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More than 400 people gathered in Toronto for the Seniors for Climate event on National Seniors Day, united in their support of climate action. The Toronto gathering was one of 75 concurrent events held across Canada according to the Seniors for Climate website.
They began with a march from the intersection of University Avenue and Armoury Street to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where well-known speakers David Phillips and David Suzuki spoke alongside youth climate activist Amy Mann.
“I think as you get older, you start thinking about your children and your grandchildren, what’s the world going to be like when you’re no longer here?” asked Sharon Zeiler, member of Climate Action for Lifelong Learners (CALL) and spokesperson for the Toronto Seniors for Climate event, in an interview leading up to the event.
The event featured collaborations between senior activism groups CALL, the Suzuki Elders, Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet, Climate Legacy, For Our Grandchildren and Seniors for Climate Action Now.
Zeiler explained that many members of CALL and similar organizations are retired and have time, funds, and voting power that many youth activists lack.
“Politicians often will listen to seniors simply because, of course, they want our vote,” she said in the interview.
Seniors at the event talked about their actions supporting the climate activism of the youth – but for younger attendants like Jillian Lefebvre, a student at George Brown College, they also serve as an inspiration.
She said that her grandmother (who is Indigenous) instilled in her a passion for the environment. “My parents, my grandparents, we’re all very passionate and we work together,” she said.
At the start of the rally, young climate activists spoke while David Suzuki watched, proudly pulling out his phone to take pictures.
“I’m delighted to have the youth here so strongly, and contributing,” he later said to the crowd gathered at the church.
“But I tell you, I feel humiliated that young people have to show the kind of leadership they are now,” Suzuki said. “That’s our job, to look out for their future.”
Reporter for On The Record.
