Quebec’s withdrawal from oil and gas exploitation has earned you an invitation to speak at COP26 and we applaud your decision to join the international alliance Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. Your Minister of the Environment has made some interesting announcements. We believe, however, that this is insufficient to respond to the climate emergency without leaving anyone behind.
Six years ago, the Paris Agreement recognized the need for gender issues and inequalities to be seriously considered in planning climate action. The solutions proposed by your government leave aside the people of several communities living in this territory who not only play an essential role in the ecological transition, but who are also the first affected by climatic extremes and the loss of biodiversity. Social inequalities and respect for rights must be at the heart of reflection and action, just as citizen participation must be.
We expect better than a third polluting link, a green plan anchored in concrete, an urban sprawl at the expense of natural environments and climate targets that do not respond to the cry of alarm from scientists. Not only are these unambitious projects disconnected from current issues, but, again, you are leaving many people behind. You forget that it is necessary to analyze the crisis taking into account inequalities (gender, economic, racial and those related to disability situations) so that the proposed solutions are conducive to social justice and respectful of human rights .
You forget that acting for the climate requires making decisions consistent with the facts: climate change and social inequalities have particularly affected, and for decades, women and marginalized populations.
As we speak more and more of the end of the world as we know it, let us remember that indigenous communities and racialized communities have often seen their world collapse under the effects of colonialism and racism. Apart from expert calculations, scientific reports, environmental movements and meetings of leaders on these issues, these women and their communities have never ceased to organize, resist and fight on a daily basis for a healthy environment. .
Let us think, for example, of the struggles led by Innu women, by the UAPASHKUSS group or by the Idle No More movement for the protection of natural environments and sacred sites as well as their important reflections which condemn our destructive economic models. Think of new and relevant organizations like BE initiative that actively work to denounce and find solutions to environmental racism. Let us think of the many women who played an active role in the fight against the GNL Québec project or the Women’s Wall against the pipelines and the tar sands. Likewise, the Mères au front movement and the Network of Women in the Environment bring together women from all walks of life who are fighting to protect the future of children against climate inaction. Let us also name the work of the women’s centers which, for decades, have created solidarity by working to lift women out of poverty, to support those experiencing different forms of violence.
Mr. Legault, women and their communities are still the big forgotten in your plan to face the climate crisis. It is high time to come up with real solutions that take gender issues into account!
* Co-signers: Gabrielle Spenard-Bernier, Mothers at the front; Alexandra Pierre, Leagues of rights and freedoms; Caroline Voyer, Network of women in the environment
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