COURT OF APPEAL FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA (Oral reasons for judgment)

A number of people were convicted for acting to stop construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Canada. Two defendants sought leave to raise the common law defense of necessity and for permission to call experts at their trial to discuss climate change and the greenhouse gas consequences of oil sands extraction in Canada. They argued that the pipeline, which is owned by the Government of Canada, constitutes state action threatening citizens' right to a stable climate as protected by Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On January 17, 2019, the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed the applications. The court concluded that the applicants had not shown that climate change poses an imminent threat as required for the necessity defense.

Following conviction, the activists appealed. The case reached the Court of Appeal for British Columbia (BCCA). On appeal, in a judgment dated Dcember 1st, 2020, the BCCA considered whether the necessity defence should have been permitted. The BCCA rejected arguments based on necessity and constitutional rights, finding that climate change concerns, while significant, did not create a legal justification for breaching court orders. The court noted that the necessity defense requires imminent peril and proportional response, which were not established, and that the Charter claims were framed too broadly to be justiciable. The BCCA concluded that the appellants had reasonable, lawful alternatives, such as public advocacy, lawful protest outside the injunction area, civil litigation, or political and democratic processes. Because a reasonable legal alternative existed, the necessity defence was unavailable. The BCCA therefore dismissed the appeals, and affirmed the convictions.

Subsequent proceedings,  reflected in a long docket history (including many BCSC and BCCA entries between 2019 and 2023, concerned sentencing, multiple contemnor individuals, and enforcement issues. The court imposed escalating sentences over the following years, to deter further breaches, emphasizing the rule of law and the enforceability of court orders.

Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC v. Mivasair

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC v. Mivasair - judgment

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives