'Action is inevitable': Activists rally for stronger climate response
Thousands of people attended a climate rally in Vancouver on Friday to demand an urgent government response to climate change.
Vancouver Climate Strike organizers planned a march that began outside Vancouver City Hall and ended at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Protestors and event speakers such as Severn Cullis-Suzuki, the executive director of the David Suzuki Foundation, pointed to this summer’s devastating wildfire season in Canada.
“No one can deny climate change is here, it’s happening,” Cullis-Suzuki said. “We’re being affected and the cost is so huge. I think action is inevitable, it’s just a matter of when.”
'I WAS LOOKING FOR HOPE'
Many who took part in the rally told CTV News that being part of the movement helped to alleviate their climate anxieties.
“I was looking for hope and looking to feel not alone,” said Tesicca Truong. “We’re taking over the streets. It’s such a metaphor, so it's a really powerful experience being here.”
In a media release issued Friday, Vancouver Climate Strike activists called on the federal government to implement a "strong, fair emissions cap with no further delays" as MPs return to parliament on Monday, and ahead of the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Ambition Summit.
"The emissions policy was first promised by the Liberals more than two years ago, and the cap has been delayed again and again amid intense industry lobbying," organizers said.
Both Truong and Cullis-Suzuki said they want to see a transition away from fossil fuels to green, renewable energy.
Environment Minister George Heyman said the province is working on it.
“The government has a plan to reduce our emissions, as well as to work globally with other nations to cut down the sources of emissions and transition to all the opportunities that renewable energy and a cleaner economy brings all of us,” Heyman said.
The climate rally was part of the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels and Fridays for the Future movement, which will see thousands of climate activists protest worldwide this weekend.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6877535.1715120774!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Senior charged in shooting of teen on rural property north of Edmonton
A Sturgeon County man has been charged after he allegedly shot a teen over the weekend.
Altercation between 'numerous' golfers on B.C. course broken up by RCMP
Authorities broke up an altercation involving "numerous" golfers at a course in B.C.'s Lower Mainland over the weekend – an incident that was apparently prompted by serious breaches in etiquette.
'He was bigger than life': Former broadcaster Scott Boyd dies at 68
Former Breakfast Television co-host and radio broadcaster Scott Boyd has died at the age of 68.
Judge grants U of T injunction to clear pro-Palestinian encampment from downtown Toronto campus
An Ontario judge has granted the University of Toronto an injunction allowing it to clear out a pro-Palestinian encampment from its downtown Toronto campus
RFK Jr. says he has 'skeletons in my closet' after sexual assault allegation
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday he has 'so many skeletons in my closet,' when asked about an allegation in a Vanity Fair article that he sexually assaulted a former family babysitter.
Eastern Ontario doctor accused of killing four patients acquitted of murder charges, negligence
An eastern Ontario doctor facing four charges of first-degree murder and negligence causing death in connection with the deaths of four seniors at a Hawkesbury hospital was acquitted on all charges at the Ottawa courthouse on Tuesday.
Ontario police seize over $1M in cocaine, $300K in cash in major drug bust
Police in Cornwall, Ont. have seized approximately $1.3 million worth of cocaine and $300,000 in cash as part of a major drugs investigation.
Are fewer Canadians having children? We want to hear from you
Are you choosing not to have children? CTVNews.ca wants to hear from you.
NHL free agency shows teams in U.S. states with no income tax have an advantage
It's become difficult to deny the impact of favourable tax situations for teams around the NHL.