There was no shortage of perspectives as protesters barged into a climate change town hall at Harcourt United Church Thursday evening.
The event, hosted by MP Lloyd Longfield, saw approximately 260 community members gather as Grade 10 students from the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) at the Upper Grand District School Board questioned Longfield, MPP Mike Schreiner and Mayor Cam Guthrie on how the three levels of government are doing their part to battle climate change.
“‘When Indigenous lands are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back!’” yelled a dozen protesters as they walked in and held signs that read ‘extinction rebellion’ and 'Canada is a colonial state' among others.
Longfield said the protests are part of democracy and it makes sense for students to lead the program so the community can focus its efforts on providing solutions for the youth in the community and hear directly from them on where there needs to be improvements. He said the concerns held at the town hall would directly be taken to parliament to discuss environmental issues within the community of Guelph.
“We shouldn’t be fighting with each other, we should be fighting climate change,” said Longfield about working with the provincial and municipal government on several issues.
Guthrie championed active transportation along with clean energy initiatives offered by the city.
“We made a commitment to become that zero-carbon community by 2050 or sooner with a corporate goal of being 100 per cent renewable,” said Guthrie.
Guthrie added that the city is measuring its numbers to prove that changes are being made in the city.
Schreiner said the three levels of government work very together to promote Guelph as a destination for cleantech investment.
“We have a community that recognizes the connection between climate action and job creation,” said Schreiner.
While many answers from the politicians were applauded and booed, some felt the politicians were not doing enough.
“I think the idea was right to get the awareness out but I think the problem was we talked a lot about what we are doing and not a lot about what we could be doing,” said student Abigail Mason, participant of CELP and also organizer of the Youth Climate Strike that took place in City hall on Feb. 7.
Mason said it was powerful for protesters to protest in an area where community members and politicians were present.
The three politicians said they will continue to work together and listen to any issues community members have.
“These are very valuable sessions for us to have as politicians, so when we set policy, our policy reflects the need of the community,” said Longfield.
