> WHO’S COMING TO THE MARCH

We asked some of those joining Sunday’s March for Jobs, Justice and the Climate why they’re taking part.

Two things inspire Jody Chan, 21, a new graduate of the University of Toronto, to work on climate change: a sense of urgency and a sense of hope. “Our generation is the last that can deal with climate change,” says Chan, who has been part of 350.org’s fossil fuel divestment movement at U of T. “We can turn things around before it’s too late.” Chan is headed for Columbia University in New York in the fall (350.org is active there, too).

Protecting and preserving rivers, the air and the Earth. “Those are the teachings of our ancestors,” says Ron Tremblay, 54, of Fredericton, N.B. “I care about climate change because I want the future generations to have a good life.” The climate march, he hopes, will open eyes, ears and hearts in the rest of Canada, and send the message that “we are on a downward spiral. If we don’t change our fossil fuel ways, we are doomed.”

For Syed Hussan, spokesman for No One Is Illegal — a grassroots advocacy group for migrants — climate change is personal. This crisis, he says, is the “newest result of centuries of exploitation of racialized people by colonization and neocolonization.” In a way, Hussan believes Sunday’s march could determine the future of the movement, “in so far as it must learn, and take direction and inspiration” from indigenous people and racialized migrants who are at the front lines of the crisis.

“It is about my son and his future,” says Kingsley Kwok, 42, a registered respiratory therapist in Scarborough. For Kwok, the future doesn’t just mean healthy ecosystems, but also sustainable development and dealing with “fossil fuels in more reasonable ways.” His 7-year-old son will be marching with him on Sunday.