The environmental rights approach under the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights: Survey, critique and proposals for reform

One of the most recent environmental law reform initiatives was the enactment of the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a critique of the environmental rights approach embodied in the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights and to suggest reforms which can improve the enactment. The critique focuses on the deficiencies in the environmental rights approach of the legislation with respect to public participation, government accountability and access to the courts to protect the environment. This thesis provides a survey of the issues relating to the need for substantive environmental rights and the utility of the public trust doctrine. For the purpose of comparison, the environmental rights initiatives in Quebec, the Northwest Territories and the states of Michigan and Minnesota are examined. Following this examination, the environmental rights provided in the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights are considered. This thesis concludes that the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights primarily procedural in nature and thus falls short of what has been envisioned for a true environmental bill of rights. It is argued that the Ontario legislation is fundamentally deficient due to the absence of a substantive right to environmental quality and the public trust doctrine and its limited role for the courts.