Here are a few climate justice actions the group has taken over the past few years....
TO350 assisted with a Green New Deal town hall in 2019. Post COVID-19, we signed on to the Just Recovery initiative. See justrecoveryforall.ca and the principles in short below.
Watch Toronto350's Teachin on Youtube: Winning a Just Recovery for Health, Community and Climate!
The Six Just Recovery Principles in Brief
- Put people's health and well-being first, no exceptions. Health is a human right and is interdependent with the health and well-being of ecological systems.
- Strengthen the social safety net and provide relief directly to people. Focus relief efforts on people—particularly those who are structurally oppressed by existing systems.
- Prioritize the needs of workers and communities. Support must be distributed in a manner consistent with Indigenous sovereignty, a climate resilient economy, and worker rights, including safe and fair labor standards and a right to unionize. Improved conditions for essential service workers must be maintained beyond this crisis.
- Build resilience to prevent future crises. We cannot recover from the current crisis by entrenching systems that will cause the next crisis.
- Build solidarity and equity across communities, generations, and borders. In a globalized world, what happens to one of us matters to all of us.
- Uphold Indigenous rights and work in partnership with Indigenous peoples. A Just Recovery must uphold Indigenous Rights and include the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, in line with the standard of free, prior, and informed consent.
During the week of Climate Action leading up to the global climate strike on September 25, 2020, we held a Throne Speech Watch Party. In 2020-2021, we had a Federal Accountability group that completed throne speech tracking and made budget recommendations. See the full action pages below.
Throne Speech Report Card
May 10, 2021
When Toronto350 graded the federal Speech from the Throne in September 2020, we considered whether it represented an appropriate response to the interlocking health, economic and climate crises. The 2021 Budget puts funding behind the Throne Speech’s promises, and so we ask again, does this Budget support Canadians...
Apr 18, 2021
In mid-March, we began this seven-part series on the upcoming federal Budget with a self-evident statement, “COVID-19 has shown us that people’s health and wellbeing must be prioritized.” Events of the last weeks have underlined this truth with devastating clarity. Even as a disastrous third wave destroys lives...
Apr 12, 2021
Canada’s use and export of fossil fuels contributes disproportionately to the costs and damages caused by GHG emissions. Extracting and exporting resources has made the country wealthy. At the same time, countries that have benefited the least from extractive economies are experiencing impacts, like food insecurity and forced...
Apr 02, 2021
Canada continues to lose more critical land, freshwater and oceanic habitats than it conserves every year. Habitat loss problematically increases ecosystem GHG emissions through the release of ecosystem carbon, reductions in the carbon storage capacity of our landscapes, and the loss of critical climate adaptation and resilience services.[1]...
Mar 27, 2021
The rate of COVID-19 on First Nations reserves is 40 per cent higher than in the general Canadian population[1]. Indigenous people living in urban areas have been similarly hard-hit. The crisis represents another in a long series of failures of the Canadian state to achieve justice and reconciliation...
Mar 23, 2021
Decarbonizing Canada is a critical step to ensure a climate-safe and resilient future. An effective National Decarbonization Strategy can help us build back better, creating inclusive, green communities and quality green jobs (e.g. jobs in renewable energy). This strategy must include equitable partnerships with Indigenous communities, investing in...
Mar 18, 2021
To make the shift to a low-carbon future, we need an energy transformation! The second installment from TO350's budget submission deals with a shift to clean energy, active and Zero Emission Vehicle transportation and retrofits. We've added in some quick action call-outs for each section. Stay tuned for part 3!
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Mar 15, 2021
COVID-19 has shown us that people’s health and wellbeing must be prioritized. It has highlighted the need for strong social infrastructure and a resilient, sustainable economy that supports a livable future in the midst of ongoing and coming crises. To achieve this livable future, a low-carbon economy that...
Oct 04, 2020
Well, that was fast.
On September 23rd, we heard the speech from the throne in which the Liberal government promised many things with many nice words. A lot of those promises centred on environmentalism and upholding Indigenous rights. Yet here we are, only a week later, and...
