value that ensures everyone has equal opportunity to seek fair resolutions, remedies, and protection through the legal system. One of the most significant barriers…
How Canada’s Federal and Provincial Governments Collaborate Against the Public Right to Access Environmental Information
by Drew Yewchuk, Allard School of Law This post is part of the Lessons from the Aarhus Convention and Escazú Agreement for Procedural Environmental Rights in Canada blog symposium. Secrecy enables government messaging control and defeats democratic accountability. The right to information is foundational to democratic participation in the conduct of public affairs. When journalists…
Environmental Harm, Disability, and the Importance of Procedural Environmental Rights
by Katherine Lofts & Chloe Rourke, McGill University This post is part of the Lessons from the Aarhus Convention and Escazú Agreement for Procedural Environmental Rights in Canada blog symposium. Although environmental harms disproportionately impact persons with disabilities, they have often been excluded from environmental governance processes, reinforcing existing inequities and leading to inaccessible policies and…
Overview of the Function of the Aarhus Convention and Potential Lessons for the Canadian Context
by Anna Stabb This post is part of the Lessons from the Aarhus Convention and Escazú Agreement for Procedural Environmental Rights in Canada blog symposium. Procedural Environmental Rights and Environmental Justice in Canada Environmental justice is a growing concern in Canada. For example, in 2020, a human rights report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the…