By Ani Terton

Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation staged a walk out today as Environment Minister, Peter Kent delivered his opening address at the United Nations climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa. Just as Kent began his speech, six youth stood and turned away from the Minister revealing the message “Turn your back on Canada” prominently displayed on their shirts. After standing for a few minutes, while Peter Kent spoke, representatives from the Canadian Youth Delegation were removed by security as the plenary applauded their action.

Our so-called Environment Minister entered these talks by going on record that he would be defending the tar sands. I have yet to hear him say that he’s here to defend my future.

By stalling international progress, the actions of the Canadian government put the future of our country and our generation in danger, we will not take that sitting down. As long as Canada is at the negotiation table promoting dirty industry over human rights, we will never see the climate agreement the world needs.

It’s time to leave Canada behind.

Meanwhile, if you have not been following these blog posts and want to get caught up, check out this two minute video put together by the UK
Youth Climate Coalition: