In late February, students from across Canada gathering on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to meet members of parliament and senators. This meeting was an opportunity for students to lobby a plan advocating for access to education for all students and propose a bold action plan to combat climate change.
The lobby document entitled Be Bold: Education and Climate Justice for All, outlines the necessity of students to attend post-secondary in today's modern economy. However, the current system “requires that students take on unprecedented and life-altering debt loads to obtain an education.” This makes education inaccessible for numerous individuals.
On Parliament Hill, the students sought to make recommendations to rectify this issue. These include eliminating student loans, honour Canada’s treaty commitments to providing education for Indigenous peoples, providing affordable housing and addressing housing shortages, ensuring fairness for international students, and increasing funding for graduate students.
In addition to lobbying for education, students also want Ottawa to consider a bold action plan pertaining to climate change. They maintain that climate change is a serious threat to future generations around the world.
The recommendation suggested implementing a “fully funded decarbonization strategy akin to the ‘Green New Deal’ with the aim of limiting some of the most devastating impacts of climate change for our generation and those to come, while putting justice for Indigenous people, workers, and the poor at the centre of the transition to a green economy.”
At the moment, Parliament Hill has not commented on the nature of their decision and whether or not they are considering these student lobbyists’ recommendations.
.png){kind=small}
