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Youth speak out at climate summit

Kevin Allerston
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 16, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Youth from across the North and the rest of Canada gathered at Northern United Place last week to discuss climate change.

From Nov. 10 to 12, the Young Leaders Summit on Northern Climate Change 2011 brought approximately 35 young people to the church auditorium to share their stories about climate change and the impacts they have seen.

The youth formed groups where they worked on five multimedia presentations that will likely appear on YouTube and even at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Germany, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 10.

Hannah Latour, a Grade 11 student at St. Patrick High School, found out about the summit while volunteering with Ecology North.

"I thought it would be a good experience and I applied. I'm meeting lots of new people and hearing what they have to say about climate change and how it's affecting their lives," said Latour.

"I guess the projects are sort of conclusion things about what we've learned, what we want to do, and I think they will be good teaching tools in the future and will be shown at other events," said Latour.

She and other participants seemed to be in agreement that different levels of government and industry need to do more to lower carbon emissions, such as discontinue subsidies for companies that pollute.

Dawn Tremblay, who works with Ecology North and helped organize the summit, said she is impressed by the work and ideas put forward by the youth.

"I feel like what stuck out most was the hope that all the young leaders felt after having come together to learn about climate change and what they would have to do for the future," said Tremblay.

"I would just say, 'Watch out, we've got some amazing young people coming through and their voices are going to be heard,'" said Tremblay.

Much of the discussion focused around the oil sands in Alberta, but there was also concerns raised about the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project.

"I think that Yellowknifers and all NWT residents need to pay attention ... The water, it flows north so we have to pay attention to what's happening in Fort Chipewyan," said Tremblay of the oil sands. "It will creep closer and closer so we can't ignore it."

She described concerns about the pipeline as a "general fear" among the summit participants about the effect it will have on the ecology of the North.

Daniel T'seleie, a Yellowknife resident and co-ordinator with the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Yellowknife, said people need action that goes beyond lifestyle changes.

"We really need transformation change at a larger level in society and need leadership from individuals and government," said T'seleie.

He said the summit was a success, something he attributes to the youth participants and Tremblay and Jennifer Dagg of the Pembina Institute, who were the main organizers for the three-day event.

Clayton Thomas-Muller, the "tar sands" campaigner with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said market-based solutions such as a carbon tax and other incentives are not the solution because they are still market-based.

"It's a little like having a fox guarding a coop of chickens," said Thomas-Muller.

"This waterway that Yellowknife sits on is connected through the Mackenzie River basin all the way to Lake Athabasca, which is connected to the Athabasca River which flows through the heart of the tar sands," said Thomas-Muller. "Already, communities 250 km downstream like Fort Chipewyan are experiencing extremely elevated rates of cancers, which many people attribute to the long-term exposure to tar sands toxins that are coming into their food system," he said.

"I'm very inspired. The youth leaders are all at different stages in understanding and getting politicized," he said.

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