About 30 high school students in Sarnia staged a climate walkout Friday afternoon.
Students gathered at Michigan Avenue and Murphy Road at around 1 p.m. in solidarity with the Fridays For Future Movement, initiated by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
Organizer Remy Leigh of Northern said because he's too young to vote in the upcoming federal election, the walkout is a way for his voice to be heard.
"We're out here today to represent all of the Indigenous people, especially those at Aamjiwnaang First Nation who are suffering and who often get sick from the Chemical Valley plants, but they are not being heard," said Leigh. "We are here to hopefully get out future back. We're trying to wake up city hall as much as we can, wake up the government, and hopefully they will hear us and understand that this is our future as much as it is theirs."
Leigh believes that politicians need to do a better job of listening to the concerns of youth, and that the voting age in Canada should be lowered.
"I personally get very frustrated with the fact that I'm not able to vote yet because I feel like I formed my own political opinions at this age and I feel like a lot my friends have already formed their political opinions at this age, so this walkout is our way of compromising for the fact that we can't vote."
Leigh encourages all Canadians, especially new voters, to listen to the issues and form their own opinions ahead of October 21.
"Think 100 per cent independently, do your research, go to debates, and don't just vote in the ways that your parents have voted. Honestly, do what you can to form those own independent beliefs and then get out there and vote."
