Tag Archives: Youth

These Are My Words

As an immigrant to Canada, I was shocked to learn about the Canadian legacy of residential schools. I had no idea growing up in the U.S. that such things were happened and had happened just north of the border. The indigenous residential schools operated in Canada starting in the 1870s with the last one not closing until1996. Children as young as four were taken—often against the will of their families or with coercive techniques such as threatening jail time—and it is estimated that over 150,000 Indian, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential school. I was reminded that it is a  legacy that continues to shade aspects of Canadian culture and identity for all Canadians this year when I became a citizen. At the ceremony, the judge encouraged all of us new Canadians to make the act of reconciliation personal and spoke about how she was doing that in her life. 

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Enough: Change The System Itself!

Article originally published on Greenpeace International; Audio/edited recorded by Roy L Hales.

Why are global politics so dysfunctional that the UN climate meeting requires a 15-year-old Swedish grade school student to speak the truth? Why does a coalition of youth, outside the COP 24 climate meeting, articulate a more comprehensive action plan than the delegates inside the meeting? Enough: Change the system itself!

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Climate Kids Are Suing America

By Roy L Hales

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The United States has known that burning fossil fuels destabilizes our climate for over fifty years, but taken few steps to prevent this. Even now, 18 months after President Obama declared “No challenge  poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” the nation does not appear to be ready to switch away from a fossil fuel based energy system. According to Our Children’s Trust, this is discriminating against the rights of the very generations who will experience the worst effects of Climate change. So 21 Climate Kids are suing America.

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