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| Kerrie Blaise |
On April 17, 2025, Ontario introduced Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 — an omnibus bill that amends many environmental and resource extraction laws and also proposes first-of-their-kind “zones,” within which the very operation of provincial and municipal laws could be suspended. The legal community has called Bill 5 a “direct assault on the rule of law” and remarked that if passed it would “effectively muzzle dissent and community voices.”
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Most egregiously, if passed Bill 5 would:
1. Suspend the operation of laws in areas designated as “special economic zones” (SEZs). Schedule 9 of Bill 5 sets out that within SEZs, the province will have broad powers to exempt projects and industries from provincial and municipal laws. The impact of allowing SEZs would be immediate: it would (a) create an unpredictable path forward with no clarity as to how Indigenous Peoples’ constitutional and Treaty rights will be respected and (b) create uncertainty on how — if at all — the checks and balances mandated through Ontario’s many laws and regulations would be of force and effect. This is not just an attack on environmental laws, but a carte blanche for the province to nullify any provincial and/or municipal law.
2. Undermine constitutionally protected Indigenous rights including the right to a process that respects Treaty rights and promises. While statements from the province praise the bill for “advancing the next chapter of reconciliation in Ontario,” no such legal commitment is contained in the text. At a time when the courts are finding that s. 35 constitutional rights ought to be interpreted in a manner consistent with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the doctrine of reconciliation, Bill 5 trivializes the equitable participation of Indigenous nations and allows industry — whose private interests are expressly provided for in the provisions of Bill 5 — to dominate. This approach goes directly against the Calls to Action set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that speak to our duty, as lawyers, to create meaningful change within the legal system to respect Indigenous rights and laws.
3. Weaken systems for oversight, including by the courts and the public. Bill 5 attempts to bar proceedings against the government for anything “directly or indirectly” related to anything “done or not done” in accordance with the proposed amendments. Shielding the provincial government from the scrutiny of the courts weakens accountability and safeguards for public participation, including the ability to have a say and be informed, and principles of democracy, including that decision-making be done in a procedurally fair and transparent manner.
As lawyers, we have professional and ethical obligations to engage with legislative reforms, especially when those reforms pose impacts to the practice of law, rule of law and access to justice. We should not remain silent when unrestrained and unabashed bills are put forward by the government that undermine the legal duties and responsibilities we have, to protect the rights of the public, communities and nature.
Kerrie Blaise is an environmental lawyer living in Robinson Huron treaty territory. She is the founder of Legal Advocates for Nature’s Defence, a non-profit dedicated to advancing access to justice in northern Ontario, to protect nature and Indigenous rights.
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, Law360 Canada, LexisNexis Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
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