There’s a push from local youth to declare a climate emergency in Thunder Bay.
16-year-old Franny MacGregor is a grade 11 student at Hammarskjold High School, and helped organize a climate strike on the city’s north side to ask City Council to take action. The rally encouraged attendees to send a postcard to City Councillors asking them to sound the alarms about climate change.
“And after that, honestly, I believe that it’s not up to me to decide […] I believe that’s what the government is for, that they should be doing what’s best for the youth’s future.”
MacGregor says the environment is top-of-mind for her and other youth.
“As youth, we’re supposed to trust adults, and the government and big corporations,” she points out, “But right now they’re not really doing what needs to be done. So I had to take a stand and help [myself] have an actual future.”
The last major climate rally in the city was in late September. The high school student says the cold weather puts a damper on outdoor demonstrations, but she and other youth will keep meeting every Friday to brainstorm ways to push for action on climate change.
The Climate Strike movement was started by Swedish student activist Greta Thunberg.
