Dozens of community members – and people from as far as St. Catharines – braved the cold, wet weather Saturday afternoon to show their support for climate action, in light of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP27.
Held from Nov. 6 to Nov. 18 in Egypt, the conference see’s countries come together to take action towards achieving the goals under the Paris Agreement, and declared Nov. 12 a Global Day of Action.
The rally was organized by KAIROS Guelph, a faction of the national organization that advocates for ecological justice and human rights.
KAIROS Chair Liz Snell said there were marches and rallies happening around the world in honour of the day, “so we thought we better do something.”
“This is an urgent issue,” said Snell’s co-chair John Lawson.
“We need to keep on it at many levels,” he said. “Federally, locally, provincially. Everybody needs to start getting behind this, otherwise there won’t be the momentum to make the changes that need to be made.”
He said that he never knows how many people are going to come out to show support, especially on colder days.
“But I can tell you that every time I come to something like this, I feel like I’m not alone, both in my concerns as well as in my determination to walk together,” he said.
“It seems to me, we don’t know what difference one action makes. I think of you, and I think of that picture of Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament by herself. We know what a difference she has made of mobilizing young people and shaming adults into more action. So we’re here today, we’re not large, but we’re here to witness that butterfly effects do happen.”
The primary focus was on stopping fuel extraction expansion, though the Greenbelt was brought up several times, including by MPP Mike Schreiner, who said it’s crucial to “stop Greenbelt highways like the 413” and “tell Doug Ford ‘hands off our greenbelt.’”
“We saw over the last 10 days or so that people power will force this government to back down,” Schreiner said, referencing CUPE’s response to Bill 28. “Now we have to stand up for the land that we love, the land that protects us.”
The organizers said that by having rallies like this, they hope to prompt political action by showing those in power where citizen priorities are. Schreiner agreed.
“Please get involved, because the only thing that’s going to stop that force is people power. And that’s all of us,” he said.
