On September 27, the wider Montreal community gathered again to march throughout the city demanding better solutions to the climate crisis. This marked the fifth anniversary of the 2019 Montreal climate march that brought together 500,000 people, including Greta Thunberg.
Under the collective of Pour la suite du monde, nearly two dozen Quebec cities took part in climate marches alongside Montreal. Over 50 organizations, seeking to bring forth democratic solutions to the pressing environmental concerns, were represented at the Montreal climate march as well. Many McGill student activists participated in the march, bringing self-made banners and chanting for change.
The McGill contingent gathered on campus by the McConnell Engineering Building around 4:30 p.m., hosting conversation circles and giving speeches, before marching down Sherbrooke Street and Parc Ave. By 6 p.m., they joined the broader Montreal community at the George-Étienne Cartier monument in Mont-Royal Park.
“We want to see more climate justice mobilizing on campus, and we’re coming together to join this significant Quebec-wide day of mobilization,” U2 History student Rebecca Hamilton said. Activists in Quebec are asking for a social ecological transition, one form of action within a broader environmental citizen movement, anchored in principles such as collaboration, sustainability, decentralization and self- management. In a press release from Pour la suite du monde, the group stated that they requested to meet and discuss with the Quebec government this past May in order to determine “actions in favor of a real social and environmental transition.” However, they have been left with no answers to date.
“The politicians are just dragging their feet and aren’t implementing [their promise], and we’re fed up with that lack of action and are coming together to build a new balance of power. We’re trying to contribute to that movement the best that we can from McGill today,” Hamilton added.
During the rally before the march, speakers representing McGill student advocacy groups condemned McGill’s direct investments in the fossil fuel industry. Although McGill has promised to divest from companies on the Carbon Underground 200 list by 2025, it will continue to invest in environmentally destructive companies like TC Energy.
“We also critique McGill’s existing sustainability initiatives, in particular, the New Vic project, where McGill has constantly refused to listen to the demands of the Mohawk Mothers to properly investigate potential unmarked graves on the site,” one of the speakers said in their speech.
Ahead of this year’s Climate March, Divest McGill earned a hard-fought victory after 11 years of student organizing. They succeeded in making McGill’s Board of Governors promise divest from direct investments in fossil fuel companies by the end of 2024.
“This is a big win, but there is more that we can do. We must continue to hold our university accountable for their lack of action to address the climate emergency and demand that they cut their ongoing ties with the industries and institutions that harrow our planet and fellow human beings,” a speaker said in their speech, “Our campaign for divestment from fossil fuels has shown us that the only way we can change things at McGill is through sustained student activism.”
U4 Sustainability, Science, and Society student Annelies Koch-Schulte was among the demonstrators Friday afternoon. She has been actively participating in gatherings and protests related to climate and environmental change for the past five years. Koch- Schulte shared that her mindset as an activist has shifted over time. Stepping down from hot-blooded frontline rallying to raise awareness for climate change by demanding new policy, she came to this year’s climate change march in hopes of solidifying an activist community at McGill and finding support in her own work of sustainability.
Koch-Schulte was glad to see the mobilization of student organizers, and the change they have brought in the past 10 years, but she believes that it is important to address questions like “What do we want activism on campus to look like?” or “What principles do we want it to be founded upon?” She wants to help student activists find their bearings, know who they are, and believe in their place in this field of work.
“It’s a feeling of hope and courage for future activists because it’s generations of students who work towards the same goal,” Koch-Schulte said, “There’s definitely a feeling of solidarity that comes from knowing that you are picking up the work of students that have come before you. I think that that is a really meaningful thing to be part of, that passing of the torch of activism on campus.”
After McGill’s announcement to divest from their investments in fossil fuel companies, student climate change activists are hoping to shift the trajectory of current protests and gatherings.
“We were focused on calling out the issues and identifying what the problems are… Now, we have a consensus that climate change is a problem, and it’s become a lot more nuanced, a lot more critical and a lot more interconnected with a lot of other social services movements, which I think is a really good step for it to be taken,” Koch-Schulte said. She added that it’s important to still be protesting to show people that these issues matter just as much as they did years ago.
There is a consensus in student activist groups that a solution lies in systemic change. Hamilton said that the climate movement for so long has been focused on individual actions. This has changed the narrative from climate action as something that can create a more equal and affordable society to an elitist movement because a lot of individual actions are more expensive and take a lot more effort to do.
“Most people’s number one priority in choosing what food to eat isn’t whether it’s plastic. It’s about whether it’s cheap. I think that we all lose if the climate movement focuses on narratives that perpetuate this sense of being an elitist [movement],” Hamilton said.
Various students came from the Students Strike for Palestine Organisation to advocate for Palestinian liberation alongside environmental protection. McGill student Carina believes that both issues are connected through the concept of extraction that encourages the exploitation of natural resources and reinforces colonial mindsets.
“The tie between the two of them is the legacy of imperialism and capitalism,” she said. “Once you see those connections between the layers of oppression and extractivism [for] any marginalized group, including the environment, it’s hard to look away and you can see the interconnectedness of all of these movements.”
Throughout the march, students chanted “Water is life, water is sacred, stop the pipeline, stop the hatred!” on their way to the George- Étienne Cartier monument.
Relating to the chant, another McGill attendee, Sebastian, condemned the Canadian government for constructing the Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia.
“It violates every single aspect of Indigenous sovereignty over those lands. On the other hand, there’s already been leaks in the construction of it,” he said. “It’s not like it’s just a question of private interests and businesses… The entire Canadian government, the state, it’s completely complicit in it and of course, the corporations involved have the politician’s ears.”
While progress has been made worldwide in the 5 years since Thunberg marched alongside Montrealers, such as a decreasing global dependency on fossil fuels, Carina said activists continue to push for change by protesting as these issues persist.
“There’s been victories and some milestones, specifically the climate movement, [but] I also think that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” she said. “There’s structural issues, systemic issues … root issues that haven’t changed.”
A first-year McGill student, who chose to remain anonymous, said the march was the first climate- related strike they had attended at McGill. As a result, they felt compelled to get involved out of concern for their future and that of following generations. They emphasized the role of youth in climate activism, explaining that many young people get involved because the issues at hand directly threaten them, and action must take place to prevent it.
“I felt like I would regret it if I didn’t come,” they said. “The youth are the future – who else is going to be involved?”
Veteran student organizers like Hamilton and Koch-Schulte are hopeful for a better activist environment on the McGill campus in the future. Hamilton calls on students with interests in environmentalism and sustainability to get involved.
“It can feel isolating to just be learning in classes about ecological devastation and to feel rage at the small group of decision-makers that […] let destruction to people and the planet happen. But by coming together, we can feel hope,” she said. “It feels really good to be part of something bigger than yourself.”
“Your life is your moment in the sunshine where you have the opportunity to make change. It’s on all of us to use that sunshine and take that unique opportunity that is being you, and use it to the best of your abilities to make things better. [This is] a beautiful moment to make change,” Koch- Schulte concluded.