{"id":2825,"date":"2024-03-18T18:34:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T18:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.thedev.ca\/?p=2825"},"modified":"2026-02-15T18:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T18:37:10","slug":"lco-releases-a-new-environmental-bill-of-rights-for-ontario-final-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/lco-releases-a-new-environmental-bill-of-rights-for-ontario-final-report\/","title":{"rendered":"LCO Releases \u201cA New Environmental Bill of Rights for Ontario\u201d Final Report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Monday, March 18<sup>th<\/sup>, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) released <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-new-environmental-bill-of-rights-for-ontario-final-report\/\"><em>A New Environmental Bill of Rights for Ontario: Final Report<\/em><\/a>, a comprehensive and independent review of Ontario\u2019s <em>Environmental Bill<\/em> <em>of Rights, 1993<\/em> (<em>EBR<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The LCO has concluded that major law reforms are needed to ensure environmental accountability in Ontario. The LCO report makes <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/publications\/a-new-environmental-bill-of-rights-for-ontario-appendix-a-list-of-recommendations\/\">58 recommendations<\/a> to amend the <em>EBR<\/em> and related policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Findings<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <em>EBR<\/em> does not respond to the environmental challenges facing Ontarians.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many significant provincial environmental decisions are sheltered from public accountability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <em>EBR<\/em> must be updated to include contemporary environmental priorities, improve public participation, and to clarify its application.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Recommendations<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <em>EBR<\/em> should be amended to establish a right to a healthy environment, authorize environmental protection actions, adopt environmental justice principles, and update its purposes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <em>EBR<\/em> should also be amended to improve Statements of Environmental Values, strengthen the Commissioner of the Environment, and improve access to environmental information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If enacted, LCO reforms would promote stronger provincial environmental laws, policies, and decision-making; improve public accountability and participation; improve Ontario\u2019s ability to address climate change; and improve environmental outcomes across the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report is the first comprehensive, independent review of the <em>EBR<\/em> since it was enacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Executive Summary, Final Report, and background information are available on <a href=\"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/projects\/environmental-accountability\/\">the LCO\u2019s project page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, March 18th, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) released A New Environmental Bill of Rights for Ontario: Final Report, a comprehensive and independent review of Ontario\u2019s Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993 (EBR). The LCO has concluded that major law reforms are needed to ensure environmental accountability in Ontario. The LCO report makes 58 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"LCO Releases \u201cA New Environmental Bill of Rights for Ontario\u201d Final Report - Law Commission of Ontario","description":"On Monday, March 18 th , the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) released A New Environmental Bill of Rights for Ontario: Final Report , a comprehensive and indepen"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-project-updates"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2826,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825\/revisions\/2826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lco-cdo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}