Youth X Movement Making
Movements don’t happen overnight. Before Fridays for Future gained traction around the world, Greta Thunberg was protesting alone in front of the Swedish Parliament. Here, in Canada, young Indigenous water activist Autumn Peltier was drawing attention to the water crisis that her Indigenous community was facing all on her own. Like these activists, other Canadian youth have been stirred by the climate crisis and have felt compelled to do something about it. These shared sentiments have brought Canadian youth together, and have helped shape the current climate movement. Although young people don’t have the wealth, or the networks, or the resources of their older counterparts, they’re armed with their voices and each-other, which is all a movement really needs if it’s going to spread like wildfire.
Meet the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition
Founded in 2006, The Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) is a nonprofit organization led by young Canadians who are united under the banner of climate action.
Together, these young Canadians work on the provincial, federal, and international level to advance climate solutions by organizing events and national projects.
CYCC is especially committed to climate justice and strives to bring the voices of the communities that are most affected by climate change to the forefront of the movement.
CYCC is part of the Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of Non-Government Organisations that work together on climate issues as a whole.
The network is unique for the way it brings organisations and groups with different backgrounds and climate goals together to fight for “sustainable development that leaves no one behind.”
As part of their work with CAN, CYCC has also taken part in the Ottawa Climate Strike, and events that have built on the growing movement for a Green New Deal for All in Canada (including a recent Canadian tour that included David Suzuki) .
To bring even more attention to the Green New Deal, CAN hosted over 150 town halls with more than 3000 participants (including youth!) across Canada in early summer 2019.
You can learn more about them by checking out http://www.ourclimate.ca, or www.climateactionnetwork.ca .
You can also stay up to date by following them on Facebook as @climate.action.network.canada or @ourclimateca , or on Twitter, @CanadianYCC or @CANRacCanada. You can also subscribe to Climate Action Network’s bilingual monthly newsletter, Climate Bulletin.
Photos by Nhattan Nguyen
