Inspiring rally in Ottawa tarnished by 'outrageous' protesters

AFTER 26 hours on a bus — with 40 other environmentally-conscious youth — I arrived in Ottawa last weekend for the largest climate change conference in Canadian history. More than 1,000 youth from across Canada gathered in Ottawa for "Power Shift," an import­ant and timely con­ference on climate change action. I also participated in the "Fill the Hill" rally on Parliament Hill with thousands of other Canadians as part of 350.org’s Internation­al Day of Climate Ac­tion on Oct. 24.

It was my first time participating in a social action conference and rally and the whole weekend was inspiring and educational. We met with youth from all the provinces and territories to share ideas and learn what we can do to lobby our government and community to take action on climate change.

We heard from the Canadian Youth Delegation to Copenhagen and shared ideas and strategies on how to effect change and be heard, in addition to attending sessions with motivating leaders and activists in the environmental movement.

After the exciting rally on Parliament Hill and weekend workshops, we met with members of Parliament to discuss climate change and other environmental issues. Youth then met with their MPs on Monday and attended question period in the House of Commons. I felt like we had an effective meeting and made some progress in our goals of government action on climate change.

In the middle of question period, several participants in the Power Shift conference abruptly disrupted Parliament by shouting "Vote yes on Bill C-311" from the visitors' gallery. The rest of us sitting side by side were not informed of this planned action.

Despite the fact of the illegal act of only a few who disrupted Parliament, all 150 of us were blamed and removed from Parliament after this incident. The majority removed from question period had met in a democratic fashion with their respective MPs that day.

This outrageous action during question period slanted and tarnished the image of youth and detracted from the meetings held with members of Parliament that day.

I was satisfied after meeting with my MP, Anita Neville, and felt it was a constructive act of demonstrating my views. Meeting in a formal setting with the older generation of government officials gave us the opportunity to present ourselves as intelligent, engaged youth.

Those who demonstrated illegally in the House of Commons only add to the generational gap between politicians and youth, and provide material for the biases and stereotypes that often are used to characterize young people in our country today.

The progress and credibility gained from the meetings with MPs and the promises made to us lost impact by this action of a few.

The extreme demonstrations of a few youth in Parliament generated significant media attention, as was the desired result behind these disruptive actions.

As a spectator present in the House of Commons, I want to express my disdain for the illegal methods and on-camera conflict used to get people to notice the environmental issues facing our country and the world.

I did my lobbying the right way, democratically, lawfully and intelligently while those who undemocratically expressed their opinions were the ones being noticed.

If we truly live in a free, democratic country it is those who uphold the values of democracy and the power of laws who should be heard. Action and decisions should be made based upon our voices.

My disappointment also extends to some members of Parliament who responded during question period to the outspoken environmentalists by shouting back "send up the next one," as protesters began to stand up in the viewing gallery one by one and shout.

If we cannot even rely on our elected officials to act civilly in Parliament and behave in a democratic fashion, as youth, what reason do we have to vote, what reason do we have to care?

Evan Marantz is a Grade 12 student at Grant Park High School and a leader of the student environment committee.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 31, 2009 H11