Winnipeg junior high students demanding action on climate change

Students at Ecole River Heights School spent the afternoon away from the classroom, instead braving the cold outside MP Jim Carr’s constituency office on Corydon Avenue.

They’re delivering a petition for which they’ve spent weeks gathering signatures, demanding urgent action on climate change.

“Probably after I’m dead there’s going to be people suffering and probably dying because of what we’re doing and what we haven’t really tried to stop.” Said Annette Colbert, a Grade 7 student at Ecole River Heights

The protest was inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old Swedish girl.

Thunberg began sitting outside Swedish Parliament in August stating she is getting frustrated with the lack of action on climate change around the world.

READ MORE: ‘You don’t win elections by telling the truth about climate change’ says teen activist

Following Greta’s actions, more than 20,000 students in 270 communities across the world have participated in some form of protest.

The Ecole River Heights students marched from their school to Carr’s office just after noon, making them the 9th school in Canada to skip classes to root on climate action.