The Performance of Constitutional Environmental Rights: A Case for Further Empirical Study

• Author: Tyson Dyck
• Pages: 163-173



ThePerformanceofConstitutional

EnvironmentalRights

AC AS EF OR

FU RT HE RE MP IR ICALSTU DY

Tyson D yck*

A. INTRODUCTION

Inconsideringwhetherenvironmentalrightsshouldbeenshrinedinthe

Canadian Constitution a n important question is whether such rights

wouldenhanceenvironmentalqualityTodatethereislimitedempirical

evidenceaddressingt hisquestionManyargu mentsinfavourofconsti

tutionalenvironmentalrightsinstead relyontheoreticalpredic tionsof

positiveoutcomesorassumetheutilityofsuchrightsOtherargu ments

supportconst itutionalenvironmental rightsbased noton theirutil ity

butonabeliefthatsuchrightshaveintrinsicvalueworthyofprotection

inac ountry scons titutio nTheselaerargumentsareoutsidethescope

ofthisc hapterwhichfocuse sinsteadontherelationsh ipbetweencon

stitutionalrightsandenviron mentaloutcomes

 TysonDyckisapartnerint heenvironmentalgroupatTorysLLPandaformer

FulbrightFellowatStanfordLawS chool

 Suchrightshavebeendes cribedasprimaryirreduciblehuma nrightsasdis

cussedinLyndaMColl insSafeguardingtheL ongueDuréeEnvironmentalRights

intheCanadi anConstitutionSupreme Court Law Reviewdat

OsgoodesAnnualConstitutio nalCasesConferenceSeealsothede scriptionof

suchrightsashavi nghallmarksoftraditiona lfundamentalrightsinJamesRMay

ConstitutingFu ndamentalEnvironmentalRig htsWorldwide

Pace Environmental Law ReviewatSeealsothearg umentfortherighttoan

adequateenvironmenta sagenuinehumanrightinTimHaywar dConstitutional

Environmental RightsOxfordOxfordUniversit yPress