2024 March Route and Details

Climate change is a global environmental crisis that impacts everyone on the planet, but that doesn’t mean that we are all equally responsible for causing it, nor are we responsible for Canada’s lack of action.

This September, Fridays for Future Ottawa-Gatineau is calling out six organizations that are blocking effective climate policy, spreading misinformation, and providing funding to the disastrous fossil fuel industry. 

On September 21, join us as we march to the downtown locations of the six CLIMATE CULPRITS standing in the way of climate action. 

We invite you to join us as we Expose Canada’s Climate Culprits!

Start TimeLocationAddressSpeakers/Performances
11:00Ottawa City Hall110 Laurier Avenue West (Laurier Avenue side)Performance from Just Voices Choir (starting at 10:45!)

Speakers from World Changing Kids and Horizon Ottawa
11:40Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)99 Queen Street (Bank/Queen)Speakers from Climate Justice Climatique UOttawa and World Changing Kids
12:00Canadian Gas Association (CGA)150 Kent StreetSpeaker from Last Generation Canada
12:10Province of Ontario Regional Office150 Kent StreetSpeakers from Fridays For Future Ottawa and World Changing Kids
12:25Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)275 Slater StreetSpeaker from Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)
12:45Export Development Canada (EDC)150 Slater StreetSpeaker from Environmental Defence
13:00Free Food & MusicPerformance from Cody Zulinski

Can’t attend in person? Follow the 2024 Ottawa-Gatineau Climate March live streamed on Facebook or follow on Instagram for real time updates at every rally stop.

Have questions regarding accessibility? Please check out our Accessibility Notes or send us an email at fridaysfutureottawa@gmail.com.

Culprit #1: Ottawa City Hall

Municipal climate action can be a powerful force for change, but it requires strong leadership, dedicated support, and follow through in order to work—and we haven’t seen that in Ottawa.

We’re calling out the City of Ottawa for their lack of timely, decisive action on climate change.

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The city has a detailed Climate Change Master Plan, but it isn’t being implemented in most areas. We demand to see the plan fully funded and supported to create green building standards and retrofit plans for new and existing infrastructure, a robust and reliable public transit system that works, and bylaws and zoning to encourage pedestrianization and the use of low-emission vehicles. The city is not only failing to follow its own climate plan, but it’s also delaying action by allowing zoning rules to stand in the way of the development of renewable energy infrastructure, cutting back on an already skeleton transit system, and allowing fossil fuel advertisements to continue.

How to Take Action

Culprit #2: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

The fossil fuel industry is held up by the financial support of banking institutions like the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), which is consistently one of the largest funders of fossil fuels in the world. 

We’re calling out RBC for throwing their customers’ money onto the deadly climate fire!

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Banking on Climate Chaos (BOCC) is an annual report that digs into the dirty details to answer the question: how much money banks are funneling into the fossil fuel industry? The latest report revealed that  RBC has spent more than $256 BILLION USD on fossil fuels deals since 2016, including $33.6 billion USD in 2022 alone. 
Banks like RBC use the money that their customers deposit to invest in various industries and enterprises, including oil and gas companies, and they make money from the interest on these loans. This means that, if you bank with RBC, then your money is being invested in Canada’s fossil fuel industry, and projects like the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which continues to threaten the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

How to Take Action

Culprit #3: Canadian Gas Association (CGA)

The Canadian Gas Association (CGA) is an industry association that represents Canada’s natural gas distribution industry. Its members are distribution companies, transmission companies, equipment manufacturers and others; all cogs in the machine destroying our planet and pushing for the continuation and expansion of the industry through lies, lobbying, and propaganda. 

We’re calling out the Canadian Gas Association for lying to Canadians through their fake online persona, Voice for Energy!

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Last year, DeSmog revealed that the Canadian Gas Association was behind the creation of “Voice for Energy,” an online campaign designed to look like a movement of Canadians in support of natural gas. CGA hides behind this mask and LIES to Canadians to make them oppose the climate measures which would protect us and our families from fires, floods, smoke, extreme storms, and all the other impacts of climate change. Voice for Energy pushes false claims like “Canada’s natural gas resource is one of the cleanest and most reliable in the world.” How can a polluting fossil fuel be “clean”? The members of CGA care only about promoting their own business, even if it means keeping Canadians away from the cleanest and most reliable energy source: renewable energy. 

The recent anti-greenwashing bill, Bill C-59, has shut down similar propaganda initiatives in recent months. Now it’s time to shut down Voice for Energy.

How to Take Action

Culprit #4: Province of Ontario

Addressing the climate crisis requires large-scale systemic change, and we can’t do that without the support of our provincial government. Strong climate action at the provincial level would create fertile ground for municipal climate action, and further federal climate action – it’s all connected! Instead, Ford’s government only seems interested in fighting federal climate policy and expanding harmful fossil fuel industries like gas. We need a provincial government that works toward, and not against, a green, sustainable future for all.

We’re calling out the Doug Ford government for blocking affordable, abundant, renewable energy for Ontarians!

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Ford’s government has been outspoken in its opposition to the federal carbon tax, and this past spring, Ford rejected the federal government’s $6 billion infrastructure fund because it would require that municipalities province-wide allow for the construction of fourplexes on residential land–a move toward denser, more accessible, and more sustainable housing. 

But the provincial government isn’t just standing in the way of climate action, it’s also actively supporting the continued expansion of harmful industries like natural gas. 

Recently, Ford’s government interfered with the independent body that’s meant to regulate that industry, the Ontario Energy Board. In December 2023, the Ontario Energy Board announced a landmark decision that would force companies like Enbridge Gas to pass the cost of new natural gas hook-ups to developers, rather than homeowners.
 
The Board’s reasoning was that, given the need to transition away from high-emission energy sources like gas, it wasn’t fair to charge homeowners for an expensive hook-up to an energy source that’s quickly becoming obsolete. Within hours of the Board’s announcement, the provincial government announced its intention to overturn the decision, which they did, with the ironically-titled “Keeping Energy Costs Down Act,” announced in February of this year.

Ontarians deserve a low-cost, reliable and renewable way to keep our homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter! Ontarians deserve a FREE, Universal Heat Pump Program.

How to Take Action
  • Sign the 350 Canada petition calling on Members of Parliament to join the fight for Heat Pumps for All!

Culprit #5: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)

CAPP is an industry association (like the CGA) representing the interests of 35 Canadian oil and gas companies. Its membership is responsible for most of the country’s annual fossil fuel production–and all of the  pollution that comes with it. 

The oil and gas industry is Canada’s largest and fastest-growing source of pollution – and while other sectors are cutting back on their emissions, CAPP’s members are free to pollute as much as they like. 

We’re calling out CAPP for polluting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we need to survive!

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It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: there are no limits to the amount of climate pollution Canada’s oil and gas industry can emit.

The oil and gas industry is Canada’s largest and fastest-growing source of emissions. We must regulate it if we’re to stand a chance of meeting critical climate targets.

While other sectors in Canada are reducing their emissions, the oil and gas industry’s emissions continue to grow. Industry continues to lobby to stall and undermine climate action, and is failing to clean up the environmental and climate damage it causes.

CAPP represents 75% of Canada’s oil and gas. To change their reckless, polluting ways, the federal government is drafting a regulation now. It is vital that this regulation urgently and aggressively reduces pollution from the oil and gas sector: immediately, with no loopholes, and in line with Canada’s climate targets.

How to Take Action
  • Sign the Suzuki Foundation petition calling on the federal government to make the cap on oil and gas pollution as strong as possible.

Culprit #6: Export Development Canada (EDC)

The fossil fuel industry can’t function without financial support … so why do we keep funding oil and gas companies with subsidies and loans? Export Development Canada (EDC) is a Crown corporation that supports international trade by providing loans, insurance, and subsidies to Canadian companies to support exports–which include fossil fuels. We need to shift government-backed financing away from fossil fuels and into renewable energy, and that starts with EDC.

We’re calling out EDC for pouring fuel on the climate fire!

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According to Environmental Defense, EDC provided $7.3 billion in fossil fuel subsidies in 2023.

In July 2022, EDC announced its decision to stop providing new direct financing to international fossil fuel companies and projects by the end of that year. But that doesn’t stop them from funding ongoing projects.

In 2024 so far, EDC has already approved a loan of $200 million to TC Energy’s Coastal Gaslink project, despite the ongoing opposition of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, and agreed to another $400-$500M loan for an LNG project in Kitimat, BC.

How to Take Action

Interested in Helping Out with the March? Volunteer with us!

Email us at fridaysfutureottawa@gmail.com if you have any questions or want more information.