Environmental Law and the Citizen

• Author: Jamie Benidickson
• Profession: Faculty of Law University of Ottawa
• Pages: 273-285

273

CHAPTER 15

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

AND THE CITIZEN

1R. v. Canadian Pacific Ltd., [1995] 2 S.C.R. 1028 at 1075.

2Environment Act, S.Y. 1991, c. 5, s. 5(2)(e).

3Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, S.A. 1992, c. E-13.3, s. 2(f)

[AEPEA].

4 E.L. Hughes & D. Iyalomhe, “Substantive Environmental Rights in Canada”

(1998–99), 30 Ottawa L. Rev. 240.

The importance of individual action in environmental protection is fre-

quently noted. As Mr. Justice Gonthier of the Supreme Court of

Canada remarked not long ago, “[e]veryone is aware that individually

and collectively, we are responsible for preserving the natural environ-

ment,”1and legislation is replete with such observations as “all persons

should be responsible for the consequences to the environment of their

actions,”2or with references to “the shared responsibility of all . . . cit-

izens for ensuring the protection, enhancement and wise use of the

environment through individual actions.”3It should be understood

that the foundation for these responsibilities is more than exhortation.

In the words of two experienced students of environmental law, re-

sponsibilities are conceptually integrated with environmental rights:

Since the correlative of rights is responsibility, if we have these rights

we also have the responsibility to respect those rights in others and

must be prepared for constraints on our own conduct. So there is a

notion of duty or responsibility, in addition to the notion of entitle-

ment.4