Legislature passes Environmental Bill of Rights
Bill sets out right to a safe, healthy and sustainable world, establishes environmental commissioner
Islanders will gain a new code of rights that will safeguard their access to a healthy, sustainable environment.
P.E.I.’s legislature unanimously passed a bill recently that will codify environmental rights into law. The act, the Environmental Bill of Rights, states its purpose is to safeguard the right of current and future Islanders to “a healthy and ecologically balanced environment”. The bill would also protect residents from environmental hazards and would address environmental racism.
The bill was introduced by Green MLA Lynne Lund. In an interview, she said the bill creates a legal, rightsbased framework that could strengthen environmental protections.
“When environmental rights are not clearly established, we have the right to other rights (but only) the desire to protect the environment," Lund said.
The bill will also establish an environmental commissioner – an “ombudsperson for the environment,” Lund said – which would be an independent office of the legislative assembly.
Under the bill, any five individuals in P.E.I. could ask the commissioner for a review of existing policies, legislation or regulations that they believe could be changed to better protect the environment.
The office of the commissioner could also offer Island residents options to take legal action to uphold their right to a healthy, ecologically balanced environment.
The commissioner would also maintain a registry of ecologically-sensitive projects on P.E.I.
During debate in the legislature, Lund raised the example of a pathway cut through a sand dune at St. Margaret’s Beach in 2020. The property owner did receive a permit to cut the pathway, but then Minister of Transportation Steven Myers later said he wanted to reverse the work.
"That's great hindsight. But if such a project had landed on a registry, the community would have had a chance to say something before the mistake would have happened," Lund said.
"Think about what happened with Plan B (highway) years ago. The commissioner would have had the opportunity to say this is an oldgrowth Acadian forest. You might need to adjust your plan so that you don't go directly through the forest."
Debate about the bill was also buttressed by weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiation between Lund, Opposition research and communications officer Michelle Patterson and staff from Myers’ Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.
The negotiations produced 30 amendments to the original bill, although most were rudimentary changes to language in the bill.
One substantial amendment prevented individuals or entities from commencing legal proceedings to “intimidate or prevent another person from engaging in specific activities under this act”. This includes the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
Another amendment altered the number of individuals needed to apply to the commissioner for review or challenge existing legislation from two to five.
Another amendment clarified means in which the environmental commissioner could legally act on behalf of individuals challenging government legislation or actions.