ENvironment JEUnesse is the Quebec youth group behind the world’s latest intergenerational climate lawsuit. Their press release  states: “On November 26 2018, ENvironnement JEUnesse, represented pro bono by the firm Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, applied to bring a class action against the Canadian government before the Superior Court of Québec today on behalf of Quebeckers aged 35 and under.  ENvironnement JEUnesse alleges that the Canadian government is infringing on a generation’s fundamental rights because its greenhouse gas reduction target is not ambitious enough to avoid dangerous climate change and because it does not even have a plan that would allow it to reach this already inadequate target.”  The law firm Trudel Johnston & Lespérance  provides legal details, and states that “The class action seeks a declaration that the Canadian government’s behaviour in the fight against climate change infringes on the rights of young people, as well as an order to pay punitive damages.”

ENvironment JEUnesse invites readers to join the class action suit, donate, and support the  initiatives of other Quebec activists (Pact for the Transition  , and  the Déclaration d’urgence climatique  ).  The main website is in the French language, and a French language newsletter  is available.

The National Observer broke the news with Quebec youth apply to sue Canada to get toughter carbon pollution targets” and Climate Liability News published  “Canada Faces Latest Youth-Led Climate Lawsuit” .   Both articles identify the Quebec lawsuit as part of a world-wide movement in where youth are suing their governments for their right to a future without climate catastrophe.  The best known climate case of such cases  is the Juliana vs U.S. constitutional “Trial of the Century” which began under President Obama and was scheduled to be heard on October 29. It is still under challenge from the federal government. There have also been youth cases in several U.S. states – most recently in Florida  .  In Norway, Nature and Youth Norway, in cooperation with Greenpeace, are currently appealing an unsuccessful  court decision  in January 2018, and the youth of Columbia achieved a successful decision in the Demanda Generaciones Futuras v. Minambiente  case , in which the government was ordered to formulate plans to protect the Amazon from deforestation.  ENvironment JEUnesse  provides a summary of all related cases here