Climate · Youth Litigation
La Rose v. His Majesty the King Opens Monday: How to Watch Canada’s Landmark Youth Climate Trial
Seven years after they filed, fifteen young Canadians are about to do something no Canadian youth has done before: put the federal government on trial over its role in the climate crisis. The public can watch every day.
They were barely teenagers when they filed. Now they’re taking the stand.
On Monday, October 26, a courtroom in Vancouver will begin hearing La Rose v. His Majesty the King, the first federal youth led climate case in Canadian history. The fifteen plaintiffs, who were between 10 and 19 years old when the suit was filed on October 25, 2019, have since graduated, started careers and, in at least one case, become parents. They grew up alongside the case. The trial is expected to run about five weeks, with closing arguments anticipated the week of February 22, 2027.
What the Plaintiffs Are Arguing
The case is a constitutional challenge. The plaintiffs say Canada’s response to greenhouse gas emissions is inadequate, and that it infringes their rights under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects life, liberty and security of the person. As the case has narrowed, the target has become the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, passed in 2021, and the government’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. The young people argue that a net zero plan that permits emissions to keep rising, alongside continued federal support for fossil fuels, puts their futures at risk.
They are asking the court for declarations that the Act and the plan violate section 7, and that Canada must follow an emissions path consistent with the best available science. They also want an order requiring a climate recovery plan, with the possibility of continued judicial oversight to check compliance. In plain terms, they want a court to say that a stable climate is part of the right to life and security, and that Parliament and the government have to act on it.
“It’s not safe for our youth. It’s not safe for our elders.”Leandrea Taylor Reeves, 22, a plaintiff from the Yukon
Voices From the Plaintiffs
Several of the plaintiffs come from Indigenous communities in places where warming is happening fastest. Northern Canada has warmed by about 2.6 degrees Celsius over 75 years, compared with about 2 degrees nationally. Leandrea Taylor Reeves, from the Yukon, says her community has seen fewer Labrador tea shrubs, later snowfall that makes it hard to know when to hunt, and wildfire smoke that has forced the cancellation of ceremonies, culture camps and fish camps. Sophia Sidarous, of Mi’kmaq descent in Quebec, has watched declines in foods and materials her community depends on, such as lobster, moose and sweetgrass. Salmon losses, she says, have kept her family from teaching her to fish, and smoke and extreme heat have limited sweat lodges and powwows.
These accounts are what the trial is built on. Courts rarely hear climate change described by people who have lived through its effects, and the plaintiffs will tell their stories directly to a federal judge.
What Canada Says
The federal government is defending the case, and its arguments are mostly legal. Canada says no existing Supreme Court precedent supports a claim that section 7 imposes a positive obligation on the state to act on climate. It argues the plaintiffs have not shown that the challenged measures caused their harms, particularly because the Net-Zero Act is meant to reduce emissions. And it says any deprivation of rights is consistent with the principles of fundamental justice and is neither arbitrary nor grossly disproportionate to the Act’s goals. Environment and Climate Change Canada has said its commitment to net zero by 2050 “has not wavered” and that it respects the role of the courts.
The plaintiffs argue
A stable climate is part of the right to life and security.
The Net-Zero Act and the 2030 plan are inadequate.
Courts should declare a science based emissions path and oversee a recovery plan.
Canada argues
Existing law doesn’t create a positive duty on climate.
The plaintiffs haven’t proven causation.
Any deprivation is not arbitrary or grossly disproportionate.
A Long Road to Court
The case nearly ended in 2020, when the Federal Court struck the original claim, finding the challenged conduct too broad to review. In December 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal revived the section 7 claim and let the plaintiffs amend it, while upholding the dismissal of their equality and public trust arguments. A trial date was set in December 2024. Justice Simon Fothergill has described the case as one of considerable public importance.
How to Watch, Wherever You Are
The entire trial is open to the public by Zoom webinar, so anyone can watch from October 26 onward. You register once for the full trial, but the court must approve each registration, so your link will not arrive immediately and it is wise to sign up early. Recording of any kind, including screenshots, is prohibited, and personal Zoom links must not be shared, though the registration link can be passed along. Court sits from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Vancouver time every day. Through October 31, U.S. Pacific time matches Vancouver. After clocks go back in the United States on November 1, U.S. Pacific viewers will see proceedings from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In Greenwich Mean Time, the hearing runs from 4:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. throughout.
Opening Day in Vancouver, Monday, October 26
Why the World Is Watching
Youth climate cases are now part of a global pattern, from Montana to Hawaii to Europe, and each one tests whether courts will treat the climate as a matter of rights. Canada’s case is the first of its kind at the federal level, and it comes at a politically sensitive moment. Critics point to the current government’s backing of fossil fuel expansion, including a proposed Pacific pipeline and fast tracked liquefied natural gas projects, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has conceded that Canada will miss its 2030 and 2035 climate targets. Whatever the judge decides, the evidence heard over these five weeks will be on the record.
The Road to Monday
- October 2019Fifteen young Canadians file suit in Federal Court.
- October 2020The Federal Court strikes the original claim.
- December 2023The Federal Court of Appeal revives the section 7 claim.
- December 2024A trial date is set.
- June 2026A ruling addresses the admission of expert reports.
- October 26, 2026Trial opens in Vancouver.
- February 2027Closing arguments are expected.
Some cases are decided in a day. This one has taken seven years just to reach the starting line. Whether or not the court ultimately agrees with the plaintiffs, the fact that fifteen people who were once children will stand in a Canadian courtroom and ask for a safe climate is already part of the story of this decade.
