In 85 cities, all across Canada, residents participated in a Fridays For Future “Climate Strike” on May 3 - protesting the inaction of governments in dealing with the threat of climate change.
Climate Strikes also took place around the world, in more than 70 countries - including Australia, the U.S., Mexico, Mauritius, Chile and India.
Bradford was one of the Canadian communities participating in the “Strike”, thanks to Natalie Swaak, Executive Director of Parents4Future Canada. Swaak registered the municipality as an official protest site, then contacted friends and family, and brought her two children, 4-year-old Jan and 6-year-old Arianna, to the BWG Leisure Centre, to "strike."
“We’ve been doing the strikes in Toronto, taking the train down,” said Swaak. “I decided to bring it back to my home town.”
After all, Bradford is largely a bedroom community, she noted. “As a commuter town, we depend on commuting to work. There will be a day when we will be forced to stop using fossil fuels. If we don’t plan around that, the future of our jobs will be at stake,” Swaak said.
The impact of climate change – from less predictable weather patterns, to more intense storms and flooding, to rising sea levels – have led to declarations of a global “climate emergency.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has called for extraordinary efforts to limit the rise in global average temperature to no more than 1.5 degree C.
Noting that the average temperature has already increased by 1 degree C, linked to greenhouse gas emissions, Swaak called on Canadian politicians to act – and, in this election year, voters to choose “the Federal Election candidates who are serious about climate change.”
It was a small group that turned out to protest on Friday. Swaak, her children, and two friends stood in front of the Leisure Centre, holding signs.
But plenty of people stopped to talk. “I was hearing from all of the people wo are unhappy with the Ford government cuts to the environment, and to social services and education,” Swaak said. Others worried about the impact of a changing world and changing climate on their children – like Jan and Arianna.
Asked about her sign, which read, “No Planet B” – a reference to a 'Plan B' – Arianna said, “Mom made the sign.”
“You helped,” said Swaak.
Undeterred by the small turnout, she issued an invitation to the community to come out and protest for the planet at the next International Climate Strike Day, May 24, from noon to 1 p.m. at the BWG Leisure Centre.
Fridays For Future is a grassroots movement that was started 2018 by 15-year old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg. Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for 3 weeks, to protest the lack of action on climate change, then decided to continue her “strike” every Friday, until the Swedish government agreed to take action in keeping with the Paris Accord.
The first Fridays for Future Canada strike was held on Nov. 2, 2018, in Sudbury, Swaak noted – and the movement has continued to grow. On March 15, Canadian youth in 92 cities participated in a Climate Strike, demanding action on climate change.
She's hoping that the next time she and her friends hold up their signs, they'll be joined by more concerned residents.
For more information, contact [email protected], or check out Parents for Future Canada on Facebook.
