[Indigsol] Call for Solidarity: Climate Justice on Trial Friday April 3 10AM‏

Wed Apr 1 19:02:33 PDT 2009

Arrested Citizens Back in Court to Defend the Climate 
The “Sussex Six” Prepare to Put Government Climate Policies on Trial

OTTAWA / April 1, 2009 – As the minority Conservative government prepares to oppose the new Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill C-311) in Parliament, six concerned citizens are back in court after engaging in non-violent resistance to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s climate change policies. On Friday, April 3 at 10 a.m. at the Ottawa Courthouse (161 Elgin Street), six volunteers with ACT for the Earth – who are also known as the Sussex Six – will urge the court to drop all outstanding criminal charges due to the delay in bringing their case to trial. PLEASE JOIN US FRIDAY APRIL 3RD AT 10AM AT THE OTTAWA COURTHOUSE AT 161 ELGIN STREET AS A SHOW OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE SUSSEX SIX IN OUR DEMANDS FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE! 

The Sussex Six, dressed as Santa and five of his elves, were arrested for delivering lumps of coal to Harper at his official residence (24 Sussex Drive) during the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007 (nearly 16 months ago), and charged with obstructing police. The concerned citizens called on Harper to stop derailing the climate talks in Bali. In part due to Canada's stonewalling at the Bali negotiations, countries worldwide are still struggling to agree on meaningful greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. 

“With the Canadian government's abysmal record on environmental issues, we believe that it is the Canadian government – the climate saboteurs – who should be brought to justice, and not the climate defenders,” says Dylan Penner of ACT for the Earth. Penner is referring to the Conservative government's numerous attempts to sabotage legislative action on climate change in the House of Commons and at Parliamentary committees proposed by opposition political parties.

“Despite protests in nearly 40 cities across Canada on December 8, 2007, the Canadian government continued to derail action on the climate crisis in Bali by refusing to accept a Kyoto successor with meaningful emissions reductions,” adds Penner. “As the Conservative government continues to stall and stonewall action on climate change, the Sussex Six are preparing to put Harper's policies on trial for obstruction of climate justice.”

“Our so-called ‘obstruction of police’ is nothing compared to the Canadian government's abandonment of the Kyoto Protocol. Harper has broken domestic law and international law in his haste to bend over backwards for his friends in the oil patch,” added Sussex Six member Abla Abdelhadi.

“The consequences of doing nothing will be directly measured in lives,” says Michael Goguen (aka Santa). “In some projections, by 2100 there will be a loss of 50% (3.5 billion people) of all human life on Earth and that is before factoring in social consequences of catastrophic climate change, such as wars when large populations become refugees or are fighting for scarce resources, such as food and water. Considering these predictions, how can we sit back and do nothing? Participation in Earth Hour is not enough, not even close.”

PLEASE JOIN US FRIDAY APRIL 3RD AT 10AM AT THE OTTAWA COURTHOUSE AT 161 ELGIN STREET AS A SHOW OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE SUSSEX SIX IN OUR DEMANDS FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE! 

Background:

ACT for the Earth played a leading role in creating the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, a Canadian umbrella coalition of climate organizations, which includes the Climate Action Network, the Canadian Labour Congress, CUPE, CEP, NUPGE, CUPW, the United Church, Coalition Quebec Kyoto, and dozens of other groups with a combined membership of 5 million Canadians. ACT for the Earth also played a leadership role in the coalition’s organizing efforts for the global day of action on climate change on December 8, 2007. As a result thousands of Canadians took part in protests in 37 cities across the country, many of which included direct phone calls to the Canadian government, the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Environment, and/or the Canadian government's representative at the UN climate talks in Bali. To our knowledge this unprecedented showing of opposition to the Canadian government's climate policies has been ignored.

ACT for the Earth also organized a series of “Climate Justice Vigils” at the Prime Minister's office during the Bali climate talks on December 5, 6, and 10 in 2007. In addition many members of ACT for the Earth participated in petitions signed by thousands of others calling on the Canadian government to change its position on climate change.

All of these efforts at reasoning with the Canadian government went unanswered, as did the efforts of dozens of other organizations in Canada and around the world. Therefore, ACT for the Earth felt that there was only one remaining option left for persuading the Canadian government to abide by its domestic and international legal obligations regarding climate change: nonviolent civil disobedience. 

The Canadian government has violated and continues to violate the law through its climate policies.1 The objective of the ceremony on December 12, 2007, was to urge Mr. Harper to comply with the law.

The defendants (dressed as Santa and 5 of his elves) were arrested attempting to deliver lumps of coal and a stuffed polar bear doll, to Stephen Harper at his Ottawa residence (24 Sussex Drive) to urge him to stop derailing the climate talks at the United Nations' Conference in Bali, Indonesia. Defendants feel the real "obstruction" was done by the Canadian government's abandonment of the Kyoto Protocol and its violations of domestic and international law.

The six defendants believe it is the Canadian government that should be brought to justice for its abysmal, obstructionist record on environmental issues, especially regarding the climate crisis. Charges against climate defenders should be dropped. Defendants remind the Court of the Conservative government's ongoing obstruction of climate action in the House of Commons and at Parliamentary Committees.

Internationally, environmentalists were extremely concerned that the actions of the Canadian delegation in Bali would impede real progress towards consensus on a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. Despite protests of thousands of Canadians in 37 cities across Canada on December 8, 2007, the Canadian government continued to derail action on the climate crisis in Bali by refusing to accept a Kyoto successor with meaningful emissions reduction targets. It continues to do so today.

Defendants sought to give voice to the vast majority of Canadians and those around the world who ask Canada to support international action on climate change, recognizing that Canada and all G8 countries have an outstanding carbon debt to the rest of the world because of their disproportionate role in creating the climate crisis. It was with this urgency, compounded by the fact that Mr. Harper refused to heed the will of the vast majority Canadians for Canada to respect its obligations to the Kyoto Protocol, that defendants sought to deliver a message of the necessity of climate defence on December 12 2007. The message took the form of lumps of coal, which defendants attempted to deliver to Mr. Harper.

The international community has overwhelmingly opposed the Canadian Government's position as destructive, reckless and short sighted. The UN climate chief Yvo de Boer criticized rich countries, including Canada, for abandoning targets under Kyoto while demanding that developing countries such as China and India adopt specific obligations. Rajendra Pachouri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore) said that the Canadian government "has been a government of skeptics. They do not want to do anything on climate change". The Ontario and Quebec Environment Ministers, John Gerretsen and Line Beauchamp spoke out in Bali announcing that Harper does not speak for their provinces on the environment. 

1Friends of the Earth. Canada's Environment Minister Must Be Held Accountable For Lack of Action to Meet Kyoto Targets. Retrieved on May 1, 2008. <http://www.foecanada.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=350&Itemid=135>
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