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== How the judicial system upholds climate injustice ==
== How the judicial system upholds climate injustice ==
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'''Funding and protecting the oil and gas industry while jailing protesters'''
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*In addition to funding the industry, the government protects it with injunctions, which are court orders preventing protesters from interfering with, and often going near, work sites. These work sites are typically pipelines, company headquarters, or tree logging sites. When an injunction is breached, fines and jail time may be given out. The right to protest and conduct picket activities is protected by the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; court ordered injunctions go against this right. <ref><span style="white-space-collapse: collapse;" >Stop TMX. (2022). Protests </span>&amp;<span style="white-space-collapse: collapse;" > arrests. https://www.stoptmx.ca/protests- arrests/</span></ref>
*The TMX pipeline injunction, financed by the Trudeau government, had led to 48 arrests for breaching the injunction line as of February 8th, 2022 <ref><span style="white-space-collapse: collapse;" >Gamage, M. (2022). Meet the protesters going to jail to fight climate change. The Tyee. Retrieved from https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/04/27/Meet-Protesters-Fighting-Climate-Change/</span></ref>
*The injunction granted to Coastal GasLink to build a pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory without the consent of the hereditary chiefs led to the arrests of 74 people and enforcement costs of over 13<br>million for the period of January 2019 - March 2020<ref><span style="white-space-collapse: collapse;" >Stop TMX. (2022). Protests </span>&amp;<span style="white-space-collapse: collapse;" > arrests. https://www.stoptmx.ca/protests- arrests/</span></ref>
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'''Climate refugees’ legal status'''
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*Current estimates suggest that 50 to 200 million people will be displaced due to the direct impacts of climate change. These displaced people are sometimes called “climate refugees”, but they do not meet the refugee convention requirements. <ref>Williams, A. (2008). Turning the tide: Recognizing climate change refugees in international law. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2008. 00290.x</ref>
*The refugee convention has two core requirements; the first is a “well-founded fear of being persecuted” and the second is that the reasons for persecution are limited to<br>“race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” These well defined requirements have made it impossible to use to attribute the refugee convention to climate refugees.<ref>Williams, A. (2008). Turning the tide: Recognizing climate change refugees in international law. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2008. 00290.x</ref>
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| style="width: 19.6976%; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''Uneasiness of judges to taken on climate cases''''''<br>'''
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*As more court cases are brought involving climate-related claims, there is a trend for judges to refuse to take on <span style="font-size: 14.4px;">these cases, typically stating the same argument for their refusal; climate change policies </span>are the jurisdiction of the politicians and policy makers, not judges. <ref>Kuh, K. F. (2019). The Legitimacy of Judicial Climate Engagement. Pace University, School of Law Faculty Publications. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2150&amp; context=lawfaculty</ref>  
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Revision as of 19:45, 29 August 2023

The judicial system (or judiciary) refers to


How the judicial system upholds climate injustice

Funding and protecting the oil and gas industry while jailing protesters

  • In addition to funding the industry, the government protects it with injunctions, which are court orders preventing protesters from interfering with, and often going near, work sites. These work sites are typically pipelines, company headquarters, or tree logging sites. When an injunction is breached, fines and jail time may be given out. The right to protest and conduct picket activities is protected by the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; court ordered injunctions go against this right. [1]
  • The TMX pipeline injunction, financed by the Trudeau government, had led to 48 arrests for breaching the injunction line as of February 8th, 2022 [2]
  • The injunction granted to Coastal GasLink to build a pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory without the consent of the hereditary chiefs led to the arrests of 74 people and enforcement costs of over 13
    million for the period of January 2019 - March 2020[3]

Climate refugees’ legal status

  • Current estimates suggest that 50 to 200 million people will be displaced due to the direct impacts of climate change. These displaced people are sometimes called “climate refugees”, but they do not meet the refugee convention requirements. [4]
  • The refugee convention has two core requirements; the first is a “well-founded fear of being persecuted” and the second is that the reasons for persecution are limited to
    “race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” These well defined requirements have made it impossible to use to attribute the refugee convention to climate refugees.[5]
'Uneasiness of judges to taken on climate cases'
  • As more court cases are brought involving climate-related claims, there is a trend for judges to refuse to take on these cases, typically stating the same argument for their refusal; climate change policies are the jurisdiction of the politicians and policy makers, not judges. [6]

Using the judicial system for climate justice





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  1. ↑ Stop TMX. (2022). Protests & arrests. https://www.stoptmx.ca/protests- arrests/
  2. ↑ Gamage, M. (2022). Meet the protesters going to jail to fight climate change. The Tyee. Retrieved from https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/04/27/Meet-Protesters-Fighting-Climate-Change/
  3. ↑ Stop TMX. (2022). Protests & arrests. https://www.stoptmx.ca/protests- arrests/
  4. ↑ Williams, A. (2008). Turning the tide: Recognizing climate change refugees in international law. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2008. 00290.x
  5. ↑ Williams, A. (2008). Turning the tide: Recognizing climate change refugees in international law. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2008. 00290.x
  6. ↑ Kuh, K. F. (2019). The Legitimacy of Judicial Climate Engagement. Pace University, School of Law Faculty Publications. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2150& context=lawfaculty
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