Hundreds of thousands march in climate strikes across Canada
Activist Greta Thunberg met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss Canada's fight against climate change
Marches for the Global Climate Strike movement drew hundreds of thousands of Canadians as Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist that has been leading these Friday protests, sat down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal to discuss the impacts of climate change.
Friday's climate strike comes after the United Nations held an emergency climate summit on September 23 and the Global Climate Strike website says that these strikes aim to “kickstart renewed action [on climate change] all over the world.”
Thunberg spoke to the large crowd before the march began alongside Indigenous groups, who she invited to lead the march with her because "they are often the ones who are at the front line" of climate change.
During the Montreal march against climate change, Thunberg called on Canada to protect the environment and said that her message to politicians is "listen to the science, act on the science."
Some school districts, such as those in Vancouver, are allowing students to attend the strike if they have been given parental permission. Several Canadian retailers, including Indigo Books & Music Inc., MEC, and Lush Cosmetics will be closing at 5:00 p.m. on Friday to give staff the option to participate in the marches.
The marches come just days after the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new climate report that warns of a potentially devastating future for Canada's coastlines, with impacts including warmer oceans, damaging floods, and shrinking glaciers.
See below for a look at the climate strikes across Canada.
People take part in a climate change strike in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets Swedish climate change teen activist Greta Thunberg before a climate strike march in Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Andrej Ivanov
With files from Global News and Reuters.
