Climate Conversation with Professor Stepan Wood

Understanding Youth-led Climate Litigation in Canada:  
The Mathur Appeal

In Mathur et al. v. His Majesty in Right of Ontario, seven youth have filed a lawsuit claiming that Ontario violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by failing to fulfill its duty to take action on climate change. Read a summary of this event here.

Join us at this informal Climate Conversation, hosted by Professor Stepan Wood and the Climate Solutions Research Collective, where we will begin with a primer on youth-led climate litigation and an overview of the Mathur Appeal.  Following this will be an open discussion on the broader implications of the case.

In preparation for this particular event, we recommend that you review Professor Stepan Wood’s recent primer in The Conversation entitled Recent Ontario appeal court ruling on youth-led climate case could be a constitutional ‘game-changer’.

Bring your lunch and your questions! 

The Climate Conversation series is designed to bring together the UBC climate community to discuss current events in an informal setting.  Learn from your research colleagues about the implications of their climate-oriented work, and how it relates to events as they unfold. 

Co-presented with the Centre for Law and the Environment and the Centre for Climate Justice

Professor Stepan Wood’s research relates to sustainability, globalization, transnational governance, voluntary environmental standards, climate change, environmental law, corporate social responsibility and social justice. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Law, Society and Sustainability at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, where he also directs the Centre for Law & the Environment. His current projects relate to the rights of nature, environmental rights, homelessness, the reception of English law in colonial British Columbia, and the future of the International Organization for Standardization.

The Centre for Law and the Environment (CLE) is a hub at Allard Law for creating and spreading knowledge, ideas and practices about the role of law in securing a healthy environment and a sustainable society. Professor Stepan Wood is the Director. 

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The Centre for Climate Justice (CCJ) at UBC advances the urgent social, political and economic changes necessary to address the climate crisis.  By supporting collaborative, interdisciplinary and intersectional research across diverse knowledge systems, it is a place of mobilization.  Associate Professor Naomi Klein and Professor Carol Liao are Co-Directors.

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Interested in learning more about the case?  Join the CLE's panel webinar on Wednesday November 27 at 4:00pm PST. 

While registration is not required, we will send an event reminder to those who have registered and can reach out in the event of updates: