Canadian climate movement on the move!
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Dear
fellow climate defenders,
I just
wanted to let you know about some of the exciting developments here in Canada.
Last year’s day of action in Canada saw support of 4 organizations (ACT for the
Earth, Greenpeace, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, and the Canadian Peace
Alliance). There were actions in 6 cities.
This
year has seen the emergence of Stop Climate Chaos Canada as a truly national
presence, with an unprecedented alliance of close to 30 organizations, networks,
and coalitions. The call to action for December 8 has garnered the support of
many of Canada’s leading labour unions, environmental groups, and other civil
society organizations. And every week we are receiving confirmations of actions
in additional cities. There are now 15 cities with actions being organized for
December 8 in Canada, nearly 3 times the number of last year, and covering all
ten provinces, from coast to coast. Significantly, many of the national
organizations have made commitments, which they are following through on to
mobilize their members to take to the streets on December
8.
Most
recently, the December 8 day of action has been endorsed by the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (the CEP), which represents hundreds of
thousands of workers in the oil, gas, and forestry sectors. The total membership
of the organizations, coalitions, and networks now supporting D8 in Canada, may
well exceed 5 million people. What this will translate to in terms of numbers in
the streets remains to be seen, but we have made huge strides here in the last
few months, and have a great deal to build on beyond December
8.
We also
have the support of the Canadian Peace Alliance (Canada’s umbrella peace
coalition), the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (Canada’s national
coalition opposing genetically modified organisms, agrofuels, etc), enviro
groups like Greenpeace, the Canadian Federation of Students,
Association québécoise
de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique & Coalition Québec Kyoto (the
Quebec coalitions that brought over 40,000 people into the streets in Montreal
for the 2005 UN climate conference), to name just a few of the local and
national organizations supporting D8 in Canada.
In Ottawa, we will
also be holding a series of climate vigils during the Bali conference (both in
the lead up to, and following D8) at the Prime Minister’s Office. These and
other actions will be crucial to keep the Bali negotiations in the Canadian
media, as we have had word that there won’t be any Canadian journalists present
in Bali. In contrast the Canadian delegation of environmentalists will include
at least 40 people that we know of (30 of them from the Canadian Youth Climate
Coalition).
We will also soon have
an online video to promote D8… more on this soon. For more information on all of
these developments (and more) see the Stop Climate Chaos coalition website
below.
In
solidarity,
Dylan
Penner
ACT for
the Earth & Stop Climate Chaos – Canada
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