Charlottetown climate march draws large crowd

By Sam Arseneau

Demonstrators at the PEI Climate March (Photo credits: Sally Cole)

As part of global demonstrations, a crowd of people, including UPEI students, gathered in front of Province House to hold a “Global Strike for Climate” rally.

People participating in the rally held signs and chanted for change as the walked around downtown Charlottetown. After the march, everyone gathered in the back lawn of Province House and speeches were made. Many students, from middle school to post-secondary schools, made speeches on climate-change on the steps of Province House.

The hope of the demonstrators is that by rallying at Province House government officials in their offices would be able to see and hear the event. This event also gave people of all ages the opportunity to have their voices heard.

One UPEI student, Katelyn Ford, who attended the Global Strike on Friday had some insights about the event.

“Considering how small PEI is it was inspirational to see the number of people, young and old, that attended the Climate Strike on September 27th. Climate Change is a very real issue and the more we speak up and educate people about it the better the outcome will be. We have the power to change this and to act now, not later,” she said.

Continuing into October and November there will be similar events every Friday, as a part of what is called “Friday’s for Future.” This is a part of a worldwide youth movement with the same name.