On a recent hot afternoon in Sudbury, with wildfire smoke in the air, about 25 young people gathered at St. Peter’s United Church to talk about something that weighs heavily on their generation: climate change.
These were not abstract worries. The youth described what many of us have felt in recent summers — heat waves, choking smoke and violent rain storms — and then asked: What can we do?
The gathering was part of the United Church of Canada’s Climate Motivator program, which creates summer opportunities for youth across the country to learn, connect, and take action. Here in Sudbury, that meant not only sharing climate anxieties, but also carefully listening to experts, exploring solutions, and most importantly, cooperating with one another.
I was honoured to speak at the event alongside Kaleo Duncanson-Hales, the organizer, and Nikita Lefebvre from Compass, a local mental health agency. Kaleo reminded the youth that they are not alone: their anxieties are shared, and their voices matter.
Nikita offered tools for managing anxiety — breathing, writing, talking with friends — and encouraged young people to recognize that their feelings are valid. My role was to place these concerns into a global context, reminding them that the clean energy revolution is already underway, and that Canada can and must choose to lead.
What moved me most was how seriously the youth engaged with the evidence. They read aloud documented facts from recent scientific and legal findings. They noted that in July 2025, the International Court of Justice's landmark opinion that failure to act on climate constitutes a violation of international law.
They cited health studies linking wildfire smoke to low birth weights, dementia, and even impacts equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day when the air quality index is high. They noted that Canada is at least 109 megatonnes shy of its Paris Agreement targets, escalating climate disasters are driving us toward an “uninsurable world” and that climate risks to our financial system are dangerously underestimated.
These facts could have overwhelmed them. Instead, the youth turned knowledge into action. After discussion, nearly all decided to send postcards to their Members of Parliament, asking for specific policies in Budget 2025:
- Strengthening industrial carbon pricing.
- Finalizing regulations on methane and a cap on oil and gas emissions.
- Supporting climate-aligned finance and sustainable investment guidelines.
- Funding municipalities to plan for decarbonizing heating systems, as Germany has done.
- Building an East-West clean electricity grid and investing the Youth Climate Corps, low-carbon transit, adaptation, education, and liveable wages in the care and culture sectors.
These are not vague demands. They are practical, evidence-based steps rooted in justice, science, and fiscal responsibility. They are also patriotic: young Canadians understand that nation-building in a climate emergency means making choices that protect people, not polluters.
What stood out most was the spirit in the room. Rather than despair, the youth chose curiosity. Rather than division, they chose cooperation.
To the youth who gathered: thank you. Your courage gives our community hope. To the parents, grandparents, church leaders, and mental health advocates who support them: thank you for creating space for their voices to be heard. To our MPs and policymakers: the next generation is watching, and they are leading with wisdom.
Greater Sudbury has always been a community of builders. Once we rebuilt a landscape devastated by smelter smoke into a model for ecological restoration. Today, our youth are reminding us that we can once again build a better future, this time by demanding bold action on the climate crisis in Canada’s federal budget.
The deepest sin against the human mind, Aldous Huxley once wrote, is to believe things without evidence. Greater Sudbury’s young people have shown us what it looks like to honour evidence with action. Let’s not let them stand alone.
You too can sign an open letter to the Government of Canada in support of these policies here by Aug. 26.
Cathy Orlando is a climate activist who lives in Greater Sudbury.