A month after Yellowknife City Council scuttled calls to declare a climate emergency, youth climate organizers have shifted their sights to the Legislative Assembly. 

Sir John Franklin Grade 12 student Ella Koklej organized the event, where a few dozen protesters gathered in front of the assembly building on Friday afternoon to pressure the new government before it sits in December. 

SA国际影视传媒淲e want there to be a climate emergency but we donSA国际影视传媒檛 just want it to be an empty statement,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淲e want there to be action behind it.SA国际影视传媒�

She said values of climate resilience, adaptation and innovation should inform that action, setting ambitious goals to reduce Northwest TerritoriesSA国际影视传媒� emissions. Ideally, that would mean reducing emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, and going net zero by 2050. 

SA国际影视传媒淚 understand we want change, but not doing anything to get that change will obviously not bring it,SA国际影视传媒� Vivianne Pauze, a Grade 12 student from St. Patrick High School who plans to pursue post-secondary studies in earth sciences after graduation, said. SA国际影视传媒淭hatSA国际影视传媒檚 why ISA国际影视传媒檓 here today: to show that I really care for this. I care for our planet. I want to change how we act.SA国际影视传媒�

Her classmate and one of the eventSA国际影视传媒檚 organizers, Adithi Balaji, emphasized that youth are trying to keep momentum in the wake of other recent climate strikes. She pointed to the effects of growing permafrost melt, and the increasing intensity and prevalence of wildfire as direct climate impacts on Northerners. 

SA国际影视传媒淲e donSA国际影视传媒檛 think theySA国际影视传媒檙e doing enough right now," she said. "We donSA国际影视传媒檛 think the GNWT is doing enough. We want them to declare a climate emergency. We think itSA国际影视传媒檚 a state of crisis, right? And itSA国际影视传媒檚 not being addressed as such."

Balaji referenced a 2018 report that advised drastic action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C by 2030 to avoid the significant risks of droughts, floods and increased heat.

SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檙e not even close to meeting that right now,SA国际影视传媒� she said. 

Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen, one of the founders of the Yellowknife chapter of Our Time, was collecting signatures to push NWT MP Michael McLeod to embrace a Green New Deal, which he described as a plan "to listen to the climate science."

"Michael McLeod as our representative for the north, I think has a responsibility to promote this bold plan for climate justice in parliament, representing the North, which as we know is on the front lines of the climate crisis," Gagnon-van Leeuwen said.

Yellowknife North MLA Rylund Johnson said he would SA国际影视传媒渁bsolutelySA国际影视传媒� support a climate emergency declaration in Assembly.

He said when youth organizers put the same question to Yellowknife city councillors, they were hesitant to declare an emergency. He said they didn't acknowledge the significance of climate change. 

SA国际影视传媒淭hereSA国际影视传媒檚 kind of a disconnect there," he said. "We have a group of youth who are anxious about their future and the future of their planet. We have nothing but benefit, if theySA国际影视传媒檙e making an ask of us to empower them."

Johnson said it is the role of MLAs to pair action with the declaration.

On that front, he said the assembly should consider its priorities for 2050. Meanwhile, he called to work with the federal government to meet NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 energy and environmental goals. 

Johnson said some pilot projects could potentially make some NWT communities carbon neutral by 2030, which could potentially include district heating, and transitioning off oil. 

Frame Lake MLA Kevin OSA国际影视传媒橰eilly also said he was interested in working with like-minded MLAs to bring something forward on that front.

He said he pushed to include climate-based items in the 19th Legislative Assembly's mandate, and now he aims to work with cabinet to ensure theySA国际影视传媒檙e implemented meaningfully.

SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檒l see what happens,SA国际影视传媒� he said.