Provincial environmental protection laws such as the Ontario Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act make it illegal to release contaminants into the environment. Contaminants may include solids, liquids, gases, noise, vibrations, or radiation that harm the environment or affect peoples’ health.

• The Ontario Environmental Protection Act (EPA) regulates air, water, and soil pollution, waste management, and spill reporting.
• The Ontario Water Resources Act (OWRA) protects Ontario’s ground and surface water. The most common violations involve unapproved material discharges into lakes, rivers, or municipal water systems.

Environmental non-criminal offences are prosecuted under Ontario’s Provincial Offences Act which determines the procedures for tickets, summonses, and trials for violations of provincial environmental laws.

Offences

In most cases, it is necessary to have a licence to dispose of waste or to release substances into the air or water that could harm the environment and is an offence under environmental law not to have a licence.

Other environmental offences include:

• Failure to comply with an order or permit
• Discharging too much pollution
• Improper storage of wastewater
• Failure to submit required reports
• Failure to report and cleanup spills
• Improper disposal of hazardous waste or illegal dumping

Provincial penalties

The penalties for committing an environmental offence can include: paying the cost of the clean-up, fines for the corporation or the individuals involved, jail terms for the individuals involved, revoking licences, and stripping the company of profit it earned as a result of the offence.

Strict liability

Most environmental offences are classified as strict liability offences, meaning the prosecution does not need to prove that the defendant intended to commit the offence, only that the prohibited act occurred. However, the defendant may not be held responsible if they used “due diligence”. Due diligence generally means that someone took all reasonable care to avoid the harm.

More information

For more information on this subject, visit the Environmental Law section of Legal Line.

								
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