Millions of children and students across the globe have been striking on Fridays to demand action on the climate crisis from all levels of government and civil society. The international Fridays for Future movement, sparked by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg’s one-person protest, has gained widespread support from youth in Canada.
Long before that, young Indigenous people from communities severely affected by climate and ecological breakdown have been courageously speaking up. Autumn Peltier, for example, from Wikwemikong Unceded Territory, started advocating for safe drinking water and clean waterways in 2013, at the age of eight. She addressed the UN General Assembly last year at age 13 and, earlier this year, was named chief water commissioner by Anishinabek Nation.
Young climate activists are now calling on people of all ages to join them in a week of Global Climate Strikes from September 20 – 27.