Damages
•What injuries/ damages can you envision a group of Indigenous youths living in Northern regions would suffer from as a result of climate change?
•Think both in terms of property damage and personal injury.
•Attempt to create a list of foreseeable damages then compare your list to ones provided on the following slide
List of Damages from La Rose v. Canada, 2019
•Extreme temperatures impacting lungs and health
•Impact on ability to partake in cultural/spiritual activities
•Rising sea levels causing property damage
•Changing weather patterns making it difficult to hunt the land
•Smoke from wildfires causing health problems
•Lyme disease likely linked to rising temperatures which have increased the range of black-legged ticks
•Psychological impact of climate change on mental health
Full list of damages that can be claimed can be found on page 23-55 in the original Statement of Claims found here.
List of Damages from Lho’imggin v. Canada, 2020
•Increased forest fires, salmon population declines, and bark beetle infestations on their territory as a result of warming temperatures
•Increased exposure to air population from wildfires damaging the heart, lungs, and other organs
•Decreased food security. Particularly forest food animals and salmon stocks
•Degradation of soil and water resources
A full list of damages can be found on pages 19-21 in the original Statement of Claims found here.
It is also possible to frame your damages in different ways. For example, you can plead anticipated damages, that is, damages that you have not yet sustained but are likely to result if the unlawful conduct is permitted to continue
•What sort of damages can you anticipate your clients having?
Examples of types of anticipated damages from Lho’imggin v. Canada, 2019:
- “The anticipated effects of global warming on the plaintiffs’ yintah include reduction of their forest cover due to increased wildfire and insect infestations.”
- “The anticipated effects of global warming on the plaintiff’s salmon fisheries will reduce the run numbers, their predictability and fish size due to sea temperature rise, ocean acidification, long-term shifts in the marine distribution of salmon prey and predators, freshwater temperature rise, and more frequent and more intense precipitation events.”
It is also possible to plead anticipated damages to future generations.
- “Canada has adopted reduction targets that, even if implemented, will contribute to the increase of GHGs beyond levels that the government itself has identified as critical to the protection of life and security of future generations. Such behavior constitutes an intentional fault committed in bad faith.”
- From the Statement of Claims in Youth Environment c. Attorney General of Canada, 2019 QCCS 2885