So, deep breath, and apologies for gaps.

Let’s start with today. June 6^th. We have been asked by Kukpi7 Roseanne Casimir, Chief of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc, to join in prayer at 10 am today. It is Kukpi7 Roseanne’s work that led to hiring an expert in underground radar readings to uncover the preliminary results she released May 27^th. Through my dear friend and former Green Victoria candidate Racelle Kooy (who is now living back in her home territory) that I heard of the call for a National Day of Prayer. https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Kamloops/336047/Mourners-encouraged-to-take-part-in-day-of-prayer-on-Sunday-following-discovery-of-Tk-emlups-remains

The most powerful statement yet has been my MLA’s words in the BC Legislature. Adam Olsen’s speech drew widespread attention, including in this insightful column from Rob Shaw that noted how hard the NDP tried to defeat Adam last fall. https://theorca.ca/resident-pod/when-the-unimaginable-is-all-too-imaginable/ In the federal Parliament we held a late night debate in which all I tried to do was read as much of Adam’s speech into the record as I could. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-vBW9pUQEQ

The pain and loss (especially for Indigenous peoples, but also for settler culture allies) is real and deep. Indigenous friends have suggested that we pause. That we stop and postpone the political debate, inevitable finger pointing, and instead just  listen and mourn together for those dear children, their souls, their families and for the many more not yet accounted for. We are heading down a long road. And we cannot let this be a “news story” where we turn the page and fail to take on the work that we are required to do. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission set out a path. It will not an easy one. Let us pray. Whether we believe in God or not, let us mourn.

On Friday, I marked the anniversary of the killing of 26-year old, Nuu-Chah-Nulth woman Chantel Moore with a statement in parliament. On June 4, 2020, Chantel was killed by a police officer in Edmundston, NB.  As I made the statement, our extraordinary Green MP Jenica Atwin joined Chantel’s mother, Martha Martin, at a ceremony in Fredericton to mourn her death and demand justice. In solidarity, national Green leader Annamie Paul issued a strong statement with specific recommendations to end the threat of death by “wellness check.”

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/06/04/news/cries-for%20action-one-year-after-chantel-moore-killed-police (This link is behind a pop-up paywall.)

Although the Quebec policy inquiry review was submitted on her death in December, the family still has no answers as to why a tall, muscular cop felt so threatened by a small Indigenous woman that he shot her at least five times. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chantel-moore-indigenous-police-shooting-1.6052529

Say her name and keep demanding #justiceforChantel.

For the rest of this little Sunday letter, the good news first.

The TMX (formerly Kinder Morgan) pipeline suffered a serious blow with the news that its insurer will not renew the policy. Lloyds of London was the first global insurer to decide to reject fossil fuel infrastructure from their policies.  The Canadian Energy Regulator – CER (which used to be called the NEB) attempted to assist the Crown corporation now building TRMX with our money by agreeing to an outrageous request from TMX to keep the name of its insurers confidential. So we only found out Argo Insurance was an insurer when it announced this week it would not renew the TMX policy.  David Snowden, senior VP of group communications at Argo Group US, wrote “This type of project is not currently within Argo’s risk appetite.”

Charlene Aleck of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative urged more insurance companies to refuse to insure this risky project: “In addition to fuelling the climate crisis, this pipeline represents an ongoing violation of Indigenous rights. The lack of free, prior and informed consent is a material risk that most insurers have not fully captured, and that needs to change. We are calling on the rest of the Lloyd’s syndicates, as well as AIG, Chubb, and Liberty Mutual, to follow Argo’s path.”

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/insurance-provider-for-trans-mountain-pipeline-says-it-won-t-renew-policy-1.5454981

Looking for more good news is hard.

I am so grateful to my dear friend and colleague Paul Manly (Green MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith) and his chief of staff Ilan Goldenblatt. They are at Fairy Creek this weekend to let the land protectors know we strongly support them.  I am still trying to sort my own logistics to join them.  Meanwhile, once again, I need to give a huge shout out to Adam Olsen for his work in exposing the cynical, colonial, patronizing approach of the Horgan government toward the Pacheedaht First Nation. Under what was supposed to be a commitment to respect Indigenous sovereignty, the government has engineered a despicable agreement that Adam outlines here: https://www.cheknews.ca/opinion-forest-agreement-betrays-premiers-commitments-on-indigenous-reconciliation-812114/

Please read the details, but Adam’s bottom line conclusion says it all: “The BC NDP is effectively using BC Liberal policy to put Indigenous Nations in the centre of conflicts and use the language of reconciliation to cover for their inaction.”

Meanwhile, back in Ottawa, the C-12 clause by clause process will likely wrap up tomorrow with no Green amendments passed. The deal between the Liberals and NDP for modest improvements are indeed improvements. The main item is the insertion of a 2026 “interim greenhouse gas emissions objective.”  But the first milestone year remains 2030, the advisory committee is multistakeholder and not expert or independent (despite a sleight of hand amendment to say the non-independent body will provide “independent advice,”) with no carbon budgets and no legally enforceable method to hold any minister to account. Meanwhile, the government is still subsidizing fossil fuels and committed to TMX.  Here is my question to Minister Wilkinson asking him to explain why my amendment to base government action on science was rejected:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVciiBgRLc8

I am heartened by growing support from 350.org and Leadnow to oppose the ReconAfrica proposed oil and gas project in Namibia, near the UNSECO World Heritage Site at the Okavango Delta.  Thanks to nearly 900 people who signed the petition I presented this week (and especially to local activists Vicky Husband, Doug Funk and Shelagh Levy):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td1ecRdMcYk

Speaking of Shelagh, I am really excited for our next SGI-Green book club event featuring Seth Klein and his wonderful book “The Good War.” Seth and I will explore how we get societies to move on climate as though our lives depended on it, which they do. Join us on Tuesday, June 14^th, 7 pm BC time.  Please register in advance for this event here.

And for a really exciting book event involving my daughter Cate, dear friends Sylvia Olsen (“Growing up Elizabeth May”), Lynne Quarmby (her new book “Watermelon Snow: Science, Art and a Lone Polar Bear”) and Anu Rao (whom some of you will know thru Seachange, with her book “One Earth: People of Colour Protecting our Planet”) plus an activist I do not know, but am excited to hear, Nafeesa Alibhai, check out “Story Telling for Change” – coming up next Saturday morning June 12th: https://www.banyen.com/events/Storytelling-for-Change

This week marks the start of midnight sittings in parliament to try to push through as much legislation as possible before we break June 23^rd for summer recess. Please help me by signing petitions listed below and join in the events I have included here.  One great event I should have promoted more was the Twenty Year Anniversary of Fair Vote Canada!  I have not had so much fun for ages. We had over 400 attendees for Judy Rebick, Andrew Coyne, Hugh Segal and me.  Watch it here video and recommit to fighting against FPTP every chance we get!

Keep Calm and Carry on!!

Much love,

Elizabeth

PS another cheer for Paul Manly! Paul made a statement calling attention to Motion M-90 for a national ban on gas fracking, which he put forward on Wednesday.

Petitions

e-3159 Ban new strip mines in the Rocky Mountains (closes June 5)

e-3383 Clarify the safe operation of the DND Rifle Range (closes June 6)

e-3433 Cancel the $19 billion competition to purchase the 88 new combat aircraft (closes June 18)

e-3353 Create and fund the National Council of Tree Science Research (closes June 21)

e-3330 Establish a National Council of Reconciliation (closes June 28)

e-3164 Implement a national living wage (closes June 29)

e-3348 Canada‘s alleged political interference in Haiti (closes July 29)

e-3408 Work with First Nations to immediately halt old-growth logging (closes September 8)

Saanich-Gulf Islands Greens
http://www.sgigreenparty.ca/

The post Good Sunday Morning – June 6 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Which brings me to the latest outrage.  When land protectors at Caycuse or Fairy Creek are practicing, safe, peaceful and COVID-precautions in the protests, the Mounties are not.

Reports from people arrested are worrying. The paddy wagons are over-crowded. Now, maybe the RCMP Establishment thinks that if you violate a private injunction in the interest of destroying the last of British Columbia’s old growth forest, you are no longer entitled to the public health precautions dictated by the same government that has decided you should face arrest.   My friend Linda’s son Chris was arrested without his being aware he was in any zone where an arrest was legal.  The arrests were random. He was not in an area described in the court ordered injunction “no go” zone. As far as he knew, he was not even in one of the RCMP fake “exclusion zones.”  He had joined a large group of land protectors, sitting at distance, singing, and unaware they were in a place that would result in arrest. They had passed a small group of RCMP officers on the road before they reached a spot where they set themselves down.  Then a much larger group of RCMP officers showed up and moved them back into more crowded spacing.  An supervising officer then stood amongst them and randomly pointed.  Arrest him. Arrest her…  Chris was one of those singled out and arrested. He has no idea why he was singled out. It had every appearance of being random.  His phone and backpack were taken from him and he was placed in a paddy wagon with others, with no COVID distancing.  He was wearing his mask. Others were not.

Maybe a mass of public opinion believes that an arrested, non-violent, defender of the irreplaceable ancient giants of our forests deserves to be exposed to COVID. But I doubt it. The RCMP need to be called out on this. And much more.

As I see it the RCMP are the law breakers here.  The treatment of journalists trying to document arrests violates the Charter and its protections of freedom on the press.  There is no court order justifying arrests of media – nor could there be. Yet the RCMP, in many well documents incidents, have threatened reporters with arrests – without any legal justification. This practice has been increasing as it was used in keeping reporters away from the arrests of Wet’suwe’ten Hereditary chiefs.

As well, the RCMP have been arresting, without legal justification, many members of the public. Worse, they have arrested indigenous peoples with constitutionally protected rights to be on their own territory, now further protected by UNDRIP laws, in place provincially, being developed federally and in place globally.   There is no court order in support of the RCMP-created “exclusion zones.”

Those arrested have also had their cars towed. Some have been roughed up.  This especially seems to be the case for indigenous youth.

Many friends and colleagues are considering making their way to Fairy Creek and the Upper Walbran to protect what is left. I am inspired that my old friend Tzeporah Berman is “back to the barricades.” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-back-to-the-blockades-why-i-continue-to-fight-for-british-columbias/

We first met in Clayoquot Summer of 1993.  More accurately we met when the Sierra Club of Canada project the Clayoquot Express arrived in Tofino following a cross-country trek by rail – reaching the Peace Camp in the in-coming chill of winter in November 1993.  I am considering being arrested there too.

Part of my reasoning is my growing panic that the last chance for our biosphere is running out – like sand between my fingers. And part of the reason for that anxiety is the back-room deal between the Liberals and NDP to push through Bill C-12 – the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act – without any real improvements.  The shenanigans have been outrageous, but media is not watching what goes on in committee. Some reporters have dutifully reported the Liberal-NDP spin (sadly echoed by some climate groups) that major improvements are being made. Please show me one.

I have included some clips from the week of May 24 when the bill was before committee.  The amount of time for witnesses from the public was less than 8 hours over three days of hearing.  Most of the dozens of briefs submitted came after the hearings were over – as was the deadline for submitting amendments. As I wrote last week, as the last panel of witnesses was dismissed, we were told all amendments were due the next day.

Thanks to Conservative MP Dan Albas giving me his first six minutes,  I questioned the Minister of Environment about Bill C-12 at committee, listing the keys areas where the bill needs to be made stronger to keep global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C. And soon after that, I was able to question Environment Canada and Climate Change Assistant Deputy Minister, an old friend from his environmental policy days, John Moffat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttb-Mtw7qRo

It was during Monday’s clause by clause committee meeting that I realized the fix was in.  In the normal course of most clause by clause reviews of legislation, a few of my amendments will be accepted – regardless of the subject area. But it became increasingly clear that there was a pact between Liberals and the NDP to defeat every Green amendment – even when my amendment was word for word identical to a Liberal amendment they wanted to pass.  The wording in question had been recommended by West Coast Environmental Law to ensure that next target is set, not five, but 10 years ahead.

How the Lib-NDP alliance was so unaware of the logic of legislative review that they failed to realize that defeating the wording they wanted as a Green amendment would preclude voting for the same language later as a Liberal amendment, is beyond me.  In fact, the chair of the committee had warned them, in routine fashion, that if the Green amendment failed then the identical Liberal amendment cannot be moved.  Only Bloc MP Monique Pauzé voted for my amendment.  And when the chair intoned, without any suggestion that he knew his ruling would create an eruption of howls of protest, that the Liberal motion could not be moved, I think we lost a good half hour to the ensuing chaos.  It was bizarre. It would have been funny, but for the importance of any improvement to this weak act.

Liberal MP Yvan Baker, whose amendment was identical to mine, suggested it could be moved once amended from ten years to 3650 days. The clerk said that wouldn’t work because that was still ten years. Then NDP MP Taylor Bachrach, replacing Laurel Collins who is on mat leave, came up with “nine years and 366 days.”  That was ruled to be sufficiently different from the Green amendment they had just voted down.  It was obvious to me then that any amendment from the Greens was going to be killed for no higher principle than that it was Green.

I give more detail here in this piece in the National Observer (please post and share as much as possible before the committee resumes at 3:30 EST tomorrow.): https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/05/28/opinion/climate-emergency-weak-climate-change-act-being-steamrolled-through-parliament

It would take a miracle to get C-12 to be remotely consistent with the other strong climate laws around the world through this committee.  Clearly, Wilkinson – and his political higher ups, do not want a climate accountability. They want the appearance of climate accountability. I predict it will be rushed through the House.  But I do have hopes for the Senate to take the time needed to actually listen to evidence.  Still, it would be best if an uproar from citizens chastens the Liberals and NDP to actually insist on a stronger bill.

The other news this week that left us flattened, all of us, was the discovery of the remains of 215 little children – killed by the Government of Canada and the Catholic Church at the Kamloops Residential School. Unanimously, all parties agreed to fast track Bill C-5, moving through several stages of the bill in several hours. On behalf of Greens, Jenica Atwin gave an incredibly powerful and emotional speech.  I am so proud of her. https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/sports/high-school/2.7227/mps-pass-bill-creating-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-1.24324274

Hope you all have a happy Sunday and a warm welcome to June. Wish me luck tomorrow in clause by clause!

Love,

Elizabeth

P.S. In case you missed it, here is a recording of our wonderful 10^th anniversary party!  Featuring Annamie Paul, David Suzuki, David Coon, Mike Schreiner, Lorna Crozier, Pat Carney, Cate May Burton and Sylvia Olsen and many more!!!

Feel free to share it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLDQZXqJtEY&t=10s

Subscribe to Good Sunday Morning at the Saanich-Gulf Islands Greens:
http://www.sgigreenparty.ca/

The post Good Sunday Morning – May 30 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Happy last day of Passover! Chag Pesach Sameach!

Happy Easter! Hallelujah!

And – believe it or not – Happy International Carrot Day!

Give your Easter bunny a carrot.

Sunday last week found me and about 120 others lined up against wind and rain on Dallas Road.  We were holding red ribbons in a thin red line to protect the Salish Sea from the planned increase in dilbit tankers due to TMX. There are currently three Aframax tankers a month out of the Port of Vancouver.  TMX will mean one a day. We must win this one and get TMX canceled. After all, we own it!

We were masked and at distance, but it was amazing how people can still be recognized. One of my favourite activist/heroes, Rose Henry, came along and greeted me with what was as close to a hug as possible from 6 feet away.  She was still laughing about her latest encounter with colonial government, in the form of premier John Horgan. Klasom Satlt’xw Losah Rose Henry is a strong indigenous woman, active on numerous fronts and causes, for the homeless, for salmon, against pipelines.  The Premier’s office let her know they were giving her an award – the Intercultural Trust Awards for “outstanding work in tackling systemic or institutional racism and reducing barriers for marginalized communities.”  https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021AG0036-000520

But due to COVID, there would be no ceremony. Fair enough. But maybe a virtual event? Something? No, they didn’t want her to pick up her award, so they left it for her at a local convenience store.  She was still laughing. “I guess John Horgan doesn’t want to hear what I think of him,” she said before heading to the legislature to support calls to end anti-Asian racism.

Last Saturday over one thousand old growth forest defenders gathered at the Victoria Legislature.  Greens were clear – with both Green MLAs, Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau and for the federal Greens, MP Paul Manly speaking to the crowd.   Paul has been to Fairy Creek in support of the blockade of some of Vancouver Island’s last standing old growth. Despite Horgan’s much vaunted commitments to old growth during the election campaign, this small patch of beautiful, old growth forest is about to be logged.

This week’s news was not unexpected.  On April 1, the court granted the forest company, Teal Jones, an injunction against the Fairy Creek protests.  Judge Verhoeven seems not to like the protesters, mentioning more than once in his decision that some refused to give their names, implying that they were bound to incite violent protests (without evidence) and throwing in for good measure that they use words like “war” and “battle.” I guess he missed the history of the “War in the Woods” for Clayoquot Sound.  The Clayoquot Peace Camp was intensely non-violent. Before standing on the line, every one of us had to go through training, to ignore taunts from loggers, not to yell back and to remain steadfastly peaceful.  I wish that evidence had been brought before him.  And I hope the peaceful protests and loose organization of old-growth defenders remain non-violent. Any protest grounded in principles of non-violent, civil disobedience is lost if it allows a single act of violence,

This is just a sample from his decision:

“The protestors and defendants are numerous, highly organized, and well-funded. They make extensive and sophisticated use of communications platforms, such as websites and social media, including Facebook and Twitter.”

I am amazed that he thinks posting on Twitter and FaceBook demonstrates vast sophistication and deep pockets.  Towards the end of his decision, he wrote:

“They have stated that Teal’s actions in seeking an injunction ‘will be met with resistance’. These are words that may incite violence. A Facebook posting of February 20, 2021, the day after the injunction application was served, seeks involvement of ‘people prepared to take Bold Action in a last stand for the Ancient forest campaign’. Some blockaders have already stated publicly that they will defy the Court’s order and go to jail if necessary.”

Yes, as Henry David Thorough went to jail.  As Gandhi went to jail.  As Martin Luther King went to jail. And as hundreds of activists out of the nearly one thousand Clayoquot Sound protesters went to jail.  All non-violent, accepting the consequences of civil disobedience.

The decision is amazing in highlighting one key fact I had missed.  According to Judge Verhoeven “the Fairy Creek watershed has a relatively small area of 1,199 hectares.”

And yet, despite the fact the total area of that TFL is over 45,500 hectares, Verhoeven found that the entire company’s survival, plus those of subcontractors and road builders, was in immediate peril, justifying the injunction:

“Teal employs approximately 450 people within its processing and manufacturing facilities. If Teal is unable to log within the area of TFL 46, it will not have an adequate timber supply for its mills. It may be forced to shut down its mills, resulting in layoffs of employees, and Teal’s inability to supply its customers. Teal estimates that the end product value of the products that it will produce from the timber sourced from TFL 46 is approximately $20 million. Teal stands to lose market share, and to suffer damage to its reputation as a reliable supplier of its products.”

An excellent review of the flaws in the injunction ruling can be found in “Focus on Victoria” by David Broadland:  https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/forests/44/

“Teal Cedar Products is the tenure holder of TFL 46, which the ministry of forests notes has 45,533 hectares of commercially operable forest land that Teal can log. The approved cut blocks in Fairy Creek Valley that citizens are impeding access to totals 20 hectares. That represents such a small fraction of the land Teal has access to, it’s hard to express: it’s just four-one-hundredths of one percent of the area Teal can clearcut. None of this was mentioned in Verhoeven’s judgment.”

Fundraising has begun for an appeal of the injunction ruling.

Support for the Fairy Creek blockaders is building. Resolutions have been passed to stop logging old growth by the municipalities of Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Powell River, Port Moody, and Victoria. Although not focused specifically on Fairy Creek, yesterday’s Globe and Mail has an excellent opinion piece from former NHL hockey star Scott Niedermayer calling for the protection of BC’s last old growth.  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-old-growth-forests-work-hard-for-us-now-we-need-to-work-for-them/

Scott Niedermayer’s article is a good launching place for letters to the Globe about Fairy Creek in particular. (Keep letters to 150 words: letters@globeandmail.com)

Meanwhile, as I mentioned in last week’s GSM, there is solid evidence of the suppression of science at DFO.  Dr. Kristi Miller-Saunders sent her information up the food chain to the minister’s office, with proof of diseases from Discovery Island aquaculture killing a large percentage of smolts. Someone up the chain of command kept it from ever reaching the minister’s desk. Alexandra Morton documented it in her special to the Globe and Mail. (again, good link to write a Letter to the Editor!)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/opinion/article-salmon-fisheries-threaten-bcs-wild-salmon-we-have-one-last-chance-to/?__twitter_impression=true&s=09

Some readers have asked me for a report on what the Supreme Court of Canada ruling on carbon pricing means for climate action. Others have asked what I think about vaccine roll-outs. Apologies for the way I write on a number of things, and not always systematically. Your feed back does help.  I am super grateful to the Saanich-Gulf Islands volunteers who format and send out the weekly newsletter and also those who read your messages and forward them to me!

I am very, very worried about the variants. And I am concerned that health information is not at all clear. Friends have asked if I have had my first dose of vaccine. The answer is “no, I am too young.”  I never thought at 66 there would be any question with that answer!

Stay safe. Take no chances!!  Please sign up for upcoming events on Old Growth and my nomination celebration. And enjoy the recorded webinar on what a climate budget might look like (at the end of this note)!

Lots of love!

Elizabeth

Here’s the link to the Time 4 Action webinar with Marc Lee and me  “Climate Crisis Federal Budget?”

Here is a link to the webinar:

https://youtu.be/UG4ycgI-zNg

 April 7

BC Greens Event- Saving our Ancient Forests!

Join leader Sonia Furstenau and MLA Adam Olsen, along with forestry experts, for a town hall event on April 7th from 7:00–8:15 PM PDT as they discuss the inherent value of our old-growth forests and what actions are needed to save them.

Register now

April 9 – For Saanich-Gulf Island Greens – Join me to celebrate!!

MY NOMINATION AS THE GREEN CANDIDATE FOR SAANICH-GULF ISLANDS!

Please join beloved author William Deverell, BC Green MLA Adam Olsen, and Elizabeth for a virtual wine and cheese to celebrate and have a fun evening!

WHEN:           Friday, April 9th, 2021, 07:00 PM Vancouver
WHERE:         Zoom
FEATURING:  Elizabeth May MP, William Deverell, and Adam Olsen MLA

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkf-uqpjgsHNVtIjxfVokS9Wm2tEZhyPXY

And please sign these petitions!

Stop weapons sales to Saudi Arabia (sponsor Jenica Atwin):

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3075

Insist on real climate action to hold to 1.5 degrees (sponsor Jenica Atwin):

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3221

Calling for meaningful action to address the housing crisis (sponsor Paul Manly):

NOTE:  TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SIGN!!!  https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3239

Focus on local violence prevention (sponsor Paul Manly):

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3218

Support for COVID “long-haulers” (sponsor: Elizabeth May):

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3229

Call for Ombudsperson investigation of Recon-Africa fracking plans for Okavango Delta (sponsor: Elizabeth May):

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3256

The post Good Sunday Morning – April 4 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Pockets of old growth are being discovered and documented by the organization that sponsored the meeting, Ancient Forest Alliance (www.ancientforestalliance.org). Ancient Forest Alliance is new on the scene, founded in January 2010 by Ken Wu. In less than a year it has grown quickly as an important voice in forest protection in BC.

What struck me about the AFA team was its idealism, its energy and its youth. For those of us who have been in conservation battles for decades, it was electrifying to listen to a new generation of young activists who are passionately committed to this land and its forests.

Adriane Carr, Paul George and I found it reminded us of ourselves in the mid-1980s fighting to protect Gwaii Haanas. Yet, these young activists have a different energy. Something hard to articulate is their knowingness—an awareness of the fact that the lines they draw in the sand are around tinier and tinier ecosystems.

As you read this I will be at the climate negotiations in Mexico, where the early dispatches of calls for action are from the global climate youth movement. Over 1,000 young people from forty countries have made their way to the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16). Youth are at the forefront of the call for global climate action.

The chair of COP proceedings has the discretion to recognize representatives of civil society. While there is no obligation to do this, UN practice allows two interventions a day from those not speaking for nation states. On the first day, youth demanded protection of global forests as carbon sinks. A young New Zealander, Emma Moon, spoke on behalf of global youth in demanding a proper classification system for forests, distinguishing between natural forests and plantations.

On the third day, youth took the stage again. One of my colleagues, Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu, who serves as climate critic in the Green Shadow Cabinet, is already in Mexico for the conference. She wrote that the youth provided ‘a moment of hope.’

A twenty-two-year old young woman, Hanna Smith of the UK, spoke on behalf of the UK Youth Climate Coalition. ‘We are reaching the end of the first (Kyoto) commitment periods, and we—the International Youth— are asking you to look beyond your national interests and towards the interests of us all as global citizens,’ Smith told UN leaders. The youth urged negotiators to take seriously the proposal from Grenada that emission reductions be made aggressive and sufficient to avoid a global average temperature increase of 1.5oC. According to Adriana, the youth were ‘broadly applauded.’

Meanwhile, closer to home, on October 21, United Nations Day, students from Salt Spring Island schools held the 5th Annual Children and Youth Peace Assembly. They launched the ‘peaceworks’ project asking all of us to sign on on-line to a ‘command statement’ calling on ‘the United Nations and all the governments of the world to bring world peace and the complete end to all wars on planet Earth by November 11, 2018—100 years to the day that the treaty to end all wars was signed (www.sd64.bc.ca).

Looking to our children for leadership is not really new.

We have embedded in our collective consciousness (regardless of religion) fragments from gospel (‘And a little child shall lead them…’), and song, (‘we rise again in the faces of our children’) But there is a peril in recognizing youth leadership. It lies in the generational cop-out: ‘these will be issues for the next generation. They will be wiser….’

Ending war, finding peace, eliminating poverty, saving what’s left of ancient forests and rare species, and weaning our addiction to fossil fuels are not issues with long time lines. The need for action is well past its ‘best before’ date.

We cannot abandon our children to solve these issues where we have failed. It is our responsibility as adults, no matter how grey our hair or aching our bones, to fight ever harder for our children’s future. It is in that compelling honesty of youth, in their energy and clear-eyed statements of the changes that must come, that we should find inspiration and resolve.

In the face of evidence to engender despair, it is the young who keep alive in us that most courageous of emotions—hope.

Elizabeth May is the leader of the Green Party of Canada and youth emeritus. For full disclosure, Ken Wu is also working part-time on her campaign to be elected as the MP for Saanich Gulf Islands.

The post The Place to Find Hope appeared first on Elizabeth May.