Calgary flood survivor to testify in Canada’s first youth-led federal climate trial
The 15 plaintiffs seek a court-ordered climate recovery plan, arguing federal fossil fuel support violates young Canadians’ constitutional rights.
- Sadie Vipond will testify next week in Vancouver during La Rose v. His Majesty the King, Canada's first federal youth-led climate trial, which she joined at age 13.
- The case reaches trial after seven years of legal motions, with plaintiffs arguing that federal energy policies violate their constitutional rights by supporting fossil fuel development.
- Vipond joined the lawsuit out of fear for her future, citing personal memories of extreme weather like the Calgary floods 13 years ago that stay with her.
- Andrea Rodgers, deputy director of US strategy at Our Children's Trust, noted the Canadian court could use a July 2025 International Court of Justice opinion to justify climate action.
- With 15 years of experience in climate cases, Rodgers says Canada faces a choice to either follow the United States or forge a unique path protecting children's rights.
8 Articles
8 Articles
A Landmark Youth Climate Trial Against the Canadian Government Is About to Begin
In June 2013, torrential rain spurred one of the worst flooding events in Canada’s history. Sadie Vipond, who grew up in Calgary along the Bow River, was just a young child at the time when she and her family had to flee their home. “That was pretty scary with the evacuation,” she recalled. Her family […]
St Catharines Standard
Calgary flood survivor to testify in Canada’s first youth-led federal climate trial
Sadie Vipond was 7 when her grandmother woke her in the middle of the night, and they fled their home. Outside, Calgary was in the midst of its largest flood in more than a century. They went to a friend’s…
Ahead of landmark climate trial in Canada, Indigenous youth eye impacts in the North
Earlier this year, one of Leandrea Taylor Reeves’s best friends fell ill with a cold. “Maybe you need to go gather some Labrador,” said Reeves’ grandmother, observing the friend. For as long as Reeves could remember, her community, part of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation in Yukon, Canada, gathered and steeped the leaves and […]
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