Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Canadian Youth Climate Coalition kicked off its Canadian "Power Summer" project in Yellowknife this Friday, and held an "Arctic camp" for Canadian youth with the goal of seeking "climate justice" for the North while promoting awareness of Arctic climate change to Canadians.

Daniel T'seleie is a co-ordinator with the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition and helped organize the coalition's Arctic camp which promoted awareness of Arctic climate change to youth from across Canada. The camp was held in Yellowknife from July 8-10. - Sarah Ferguson/NNSL photo

Cameron Fenton, national director for the coalition, says the "Power Summer Arctic Camp," which ran from July 8-10 is one of six camps being held across Canada this summer to train approximately 200 young Canadians in a variety of education, environmental advocacy and leadership skills.

"So far, we have about 20 youth from across the country registered for the Yellowknife camp," said Fenton last Wednesday.

"We aren't receiving any Arctic-specific funding for the camp, but we are getting help from our national sponsors, and we have partnered with the Centre for Northern Families who are letting us use their space, and giving material support to the camp," he added.

Daniel T'seleie, a co-ordinator with the coalition who is based in Yellowknife is also a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation to the United Nations, and said organizers put out a special call to youth in smaller Northern communities to attend the camp this year, but acquiring transportation from those communities was a stumbling block.

"We have tried to get people out from places like Lutsel K'e, but transportation is an issue; we would hope to be able to bring more of the smaller community residents into Yellowknife," he said.

T'seleie said the camp's call for Northern 'climate justice' is an approach to global climate concerns where climate change is treated as a human rights issue, not just a scientific or political one.

"Climate justice is based on the idea that climate change affects the world's populations as well as the planet," said T'seleie.

"It's very important that we hold the camp in Yellowknife; the North is the 'canary in the mineshaft' when it comes to global climate change; the population of the North is more directly affected (by climate change) than the rest of Canada," T'seleie said.

"The Arctic has been warming approximately two times faster than the rest of the globe since the 1950s; the planet has warmed by 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past century, but the Arctic has recorded an over 2.5 degree increase in that same time frame," said T'seleie.

Fenton said that the coalition's 'Power Summer' camps will also be held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Ontario, Halifax and Quebec.

He said the Yellowknife workshop wasn't a typical one.

"We are taking a hands-on approach to learning about the climate change issue and hope to meet with local people (to talk about the environment), but we are also placing a strong emphasis on leadership training and taking action because the federal government is ignoring the issue of climate change on a monumental level," T'seleie said.

"It's like beating your head into a wall trying to get government officials to talk (about global climate change)."

"We are stressing that youth take proactive approaches like letter writing campaigns or leading protests; no change to human society can occur without some form of disobedience; this is not just a government or a science issue- it's a social justice issue," said T'seleie.

"The North feels the (effects of climate) change directly; the ice is melting, animals are gradually dying out and the changing climate has also affected the migration of the caribou, which are an important source of food for many people here," T'seleie said.

A report issued by the International Arctic Science Committee states that climate-induced changes to the tundra will cause area vegetation to shift northward, reducing the forging grounds available to caribou, T'seleie said.

"The result will threaten the nutrition of many Northern people in the years to come."

"People down south can remain detached from the realities (of climate change) because they don't see the effects of it directly, but up here, it's very obvious that climate change may threaten the Northern peoples' way of life in the future," he said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.