Environment committee  I was consulted, yes.

Environment committee  In my assessment, it would be the average Canadian, the Tim Hortons Canadian, who would be using this.

Environment committee  Ecojustice wasn't involved in the drafting of this bill. Back in 2007 and 2008, Ecojustice set about working on a project to develop a model bill of environmental rights. We did extensive research on U.S. and provincial territorial jurisdictions that had experience in this area a

Environment committee  Yes. My colleague Margot Venton and I have both participated at various times in discussions with various parliamentarians.

Environment committee  I haven't used that term. The legislation proposes the use of that term--

Environment committee  That's an immigration law question that I'm probably not qualified to answer, but I would understand that it would be a person who has the particular status of resident under Canadian law.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  In fact, in our model legislation--and I imagine that my colleague Beatrice Olivastri has comments to this effect--we articulated that the rights should be for all Canadians, so it's Canadians and Canadian entities.

Environment committee  I'm not sure, because at the end of the day you can have an activity that's authorized through a variety of statutory and regulatory mechanisms. One statutory authorization is not going to give a free ticket; it's going to depend on what law is applicable.

Environment committee  That's a complex question, but I'll try to be as quick as possible. Number one, it's going to make it much simpler to obtain standing before the courts. Often that's a threshold issue, as the courts will say that you simply don't have standing to bring this forward. Second of a

Environment committee  To the point of nullifying their utility.

Environment committee  It's not a question of encouraging litigation; it's a question of ensuring that the objectives of the statute are achieved. In this case, it's environmental protection.

Environment committee  I think “discouraging” might be a bit kind. It's rendering literally useless the provisions.

Environment committee  I think it's a false question. I think that at the end of the day you're going to have settlement processes that occur prior to any litigation. The point is that you need to ensure that the potential for litigation actually affects the behaviour of the litigants.

Environment committee  I would agree there is a non-litigious culture that has developed in Canada, primarily because of the difficulties associated with standing and the difficulties of actually bringing an action to court.