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Saint Paul University expresses its solidarity with the School Strike for Climate movement

May 21, 2019 - Saint Paul University and several related groups, including professors, students and faith-based organizations, will express their solidarity with the School Strike for Climate movement on May 24.

“I am proud to support our community in this mobilizing event. I strongly believe that our greatest asset is our youth, which is why we must support them when they stand up for what they believe in,” says Chantal Beauvais, Rector of Saint Paul University.

The first Global School Strike for Climate was on March 15. Worldwide, over 1.4 million students participated. In Canada, more than 150,000 students took part. Here in Ottawa, some 500 to 600 students and supporters protested on Parliament Hill that day.

“It’s important to support this kind of strike related to climate because it is directly related to our lives and, most importantly, the lives of our youngest people, since they will be living tomorrow with the choices we make today,” adds Martin Samson, a doctoral student in Conflict Studies.

May 24, 2019, has added significance for the SPU community: it is the anniversary of the 2015 launch of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ ground-breaking encyclical on the environment. The spirit of solidarity between generations was captured beautifully in a video after the recent encounter between Pope Francis and Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish activist who has spoken at international climate conferences and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thunberg initiated the School Strike for Climate movement that formed in November 2018 and surged globally after the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24), held in December of that same year. Her personal activism began in August 2018, when her recurring and solitary Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate) protest outside the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm began attracting media coverage.


About the event

When: May 24, 2019, at 11 a.m.

Where: Outside the main entrance of the University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa
All are welcome to participate.

Read more for information about the schedule.

 



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