A Healthy Environment
A new CHarter section:
“Everyone has a right to a healthy environment.”
We Need Environmental Rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Environmental rights are needed in the Charter because they would require the government to create laws that could stop the endangerment of the environment, including the land, air, and water. For example, these laws would regulate the removal of plants and wildlife from the environment, the amount of wildlife that is hunted, contamination of air and water. The laws that would have to be made for environmental rights would help the environment in the long run. This would make a better ecosystem over time, and the public would be able benefit by being able to live in a country where air pollution is decreased, and there is safer drinking water.
That is why it is important to have environmental rights in the Constitution: because it would benefit the public and the ecosystem all around Canada. Laws would have to be made around these rights, which will make the environment more sustainable.
When Would This Right Protect You?
This right would protect people in a case where, for example, deforestation [an act of which a large amount of trees are removed (Oxford dictionary)] by a logging company causes the populations of trees to be significantly lower than needed. A variety of trees are needed for forests to be sustainable and healthy, and to protect against climate change. The law that allowed this to happen would go against the constitution because if the tree population and diversity are lower than what's needed, the environment would be at risk because of that. Since the government has to make laws around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it would be required to protect people and the environment from deforestation.
Related to Section 7
As well, environmental rights in the Charter would support Section 7, since it says you have the right to life, liberty and security of the person, and without laws that protect the environment, everyone is endangered, and this would be infringing on Section 7 of the Charter too. And if the laws had to be made around the right to a healthy environment, we would be able to stop that matter at hand.
References
“98 Free Images of Nova Scotia.” Nova Scotia Images · Pixabay · Download Free Pictures, pixabay.com/en/photos/nova scotia/.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 7, Part 1 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.
“Deforestation | Definition of Deforestation in English by Oxford Dictionaries.” Oxford Dictionaries | English, Oxford Dictionaries, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/deforestation.
"Deforestation and Climate Change." Climate Institute. http://climate.org/deforestation-and-climate-change/.