Brigette DePape

As a young person from Canada, it was really hard to be at the climate negotiations in South Africa and see our government, which is supposed to represent me and the people in Canada, being the greatest barrier to progress.
 On the first day of the summit, Canada announced it would abandon its commitment to Kyoto, the only legally binding treaty for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and opt instead for voluntary agreements. Instead of a guarantee for the safe and healthy planet that we need, the only guarantee from Harper’s climate policy is continued, unfettered pollution.

As a young person from Canada, it was really hard to be at the climate negotiations in South Africa and see our government, which is supposed to represent me and the people in Canada, being the greatest barrier to progress.
 On the first day of the summit, Canada announced it would abandon its commitment to Kyoto, the only legally binding treaty for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and opt instead for voluntary agreements. Instead of a guarantee for the safe and healthy planet that we need, the only guarantee from Harper’s climate policy is continued, unfettered pollution.
    The public condemnation of Canada by countries all over the world does not seem to faze Harper; the government’s top priority is to ensure profit for the corporate elites from the relentless mining of the Alberta tar sands. The exploitation of the tar sands causes the pollution of massive quantities of water and devastates communities downstream, especially indigenous communities that face high rates of cancer and deformities in the fish they eat.
    Our government is not only eroding our environmental and social fabric, but it is also threatening our global future. Climate scientist James Hansen calls the tar sands game-over for the climate. Desmond Tutu has called on Canada and other rich countries to drastically shift its ways to defend Earth  the only home we have  and to stand on the side of what is right.
    Instead of taking meaningful action to stop climate change, the Canadian government chooses to do the opposite  to fuel climate change working on behalf of oil and gas companies. The government is spending $1.4 billion subsidizing oil and gas developments; it has deregulated the tar sands, lobbied to weaken emissions reductions targets and used taxpayer’s money to derail progressive climate legislation in Europe and the US. It is also using false science with studies funded by oil and gas companies to promote the Canadian tar sands.
    This comes as a result of the cozy relations between government and industry, with corporations buying influence over our government while the rest of us are silenced. There are many influential corporate lobbies that influence the Canadian government, such as the military lobby, but the most powerful ones are finance, energy and natural resource corporations.
(www.canadiandimension.com/articles/1846)
    If our government wanted to avert renegade climate change, it would make a dramatic shift to end subsidies to oil companies, stop new oil and gas development and new pipelines and make investments in green and just jobs.
    The majority of Canadians care deeply about the environment, yet Canada’s government is the biggest block to progress. The Harper government is failing to represent us. As the government tries to silence dissenting voices, we must persevere; we must be louder.
    While I am deeply heartbroken by what the Harper government is doing inside these negotiations, I am inspired by the other young people and frontline communities across Canada working on the outside. People from all over the world are building the global movement for climate justice, working not for polluters, but for the people and our planet.
   Brigette DePape, is the former Parliamentary page who controversially quit in public protest to the Harper’s government’s election last May. In the family prophetic tradition, this Manitoba native is related to Bishop Remi De Roo whose mother was a DePape.