Your Rights under the EBR

The Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) recognizes that the provincial government has the primary responsibility for protecting, conserving and restoring the natural environment. It also recognizes that the people of Ontario have the right to participate in government decisions about the environment, and the right to hold the government accountable for those decisions.

Your Rights under the EBR

The EBR gives everyone certain environmental rights and responsibilities. That means that all of us — citizens, politicians, policy-makers, lawyers, business people and activists — have legal rights and formal procedures for participating in environmental matters. Here's what the EBR does:

• Because you can't participate in environmental decision-making if you don't know what decisions are being proposed, the EBR requires that certain government ministries let you know about the environmental Acts, regulations and policies they're drafting. The Environmental Registry gives you that information. It’s an easy-to-use Internet database — one of the first of its kind in Canada. It keeps you up to date on environmental proposals, decisions, court cases and other related information.
• You have the right to review and comment on proposed laws and standards, and ministries are obligated to consider your comments — before decisions are finalized.
• The EBR requires that government ministries develop Statements of Environmental Values (SEVs) to guide ministry staff when they make environmentally significant decisions. The SEVs, which are posted on the Environmental Registry, describe how ministries will integrate environmental values with social, economic and scientific considerations when they make environmentally significant decisions.
• The EBR gives people the right to apply for leave to appeal certain ministry decisions, such as the licences, permits and other instruments issued to industrial facilities.
• The EBR gives you a formal process for proposing that existing environmental Acts, regulations, instruments or policies be reviewed, changed or improved. You can also ask the government to consider establishing new ones.
• If you think that environmental Acts or regulations are being broken, you can ask the government to investigate the alleged violation. In some cases, you can go to court if you're still not satisfied with a ministry’s response to your request.
• The EBR gives you the right to sue someone (for example, a polluter) for causing environmental harm to a public resource. In addition, if you experience economic or personal loss because of a public nuisance that's causing environmental harm, you can now sue for personal damages.
• The EBR gives you added protection if you "blow the whistle" on the unsafe environmental practices of your employer. You now have legal protection from harassment if you report spills, unlawful emissions or other hazardous activities at your workplace.

What's My Next Step?

This is your guide to the Environmental Bill of Rights. It's not meant to answer all of your questions or as legal advice, but it will get you started on the right track. If you need more information, please contact the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario.