Ontario Court of Justice

• The $250,000 in total fines will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund.
• In addition to the fines, approximately 90,000 kg of eel meat was forfeited, having an estimated retail value of more than $4.3 million.
• Between November 2016 and January 2018, shipping containers declared as American Eel fillets were imported into Canada.
• However, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers discovered, through sampling and DNA analysis, European Eel meat mixed with the legally imported American Eel meat in all five containers.

• D'Souza was fined a total of $60,000, which will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund.
• In addition, the Court ordered D'Souza to forfeit one full polar bear mount and two hides or rugs.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada wildlife enforcement officers carried out the investigation, which was based in part on the three-pronged approach for polar bear conservation and management.
• The collaboration with law enforcement agencies in Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and in the United States was key in the investigation.

• Courts are being asked to determine whether governments are doing enough to safeguard the health and lives of Canadians experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis.
• A group of seven youth sued Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government in November 2019 for replacing the province’s previous greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target with a significantly weaker and unscientific one.
• Last week, youth litigants in Montana were testifying in the first climate lawsuit in the United States to reach trial.

Ontario’s severely deficient climate target

• Justice Marie-Andrée Vermette held that Ontario’s target increases the risk of death and of the physical and mental harms faced by all Ontarians.
• To remedy this large gap, she stated, Ontario would have to increase its current target by a whopping 73 per cent.
• Every single GHG emission — including those from Ontario — contributes to climate change and the risks it poses to society.

How does law apply to climate change?

• Despite these significant findings, the court held Ontario’s weak climate target did not violate the right to life, security of the person or equality under Sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.
• However, she declined to fully decide the issue, citing the lack of a defined legal test for adjudicating “positive rights” arguments.
• She stated that the existing law needs to be adapted in novel cases such as this.

Youth and climate change

• If permitted to intervene, Friends of the Earth will also provide input about how the Charter’s equality guarantee applies in the context of climate change.
• But she held that climate change — not Ontario’s target — is causing the harm.
• It also implies that no domestic climate target could ever be discriminatory, since there will always be multiple emitters.

A ray of hope

• She was co-counsel representing Friends of the Earth Canada as an intervener in Mathur v Ontario.
• She was co-counsel representing Friends of the Earth Canada as an intervener in Mathur v Ontario.

• Oasis Management Company Ltd. (“Oasis”) is pleased to announce that Thomas Atkinson has joined its Advisory Council.
• From 1996 to 2001 he held progressively senior positions with the Toronto Stock Exchange, including Vice President of Regulation Services.
• Mr. Atkinson is a frequent speaker and lecturer on topics related to securities regulation, compliance, ethics, management, leadership, and other related topics.
• “Tom is an experienced leader in global capital markets and international securities market regulation,” said Seth Fischer, Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Oasis.