The global movement Fridays for Future is calling for participation on a worldwide scale, and Montreal has answered: "Here." The date set by groups Pour le futur and Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES) is Friday, September 24 at 1:00 p.m. Participants will assemble on Parc Avenue in front of the Georges-Étienne Cartier monument in Mount Royal Park. This will be a continuation of the event of September 27, 2019, when, along with Greta Thunberg, 500,000 demonstrators gathered in Montreal.

By Louise Royer, Director of the Social Action Ministry Office

The Social Action Ministry encourages Christians to reflect on the issues raised in the course of their own experience and in the encyclical Laudato Si’, and to work in common caring for our common home. It is true, our sister Mother Earth is sick; so how can we help heal her? 

To begin with, some proposals suggested by Fridays for Future:

• Measures to restore the most affected areas;
• Major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the Global North;
• Equal access to vaccines;
• Debt cancellation and climate financing.

For Quebec, CEVES' demands can be found at: http://www.ceves.ca/. The organization advocates for climate justice and indigenous rights. Along with the Social Action Ministry and hundreds of others, CEVES co-signed the six principles for a just recovery.

The Social Action Ministry invites you to walk with an affinity group or join those gathering with the Réseau œcuménique justice, écologie et paix (ROJEP) corner L'esplanade and Mont-Royal at 12:30 p.m. You can also:

• Read the joint message  from Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew alerting us to how climate change affects the poor and urging us, for the sake of our faith, to cooperate globally in changing how we use resources.
   
• Reflect and pray on the themes proposed for the ‘‘Season of Creation’’ (September 1 to October 4) by the Green Churches Network.
   
• Take part in the For the Love of Creation movement, which offers various resources for groups; 
   
• Sign the international ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’ petition circulated by the Laudato Si’ movement to world leaders for the COP 26: https://www.laudatosi.org/action/healthy-planet-healthy-people-petition/
   
• Virtual Climate March: Development and Peace invites you to participate in a virtual climate march from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the Zoom platform.
  This virtual march will be co-hosted by facilitators from Quebec and French-speaking New Brunswick.

Click here, for more details concerning the global movement in Montreal on September 24.