The Pact for a Green New Deal<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe Pact for a Green New Deal is a coalition calling for a far-reaching plan to cut emissions in half in 11 years, in line with Indigenous knowledge and climate science; create more than one million good jobs; and build inclusive communities in the process. Its bold, justice-based vision is galvanizing thousands of people by recognizing, and working to respond to, the multiple crises we face.<\/p>\n
Since The Pact launched on May 6, 2019, organizations in the coalition have set off with the goal of listening to people from coast to coast to coast in the ambitious project of defining what a Green New Deal looks like for their community.<\/p>\n
In less than a month, volunteers organized an astounding 150+ town halls<\/strong>, taking place in every single province and territory, to build alignment towards a set of shared principles for a Green New Deal.<\/p>\nOf these 150+ events, about half were held in large communities (over 100,000 people), and half in small communities (under 30,000 people). The organizers we heard from hosted town halls ranging in size from four people, in Iqaluit, to over 300 in Edmonton. All in all, more than 7,000 people joined Green New Deal town halls in their communities \u2014 representing environmental groups, labour unions, faith groups, political parties, city councils, community and neighbourhood associations, Indigenous organizations, women\u2019s organizations, the Fight for $15 and Fairness, student unions, local media, and more.<\/p>\n
We worked with analysts to pull themes from the town hall conversations that took place: people gathering in grief, in rage, and in hope to share what they think the Green New Deal must include, and what it must put an end to. What follows is a summary of some of those themes; it is not a complete analysis or completed report. There is much work still to be done to bring in those who did not attend town halls, to allow time to hear from other groups, and to make sure voices marginalized by the status quo are made central in the process.<\/p>\n
Red Lines and Green Lines<\/h2>\n
Methodology<\/strong>
\nThe town hall process was not about coming to complete consensus on specific policies or finding the perfect wording, but rather creating an opportunity for thousands of people to contribute their ideas for what a Green New Deal should look like, to identify commonalities, and to start developing specific proposals.<\/p>\nParticipants were asked to discuss their red lines and green lines: the things that absolutely should not be in a Green New Deal for Canada, and the things that people, groups, communities and institutions want \u2014 and in some cases, need \u2014 to see in a Green New Deal in order to be on board.<\/p>\n
Participants shared an incredible 8900 red lines and green lines. There were almost three times as many green lines as red lines, suggesting that participants are eager to focus on a hopeful and positive vision of the future. Some clear themes emerged from the responses, as outlined in the following sections.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s some of what we heard:<\/strong><\/p>\nGreen Lines<\/strong>
\nThe town hall responses were sorted into the following twelve Green Line categories: Economy and Government, Green Infrastructure, Nature, Agriculture, Social Justice, Democracy, Plastics, Climate Science, Decent Work, Indigenous Reconciliation, Climate Debt, and Rights. Of these categories, the ones that occurred most frequently were Economy and Government, Green Infrastructure, Social Justice, and Indigenous Sovereignty. It is clear that systemic change and radical shifts are needed to transform the systems and institutions that perpetuate inequality, racism, xenophobia, and ongoing colonial violence.<\/p>\nIndigenous Sovereignty<\/strong>
\nA Green New Deal must include the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Participants highlighted the importance of Indigenous knowledge, and respecting Indigenous title and relationship to the land. Decolonization must go hand in hand with a Green New Deal.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Full recognition of Indigenous title and rights.
\n\u2022 Fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
\n\u2022 Fully implementing the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
\n\u2022 Fully implementing the Calls for Justice in the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.<\/p>\n
Economy and Government<\/strong>
\nTime and time again, we heard that transforming the economy is at the heart of solutions to environmental degradation and climate change. Town hall participants are ready for governments to lay the groundwork for this change in a wide range of ways \u2014 from carbon taxes, to subsidies for green initiatives, to public investment in renewable energy and infrastructure and fundamentally changing the priorities of the economic system itself.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Setting a legally binding climate target for Canada in line with the science of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
\n\u2022 Creating millions of good, high-wage jobs through a green jobs plan, ensuring fossil fuel industry workers and directly affected community members are guaranteed good, dignified work with the training and support needed to succeed.
\n\u2022 Increasing unionization and implementing workers\u2019 rights, including at least a $15 minimum wage, pay equity, paid emergency leave, job security, protections for migrant workers, and the right to organize and unionize
\n\u2022 Personal and public subsidies for greener technology, including affordable energy-efficient housing, and transportation.<\/p>\n
Green Infrastructure<\/strong>
\nIn talking about infrastructure for an equitable and sustainable society, participants named renewable energy and public housing as areas in need of urgent action.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Making massive public investments in the infrastructure to build a 100% renewable energy economy – including power generation, energy efficiency, public transportation, public housing, food justice, ecological and localized agriculture, and clean manufacturing.
\n\u2022 Ensuring sustainable, financially and physically accessible public transportation for everyone.
\n\u2022 Prioritizing and incentivizing local renewable energy creation especially with public service buildings.<\/p>\n
Social Justice<\/strong>
\nThe climate crisis cannot be addressed in isolation. Participants made connections between environmental issues and struggles that have long been led by communities on the frontlines of racism and an extractive economy: migrants, Indigenous communities, rural towns and villages, poor and working-class people, and disabled people. Participants also noted the rising leadership of youth whose lives and futures are at stake; and who must be included at decision-making tables.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Promoting justice and equity by centring the communities marginalized by our current economy. This means addressing past and current harms to Indigenous peoples, Black communities, communities of colour, LGBTQ people, migrants, refugees, and undocumented people, rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and youth.
\n\u2022 Ensuring free accessible post-secondary education for all.
\n\u2022 Full access to quality public services including healthcare, education, income security, housing, childcare, pharmacare, dental care, pensions, and more \u2014 for all.
\n\u2022 Status for all: Permanent resident status and family unity for all migrants and refugees here, and landed status on arrival for those that arrive in the future. No detentions, no deportations.
\n\u2022 Ensuring that Canada pays its fair share of the climate debt to countries in the Global South that have been impacted by practices and decisions in Canada, and ensuring that corporations based in Canada are not damaging the climate and environment elsewhere, contributing to conditions that force people to migrate (including wars, unjust mining, pollution, etc).<\/p>\n
Red Lines<\/strong>
\nTown hall participants talked about putting a stop to the industries, institutions and practices that endanger our future and accelerate environmental destruction. Some of the Red Lines that came up discussed the fossil fuel industry, extraction and pollution, plastics, and a failing democracy.<\/p>\nFossil Fuels<\/strong>
\nTown hall participants were heavily in support of not only preventing the future growth of the fossil industry \u2014 through actions like halting the construction and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, and ending government subsidies \u2014 but phasing it out on a timeline in line with the demands of Indigenous knowledge and science.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations:
\n\u2022 A plan to fully phase out the fossil fuel industry and move to 100% renewable energy by 2040 (at the latest) must be developed and implemented (including a plan to fully support workers throughout this process).
\n\u2022 Freezing the construction and\/or approval of all new fossil fuel extraction and transportation projects \u2014 we cannot solve the problem if we make it worse at the same time.
\n\u2022 Fossil fuel subsidies from the federal or provincial government should be immediately eliminated and redirected to support the transition to a clean economy.<\/p>\n
Protecting Biodiversity and Nature<\/strong>
\nParticipants emphasized the importance of ending water extraction, water pollution, and other activities that jeopardize the health and sustainability of the environment.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Enacting laws that grant personhood protections to our forests and bodies of water, and the creation of an environmental bill of rights.
\n\u2022 Stopping the dumping of waste (civic or industrial) into bodies of water.
\n\u2022 Ensuring greater protection for critical biodiversity and natural areas.
\n\u2022 Collectively ensuring the right of all people to clean air, clean water, healthy food, and a safe environment built on connection and community.
\n\u2022 Ensuring the protection of at least 30 percent of land and waters in Canada by 2030.<\/p>\n
Plastics<\/strong>
\nParticipants voiced support for stopping the production of single-use plastics, and advocated for the importance of ending our reliance on plastics as a society.<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Developing alternatives to plastic bags, straws and other single-use plastic items to address the problem of plastic waste, while maintaining the necessary access that these items often provide.
\n\u2022 Ending boil water advisories in Indigenous communities.
\n\u2022 Legislating the curtailment of excessive packaging.<\/p>\n
Democracy<\/strong>
\nParticipants made systemic links between current environmental issues and the necessity of ending corporate lobbying and transforming the democratic systems and institutions that have helped to create the multiple crises we face. Participants noted they would like to see \u201cno more first past the post elections.\u201d<\/p>\nSpecific recommendations included:
\n\u2022 Honouring the promise of making Canada a Proportional Representation Democracy.<\/p>\n
Next Steps:
\nThe communities and organizations represented by people who attended town halls did reach beyond the \u201cgreen bubble\u201d that typically exists within mainstream environmental events and campaigns. That being said, there is much room for improvement in reaching out to the labour movement, social justice movements, Indigenous peoples, and those who are marginalized or who have been most impacted by the current and historical harms a Green New Deal must address.<\/p>\n
Moving forward, consultation will continue and groups and organizations are encouraged to make submissions to this process. Many town halls have yet to be held, some groups are still preparing their own specific submissions; and so, the recommendations above should be taken as a living document that will continue to evolve and change as new voices enter the conversation.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your words and participation. Let\u2019s keep working to secure a Green New Deal for all.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Pact for a Green New Deal\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGreenpeace Canada is part of a network of workers, artists, Indigenous leaders, scientists, youth, and people directly impacted by climate catastrophe \u2014 from cities and towns, businesses and communities, working beyond our political differences and in solidarity with Indigenous peoples \u2014 who want to ensure a safe world for our children and all generations after that.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month over 150 town halls were held across the country to discuss what a Green New Deal to address the demands of the climate crisis and justice should look…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":23948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,32,23],"p4-page-type":[16],"class_list":{"0":"post-23844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-climate","8":"tag-climate","9":"tag-oil","11":"p4-page-type-story"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23844"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71095,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23844\/revisions\/71095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23844"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=23844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}