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Posted by Annika Chiasson

08 December 2020

New Brunswickers recognize that global environmental changes have triggered unprecedented events such as our recent catastrophic floods, droughts, and severe weather events.

That is why an Act addressing the human right to a healthy environment is being proposed for the Province of New Brunswick: The Bill 19: An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment. Our “made in New Brunswick” child-focused Bill of Environmental Rights will recognize that children, and therefore all our people and future generations have the right to a healthy environment. An Act such as this has the potential to become, in the words of David R. Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, “a powerful catalyst for accelerating progress toward a sustainable future.” The Bill was introduced on December 7, 2023 by Green Party Leader David Coon in the New Brunswick legislature.

ACT NOW
Sign up as a supporter of this proposed act and email your MLA to encourage them to support it. Together we can advocate for the right to a healthy environment in New Brunswick!

Bill 19: An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment is an ongoing initiative of the New Brunswick Environmental Rights Caucus.

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Posted by Daniela Gallardo

24 May 2018

 

The Environmental Rights Caucus brings groups together to work towards the establishment of an Environmental Bill of Rights in New Brunswick. The caucus goals include:

 

• Pushing forward legislation around human rights to healthy environments.
• Encouraging public engagement.
• Bringing media and political attention to Environmental Rights.

 

In July 2019, the Environmental Rights Caucus met in person with various stakeholders to revise and update the 2016 New Brunswick Environmental Bill of Rights drafted by the East Coast Environmental Law for the New Brunswick Environmental Rights Working Group. From this meeting emerged the New Brunswick Environmental Bill of Rights: An Act to Protect Children, All New Brunswickers and Nature which was revised and renamed: An Act Respecting The right to a Healthy Environment in 2023 by the Green Party. The bill was first introduced in the New Brunswick legislature on December 7, 2023, by Green Party leader David Coon. To learn about the bill, check out this brief or read the proposed bill.

 

An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment (the bill) is the proposed legislation, brought forward by the NB Environmental Rights Caucus, that would protect children, all New Brunswickers, future generations, and nature from environmental harm.

 

Children are the most vulnerable demographic. Unlike vulnerable adults (seniors, the marginalized, etc.), children have critical windows of vulnerability to diseases of environmental origin - from preconception to conception, through pregnancy, early childhood and into early adulthood. Any exposure to a toxic agent, even a very small exposure, can significantly interfere with their developing systems, affecting their brain development and endocrine systems. Affected children will be coping with these limitations for their entire lives. When we protect children, we protect everyone.

 

The bill was brought to the Legislature by the Green Party of New Brunswick on December 7th, 2023. It passed first reading but died on the Order Paper without debate in June 2024, due to the scheduled Provincial election. Learn more and sign up as a supporter by clicking here.

 

On March 25th, 2025, David Coon, leader of the provincial Green Party of New Brunswick, reintroduced the bill and it passed first reading. The bill had a great group of supporters, and the politicians took note of all the supporters in the gallery.

 

On May 29th, 2025, An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment was introduced for debate with the objective of the vote to advance the bill to the Law Amendments Committee. It passed unanimously in the Legislature to our surprise and absolute joy! The Law Amendments Committee reconvened in September 2025. Expert witnesses spoke about the importance of the right to a healthy environment which was declared a human right by the United Nations in July 2022. The Law Amendments Committee was an important process for finessing the bill and allowed for more consultation with Indigenous leaders and other key stakeholders. Revisions were made to include the recommendations put forward.

 

The Bill was once again introduced into the legislature on December 5th, 2025, and passed first reading.

 

On March 26th, 2026, the bill: An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment will be debated and voted on. Please contact your MLA to ask for support of the bill. Everyone is encouraged to attend the session at the Legislature from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm to show support. We all need the right to a healthy environment to become law in New Brunswick, for us, for future generations and nature.

 

The NBEN brings together environmental groups to work on environmental rights through its caucus approach.

Supporters who were in the NB Legislature on March 25th, 2025