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Calgary flood survivor to testify in Canada’s first youth-led federal climate trial
The 15 plaintiffs say Canada’s fossil fuel policies threaten their constitutional rights.
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 place on higher ground as surging waters cut short the school year. At the city’s zoo, water rose high enough for a hippo to swim out of its enclosure — a memory that stays with her 13 years later.
Next week, she will testify in Canada’s first federal youth-led climate trial — a lawsuit she joined at 13. She’s one of 15 young Canadian plaintiffs in La Rose v. His Majesty the King, which will run for four weeks in Vancouver.
The plaintiffs from seven provinces, the Northwest Territories and Yukon were all between the ages of 10 and 19 when the case began. They are arguing that Canada is putting young people’s health, safety and futures at risk by supporting fossil fuel development while repeatedly missing its emissions targets. They want the court to require the government to develop and carry out a climate recovery plan that protects their constitutional rights.
“This was a way to share my voice, to influence our governments without having the ability to vote,” Vipond said.
The case is reaching the trial stage after seven years of legal motions and appeals, including federal efforts to have it dismissed. Many plaintiffs were barely teenagers when they joined and have grown into adulthood waiting for their day in court.
Now, they have more to lose. Some have taken outdoor jobs, where staying inside to escape wildfire smoke can mean going unpaid. East Coast plaintiffs, who had never experienced wildfire smoke when the case began, now encounter it regularly, said Andrea Rodgers, deputy director of US strategy at Our Children’s Trust, which supports the case.
One plaintiff has since become a mother and will testify during the trial’s first week. “Now, it’s not just about protecting her rights and her future,” Rodgers said. “It’s about ensuring that her son can grow up and thrive in a healthy environment.”
A generation coming of age in a changing climate
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke have limited Vipond’s ability to bike to school and exercise outdoors. Now a third-year environmental sciences student at the University of British Columbia, she said her studies have helped her recognize changes around her — from increasingly dangerous snow conditions to pine beetles destroying an entire hillside.
“A lot of people think that climate change is like a long, slow evolution of changes,” Vipond said. “However, we’re really seeing it from year to year at this point.”
Vipond’s experience reflects a broader reality for young people coming of age as climate change dictates how they imagine and plan their lives. A study published in 2023 found that nearly two in five Canadians aged 16 to 25 said climate change made them hesitant to have children.
That concern also shows up in their politics. In July, a poll found that one in four respondents aged 18 to 34 ranked climate change and the environment among their top three issues, compared with 16 per cent of those older than 55.
The climate risks extend across their lives. At 1.5 C of warming, over half of children born in 2020 would face unprecedented lifetime heatwave exposure, compared with 16 per cent of those born in 1960, a global study projected in 2025.
Rodgers has spent 15 years representing young people in US climate cases, including Juliana v. United States. Its 21 young plaintiffs spent nearly a decade arguing that federal energy policies violated their constitutional rights. The case never reached trial after an appeals court ruled that judges lacked the power to order and oversee the climate recovery plan the plaintiffs sought. She hopes Canada will deliver what those young Americans were denied.
The Canadian trial will also test how international law informs that duty. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice affirmed that governments must protect the climate system to safeguard human rights. Rodgers said the Canadian court could use that advisory opinion to help justify an order requiring climate action, and set an example for courts in other countries.
“Canada really has a choice,” Rodgers said. “Do they want to follow in the path of the United States or forge their own path, one that protects the rights of their own children?”
Vipond joined the lawsuit out of fear for her own future. As she heads to court next week, she said she now feels responsible for speaking for other children too young to vote and generations yet to be born.
People have asked whether she and the other plaintiffs would receive money if they win. She tells them they are seeking accountability rather than a payout.
“Hope is really hard to hold on to sometimes,” Vipond said. “But we’re all fighting to keep it.”
Sonal Gupta / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer.
Copyright 2026, Canada's National Observer. All rights reserved.
Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer.
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Fin du courrier à domicile : Postes Canada lance un outil pour savoir quand tu seras touché
Tu vas devoir marcher pour aller chercher ton courrier et ça arrive plus vite que tu penses! 📬
Dans la foulée de sa modernisation, Postes Canada a dévoilé un tout nouvel outil permettant de savoir à quel moment des boîtes postales communautaires seront installées dans ton quartier, mettant ainsi fin à la livraison du courrier à domicile.
À lire également : Quel est le salaire d'un facteur de Postes Canada en 2026? Voici combien ça gagne vraiment
Et tu es loin d'être la seule personne concernée par cette transition. Selon la société d'État, près de quatre millions d'adresses d'un océan à l'autre qui bénéficient toujours de la livraison à la porte passeront aux boîtes postales communautaires au cours des prochaines années.
Les premières municipalités visées par ce changement ont été annoncées en avril dernier, soit Sept-Îles, La Prairie et Candiac. D'ailleurs, les nouvelles installations ont commencé à faire leur apparition à Sept-Îles dans les derniers jours.
Quelque 139 000 autres adresses, réparties entre Laval, Longueuil, Saint-Hubert, Québec, Trois-Rivières et L'Ancienne-Lorette, devront également dire adieu à leur boîte aux lettres en 2027.
Depuis ces annonces, Postes Canada n'avait pas donné de nouvelles concernant les prochaines étapes de sa transition. Or, la société d'État a confirmé, ce jeudi 22 octobre, le lancement d'un outil en ligne qui permet de saisir son code postal pour connaître le moment prévu du changement dans son secteur.
« L'outil sera mis à jour avec des dates plus précises à mesure que les calendriers seront finalisés », précise Postes Canada.
La société d'État assure également que les personnes concernées recevront des préavis et des communications « tout au long du processus et avant que des changements soient apportés ».
À Montréal, les boîtes postales communautaires devraient d'abord faire leur apparition dans l'est de la métropole dès 2028, notamment à Anjou et dans l'arrondissement de Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles.
Les quartiers plus centraux, comme Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension et Ahuntsic-Cartierville, devraient quant à eux être touchés vers 2030 et 2031.
Rappelons que le gouvernement fédéral avait tiré la sonnette d'alarme à l'automne 2025, qualifiant la situation financière de Postes Canada de « crise existentielle », alors que la société d'État avait accumulé plus de 5 milliards de dollars de pertes depuis 2018.
Postes Canada a d'ailleurs déclaré des pertes de 482 millions de dollars pour les trois premiers mois de 2026.
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Bombardier looks to grow footprint in United States, investing US$270M in first phase
Bombardier looks to grow footprint in U.S.
Bombardier says it is investing US$270 million in the first phase of an expansion plan in the United States.
The Montreal-based aircraft maker says it plans to hire 800 people for jobs at its base in Kansas as well as in Texas, Indiana and Connecticut.
Bombardier CEO Eric Martel says, based on talks with the U.S. administration, the company sees a bright path forward as well as a positive environment it to continue pursuing direct investments in the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump had posted about the investment by the Canadian company on social media overnight.
Earlier this week, Trump backed down from a threat to ban Bombardier plane sales in the United States.
Speaking at a campaign rally, he said he'd changed his perception of the Montreal-based business jet maker as a purely Canadian manufacturer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BBD.B)
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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