Dear leaders of Canada and the provinces, we have seen you court the fossil industry. We have heard you reject greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets that would allow Canada and the provinces to do their fair share. We have witnessed your satisfaction at the half-measures which condemn young Canadians to the climatic chaos of a completely transformed “post-1.5 ° C” world.
Now, six years after the Paris Agreement, with little progress to show after all this time has passed, you need to know one thing: We know very well what you are doing. You claim to hear us, but you keep ignoring our voices and our demands.
So we are here, together, to sound the alarm bells. You are holding our future hostage.
In hostage-taking situations, powerful groups deny individuals their basic rights to autonomy in order to achieve a political goal.
Fully aware and aware that the youngest among us cannot vote, that many do not have direct representation in political bodies and that as a social class we do not have the necessary resources to defend our fundamental interests, you are trading our right to a safe and healthy environment without our consent.
We have so much to lose
Not to mention the impact of the global climate crisis, Canada is warming twice as fast as the world average, and Canada’s North is warming even faster – almost three times faster than the rest of the world.
The consequences of climate change are already there, and they are serious.
They include among others:
- Food and water shortages by 2100. Every year, farmers see the effects of more severe weather events on their farms and their lands. These actors, as well as the Aboriginal communities, are the first witnesses of these changes. Both groups warn of upcoming and ongoing food security and sovereignty crises.
- Changing the hydrological cycle from coast to coast. It is predicted that communities that had access to water will now face a scarcity of it. For example, one in four Albertans is predicted to face water insecurity by 2100 as a result of melting glaciers and related impacts on the drinking water supply.
- Rising sea level and flooding. This phenomenon is already underway and is causing material damage and the displacement of populations throughout the country.
- Heat waves and forest fires. This summer we witnessed in horror the destruction of an entire community, Lytton, British Columbia. During that same 39-day period, 569 British Columbians died from the extreme heat – heat so unusual that it was deemed statistically impossible without human-caused climate change. With the increase in the number, scope and intensity of wildfires across the country, more Canadians than ever know and will know what it’s like to choke in smoke, wake up under a sky. red and having to flee his home.
We suffer unevenly
Young people are not the only socio-demographic group that will disproportionately suffer the consequences of our governments’ backwardness and climate denial.
By not taking the necessary climate action, you – our governments – are betraying the First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to whom you have promised reconciliation. You betray the disadvantaged, who do not have the luxury of having a private adaptation fund. And you betray all people from marginalized socio-demographic groups, simultaneously experiencing multiple oppressions and made vulnerable to the personal, social and economic upheavals we face in a changing climate.
Our demands
You say you are climate leaders. Prove it. We request :
- An immediate shift to address the climate crisis at the height of the urgency it represents, by committing to adopt and achieve a more ambitious climate target that reflects Canada’s fair share in reducing GHG emissions at the global scale, while initiating a just transition that leaves no worker behind. This is the only way we, as a community, can halve emissions by 2030 and limit warming to 1.5 ° C.
- A change in the current mentality, one which minimizes the future impacts of today’s choices and which seriously affects parliamentary decision-making. Current generations have a duty not to pursue policies that jeopardize the basic needs and health of future generations (eg clean air, arable land and climate stability). This principle is also known as the concept of the next seven generations, attributed to the Haudenosaunee Nation (Iroquois and Iroquoises).
- Immediate prioritization of the rights of indigenous peoples. This includes, in particular, respecting Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, establishing nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous communities, and the transfer of land rights and land rights. governance to these communities.
- Additional funds for adaptation, development, and loss and damage for developing countries. This is the only way to ensure global climate justice.
- The immediate end of subsidies and financing of fossil fuels at the national level, the end of oil and gas projects as well as a just transition plan for workers. The vast majority of the world’s oil reserves must be kept underground if we are to have any hope of preventing the most dangerous effects of the climate crisis. Carbon offsets and unproven technologies like carbon capture and storage do not replace the complete elimination of fossil fuel exploitation.
- Full transparency in the reporting and accounting of emissions, and the obligation for companies to report their emissions in accordance with strict standards. Net zero emissions goals should not be a substitute for a concrete action plan to achieve true zero emissions, and transparency is needed to hold polluters accountable and ensure human rights are protected.
- Inclusion of young people in decision-making processes.
To all the youth
You don’t have to go to COP26 to have an impact. The actions we take beyond the COPs are much more important. Here’s how you can help the movement:
- Write to your elected officials at all levels of government (municipal, provincial and federal) and ask to meet with them to share your concerns. We believe in you. Your voice matters.
- If you qualify, vote whenever you get the chance, read political agendas, and choose climate justice.
- Support the First Nations and Inuit who defend their lands as well as the most vulnerable communities.
- Learn about the impacts of the climate crisis on your community and discuss it with those around you.
Our lives and our collective future depend on the actions we take today.
View the CarbonBrief map of extreme weather events View the Climate Atlas of Canada Read the IPCC Report Executive Summary for Policymakers
* Co-signers: DD Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (ACME); Maheep Sandhu, Climate Reality Project Canada; Aliya Hirji, Climate Strike Canada, Ontario; Stuart Oke, chair of the National Farmers Union Youth Advisory Committee, Ontario; Jessie MacInnis, vice-chair of the National Farmers Union Nova Scotia Youth Advisory Committee; Sadie Vipond, LaRose v. The Queen, Alberta; Andréanne Brazeau, Quebec; Émile Boisseau-Bouvier, Quebec; Léa Ilardo, Quebec Xavier Courcy-Rioux, Quebec; Élisabeth Sanscartier, Student Association of Gérald-Godin College; Julie-Christine Denoncourt, Quebec; Alexis McGivern, Ontario; Kennedy Tuccaro, British Columbia; Marissa Ng, British Columbia; Laura Chen, British Columbia; Lea Anderson, British Columbia; Alexandra Wenzel, British Columbia; Ashoke Mohanraj, Ontario; Thule van den Dam, British Columbia; Tyjana Connolly, Alberta / Saskatchewan; Clément Badra, Quebec; Sophia Mathur, Ontario; Raphaël Savaria, Quebec; Alexis Ortolano, Quebec; Tristan Poulin, Quebec; Marouane Joundi, Quebec; Lylou Sehili, Quebec; Katarina Scutari, Quebec; Jérémie Lamarche, Quebec; Alyssa Scanga, Ontario; Anne Hamon Martínez, Quebec; Alexandra Nadeau, Quebec; Valentine Machut, Quebec; Oswaldo Andrés Paz Flores, Quebec
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