Lower Mainland Residents to take Direct Action Against Climate Catastrophe Saturday!

While witnessing more obstruction from the federal government at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, residents of the Lower Mainland will be taking matters into their own hands.

Direct Action Against Climate Change
Saturday December 11th @ 12 noon
Waterfront Skytrain Station (Howe Street exit – Howe at W. Cordova)

While Canadian environment minister John Baird has called for "all oars in the water" to address climate change at the Cancun talks, his government’s actions indicate that they are throwing down an anchor to stop any progress. “If Canada’s intentions here were truly to address emissions he wouldn’t be killing Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding agreement we have,” explains Council of Canadians climate campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue from Cancun, Mexico.

"This is why people in the Lower Mainland will be taking action and not waiting for the government to act," says Surrey Council of Canadians member Karin Johnson. Over 75 people gathered Tuesday evening at SFU Harbour Centre for Metro Vancouver’s first ‘People’s Assembly on Climate Justice’. The participants are determined to build the movement here through an ongoing series of such meetings combined with dramatic actions to highlight their demand for Climate Justice. This Saturday will be the first such mass direct action.

“We have all been sandbagged on climate change by the Harper government – and the provincial government as well. Now is the time to turn the tables on the climate criminals,” said Johnson.

Following an action in October where sandbags filled from the South Fraser Freeway pre-load were used to raise a North Surrey dike, it is anticipated that one or more downtown locations will be the target this time.

“We are going to have to turn up the heat, if we are going to turn down the heat,” Delta Council of
Canadians member Bob Ages told the gathering. “We will follow in the footsteps of the thousands in the civil rights movement who engaged in peaceful civil disobedience and would not back down in their fight for justice. Is the survival of humanity itself a cause any less worthy of our support and commitment?”

Speakers at Saturday’s action will include Harold Steves, the former MLA credited with creating the Agricultural Land Reserve which is now threatened by massive freeway projects. He will be joined by Irene Lazinger, past president of the BC Teachers Federation and newly elected secretary-treasurer of the BC Federation of Labour.

The BC Federation of Labour Convention last week adopted a resolution condemning the Senate’s killing of the Climate Change Accountability Act and supporting the movement for Climate Justice. Ms. Lazinger declared, “Our delegates’ overwhelming support for the resolution on Climate Justice marks an important new stage in labour’s active engagement in this crucial struggle to save the planet.”

Inspired by the April 2010 World’s People Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights in Cochabamba, Bolivia – attended by over 30,000 - the Climate Justice Movement brings together environmentalists, social justice advocates, labour unions and indigenous communities in common cause.

The Assembly and Mass Direct Action are organized by three Lower Mainland chapters of the Council of Canadians, the Canada-Bolivia Solidarity Committee and GatewaySucks.org.