Posted July 7, 2015
A Guest Post by Diane Marshall
Thousands of people met Sunday, July 5, 2015, in Toronto at Queen’s Park (the location of the Ontario provincial legislative buildings) and walked to beautiful and historic Allen Gardens to advocate for “Jobs, Justice, and the Climate.”
Led by First Nation drumming, and praying to the Four Directions, people of all ages and diverse backgrounds came together to demonstrate their belief that “Canada is ready for an economy that creates good jobs for all, protects the air, land and water, and tackles climate change.”
The marchers represented organizations including Greenpeace, labour unions, university students, Stop Line 9 (pipeline carrying bitumen from the tar sands in Alberta), faith communities, and many others. I walked with the organization Just Earth.
Jane Fonda, Naomi Klein, and Bill McGibbon (of 350.org) spoke, as did labour and First Nations leaders. Themes of justice for Indigenous peoples – integrally related to environmental justice – were clear.
For me, honoring First Nation people and ensuring environmental justice is essential, especially if we claim to truly love this “blue dot” (what astronauts have called the earth from space, depicted in my poster above) we all call home.
