Bill 193 amends Quebec’s Charter of human rights and freedoms by adding a preambular paragraph emphasizing the importance of a healthful environment and by inserting a new section that recognizes every person’s right to live in a healthful environment where biodiversity is preserved. The bill also repeals a provision that confined such a right "to the extent and according to the standards provided by law."
The change elevates environmental protection language into the Charter itself, which is likely to change how provincial statutes, permits and administrative decisions are assessed. Because the bill does not supply definitions or implementing rules, it front-loads a legal question that courts and regulators will have to answer: what exactly does a Charter-based right to a healthful environment require of the province and of public decision-making?
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill inserts a preambular paragraph and a new section into the Charter recognizing a right to live in a healthful environment that preserves biodiversity, and it repeals the statutory clause that limited application to standards set by law. It comes into force on assent.
Who It Affects
Provincial decision-makers, environmental regulators and permitting authorities will face a new constitutional reference point; natural resource and development companies, municipalities and affected communities will also see practical effects through litigation and administrative reviews.
Why It Matters
By making an environmental right 'fundamental' in the Charter and removing the prior statutory limitation, the bill shifts dispute resolution from purely statutory review to Charter-oriented legal analysis, increasing the likelihood of rights-based challenges to laws, permits and policies.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The bill is short but consequential. It adds a paragraph to the Charter’s preamble that frames a healthful environment and intact ecosystems as essential to human health and safety.
More consequentially, it inserts a standalone provision recognizing that every person has a right to live in a healthful environment in which biodiversity is preserved. Finally, the bill repeals the existing provision that had constrained such a right to operate only within standards established by statute.
Elevating the environment to a Charter-protected right changes the legal posture of environmental claims in Quebec. Rights in the Charter carry a different interpretive weight than ordinary statutory protections: courts will be asked to identify the content of the new right, establish how and when it is violated, and determine what remedies are appropriate.
Because the bill removes the textual caveat tying the right to statutory standards, the new right is phrased as broader and not explicitly dependent on implementing legislation.That breadth creates immediate questions the bill does not answer. The text does not define "healthful environment" or clarify what level of biodiversity protection the right demands.
It also does not prescribe enforcement mechanisms, standards of proof, or specific remedies — all of which means courts and administrative bodies, rather than the legislature, will have the first word on interpretation unless subsequent legislation is passed.Practically, the provision is most directly relevant to provincial action: statutes, regulations and administrative decisions overseen by Quebec institutions. Affected parties can be expected to test permits, land‑use approvals and regulatory frameworks against the new Charter norm.
The bill therefore operates as an open invitation to rights-based litigation and, unless clarified by further legislative or regulatory work, will generate a period of legal uncertainty as the courts set boundaries for the new right.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill inserts a new paragraph into the Charter preamble affirming the importance of an environment conducive to health and ecosystem integrity.
It creates a new section (1.1) declaring that every person has a right to live in a healthful environment in which biodiversity is preserved.
It repeals section 46.1 of the Charter, removing the prior textual limitation that such a right apply "only to the extent and according to the standards provided by law.", The bill contains no definitions of key terms ("healthful environment," "biodiversity preserved") and does not establish implementing procedures or remedies.
The act comes into force on the date of assent, making the right immediately part of the Charter unless other laws specify otherwise.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Frames environmental protection as foundational
The bill inserts a paragraph into the Charter preamble that links human health and safety to the integrity of ecosystems. That is primarily symbolic but matters: preambles can guide judicial interpretation of rights and help courts place the new right in the broader context of Charter values when resolving ambiguities.
Creates a standalone right to a healthful environment and biodiversity
Section 1.1 is the operative provision granting every person the right to live in a healthful environment in which biodiversity is preserved. As written, it is short and categorical—no qualifiers, thresholds, or procedural contours are supplied. Its existence in the Charter elevates environmental protection to the level of other fundamental rights, meaning courts will need to articulate the content of the right and how it interacts with other legal interests.
Removes a statutory brake on the right's application
The bill repeals the provision that had limited the environmental right to "the extent and according to the standards provided by law." Removing that clause makes the right less explicitly dependent on enabling legislation. Practically, the repeal increases the potential for direct rights-based challenges to provincial laws and decisions, since litigants can argue the right is not confined to policy or regulatory standards set by statute.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on this topic across all five countries.
Explore this topic in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Residents in environmentally sensitive areas — they gain a Charter-level legal basis to challenge provincial permits, approvals or policies that allegedly allow harmful environmental effects.
- Environmental and biodiversity NGOs — the new right gives these groups a stronger standing argument and a constitutional hook for litigation and advocacy.
- Indigenous communities — communities that link land health to cultural and subsistence practices may use the Charter right to reinforce claims against provincially authorized activities that threaten ecosystems.
- Public health advocates and agencies — the linkage between environment and human health in the preamble strengthens interdisciplinary arguments for preventive and precautionary policies.
Who Bears the Cost
- Provincial government and departments — they face increased litigation risk, the need to revise policies and permitting practices, and potential legal obligations to justify or alter existing approvals.
- Resource extraction, energy and development industries — projects already subject to provincial permitting will likely encounter additional legal challenges and might need to adopt higher mitigation or compensation measures.
- Municipalities and developers — local approvals may be contested on Charter grounds, raising costs and delay risks for land-use and infrastructure projects.
- Courts and administrative tribunals — an uptick in rights-based claims will increase caseloads and require development of new jurisprudence to define the right and its remedies.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between strengthening enforceable environmental protection and preserving legal certainty and democratic policymaking: the bill gives courts a robust Charter basis to block or condition provincial actions that harm ecosystems, but it does so without defining the right or establishing the legislative or regulatory framework needed to translate a constitutional principle into predictable, operational standards for governments, industry and communities.
The bill creates a powerful constitutional prompt but leaves crucial details to be determined later. Key terms are undefined, and the text does not specify who may enforce the right, what standards of proof apply, or which remedies are available.
That legal blank slate will almost certainly produce a wave of litigation as parties press courts to fill in the contours. During that period, regulated actors and regulators face unpredictability about compliance obligations.
Another important implementation question is federal-provincial overlap. Environmental harms and biodiversity issues often implicate federal jurisdiction and multi-level governance.
Because the Charter amendment binds provincial law and action, courts will have to navigate cases where federal permits or interjurisdictional projects are involved. Finally, by eliminating the clause that tethered the right to statutory standards, the bill enlarges judicial-review potential—but it also shifts political decision-making into courts unless the legislature subsequently adopts clear implementing rules and policy frameworks.
That shift raises separation-of-powers and democratic-legitimacy questions that the bill does not address.
There's more to this law than the bill.
Codify Laws traces every connection across the legislative lifecycle.