 Good morning, welcome to our session today, talking about the voices from COP 27 and the delegation that went to Shamal Sheik and their responses, gathering here today in our various traditional areas, traditional lands or relationships with the first nations and Métis Inuit people that populated these areas before our settler relatives came to these lands, going to begin us with a smudge. It is morning here, sun rising, which is a traditional time for our elders to take time for prayer, take time to remember our connection to creator. We light a smudge as a sign of our faithfulness and understanding of the tradition that when we gather those elements of creation. We put them together in this form to offer our prayer, to offer our communion with God. And so the smoke rising carries our prayers to the creator. Let us pray. What do you have your sugar know what come, creator God, God of blessing God of creation, God of knowing and God of love. We gather here in this space as a reminder of our connection to you and to this creation, how we are on these lands. How we enjoy ourselves to your mystery to your love to all the bounty of this world that you have given over that we might learn to live in harmony with your creation and with one another. We pray where we have failed, we pray where we need instruction, we pray when we have troubles and challenges as we do this day and many days to come. We pray for those that come after us, the next generations that will have to deal with the issues and the shortcomings of our way of thinking and our way of life. We pray that you will be with them to guide them in their hope in their future. And all these things we pray in Jesus name. Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you that is something that we continue to practice that was banned and outlawed from our traditions. It's a traditional school era and something that we continue to remember in our dealings with Canada with settler populations and those that came after on all those that can hear these words. I'm going to turn it over first to our panel on women peace security and climate change conflict and gender gender inequities. We are moving quickly through the agenda as we have some people who will be leaving in the next little while. So I'm going to turn over to Nelson, who is a consultant with the president of Green Sky Consulting sustainability consulting incorporated and with the Mennonite church. Nelson, if you can take it away. Thank you very much, Tony. Thank you and welcome everybody. We have a somewhat of a change in our schedule so first of all, we're going to I mean the topic we have is women peace and security and climate change and conflict and gender inequities so that that conflicts that were we're all that overlaps. And I think our first speaker will be John Rachel Michael Roberto. And she's a advocacy coordinator for the South Sudan Council of churches. And that that council has been a long term ecumenical and chiro's partner. John works to analyze peace processes in particular that revitalization agreement on the resolution of conflict in the South Sudan. She describes her work as advocacy on issues to do with gender based violence and inclusion of women and youth in peace and governance. She also of course working on climate change. And you can imagine with things like floods, no access to food, clean drinking water and whatnot. So this cop is probably very relevant. John, if you can hear me, the main question is, you know, what was your experience of caught any significant takeaways and welcome to. Thank you. Thank you Nelson. Good morning everyone and good afternoon to Hannah. I know we, we have the same time. I want to thank Kairos Canada for facilitating us to go to charm and be part of the COP 27. My experience was really new because it was my first time to be part of COP and being the 27th COP. I'm just thinking we're having this the 27th time and the conversations are still the same, but I let the fact that there were different identities and this time. I used to watch over the TV, but now I was there physically and I was seeing indigenous people touch up the table and also advocating for things that are very important to them and I think that really stood out for me. And also innovations by young people. That's my takeaway. I used to see young people are using plastics to make small things but now I see big things like art, mechanical stuff so it really shows that there's a response at the local level that needs to be supported. And I've also seen the young people reaching out to the communities, the grassroots using whatever capacity that they have. So that was really very important for me. And then I've also realized that it's still a challenge for African countries to respond to climate change, regardless of the fact that they are the most affected, and they don't have access to the funds and, and we know the many reasons as to why this is happening. But being part of corp, I was able to see other African people that are also pushing for this so that I can just share that as my summary of my experience but I just want to say it was very thrilling to connect with everyone and a built network so it was really good for me. Thank you very much, Joanne. Yeah, I, in my experience to use a mixture of, well, it's hope there's so many people but it is a big challenge isn't it. So how will that shape your work on these issues going forward then. Do you have any new plans anything new you might like to do because Colin. Oh, yes. We have been raising awareness around climate change but it hasn't been the center, but attending COP 27 it made me really to connect how conflict can come as a result of climate change. So there will be more awareness raising on response to climate change from the community level. I'm also planning in my department of advocacy to design or to draft a policy paper, so that we raise awareness at the level of parliament. And then also in firstly include climate change in our work, regardless of the fact that we have peace as the priority but we also want to make climate change as a priority so attending COP has really opened my eyes if I could use that to how serious and how urgent it is for African countries or the world at large to respond to climate change so it's really going to shape my work. Good enough, we're setting a new year. So it will be easier for me to plan now my advocacy around that. Thank you very much, John, you used opening your eyes. Another term is like putting on climate lenses and seeing things through that perspective. With that vein, I know we're kind of short on time but what about a message for Canada. Is there any message you would have for the Canadian public. Yes, a lot. Well, I have a few things to say. First, it's on the capacity, we need to build our capacity on emergency response or having an early warning system, we don't have that in South Sudan. So if we can have some support from the Canadian government when they are lobbying for funds for South Sudan, they should put that at the center, and they should also be funding on climate change response. When it comes to capacity building and also the materials, we also need to have the materials and how we can advocate at the policy making level. So holding to account, we need to hold our governments accountable and those that are causing climate change in our different countries. So I think the Canadian government can support South Sudan to do that and also hold their own government and companies in South Sudan and other countries accountable for the loss and damage that they are causing. I think that's what I can share on what the Canadian public and government can do when it comes to climate change in Africa or in South Sudan in particular. Thank you, Nelson. Thank you very much, Joan. You mentioned loss and damage. That's one item that's particularly of interest to me and I know the developing nations like Canada being one of them, of course, try to say, well, we might be willing to donate money to that fund, but it's not because we owe it, you know, it's not because we're responsible is because maybe good people or something like that. How do you see loss and damage. Well, when it comes to loss and damage it's very emotional for me from the level of my community. We have lost the tombs of our ancestors to floods that have been washed away, and this is the damage caused by floods. And then we're seeing communities banning rubbish causing city grains, the drought, and the food insecurity. It's very personal, and it needs to be responded to immediately it makes me very emotional to talk about loss and damage because I am feeling it, I'm experiencing it, experiencing it at the moment, and when I go to the community or to my village, I see what's happening. I see how people are looking for food. I see how people are submerged into water and they can't cook. So it's, it's an urgency we need to respond immediately. Right. And, of course, we're for the love of creation is more ecumenical of churches Christians. We have the duty. Well, I don't know if duty is the right word but we should love one another love our neighbor. Yeah, how can we make you more of our neighbor. How do we see you more as our neighbor. So, a neighbor is a big one. I mean, people make it seem like it's someone who is just next to you but I think it's everyone that you have far away or close any human being, because you share the same blood, the same body same soul you were created the same person. So any hand that you reach out to is your neighbor, and you are a neighbor to someone and you are in need. And I think the churches itself Sudan are trying to do that in their humanitarian response by raising awareness and what's happening in flood affected areas and providing some humanitarian support as well. I work with any community called body so I know what you're talking about and this is what we preach every Sunday to reach out to our neighbors and a neighbor is just a human being so I think that's how I can answer that. Exactly, we need to hear those kind of sermons more in our own churches, I think. Are there any questions from the audience. And I know, I don't know how many more minutes you have with us at one. I have a minute. Any questions. Yeah, otherwise, I would like to thank you. And again, apologize, we mix up the time zones. That's the craziest thing that we do in the world I think but thank you very much for for being here I pray you're invigorated and have much success in your in what you're going to be doing in the next year or so. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Well, I hope to see you soon. Bye bye. Okay. Okay, so now I think we could continue on with the rest of our panel. That right, and I'm trying to think of who is here. I believe I have. I'm going to stop like them if they put on their cameras. Okay. Yeah, I'm just going to go by my order here. I have Hannah Elias Anton care from the we am West Bank. Palestinian area she's from the Palestine conflict transformation center. I'm focused on women pieces security and why I'm has been another long term ecumenical and Kyra's partner. And she what Hannah says is the climate crisis is progressing faster than government and civil society can handle. I can imagine with all the troubles is just one more thing like a threat multiplier is how climate change has been addressed and of course women and girls tend to suffer even the most right always the most vulnerable so here from Hannah. We also have the next one is Kelly Johanna Campo. Kara, I hope I got that right or even close from the organization of feminine popular, which I say in English would be like popular feminist organization. They're responsible for the feminist popular economy and environmental programs. And Kelly is also a youth leader in that in this organization. She mentioned the work that she does is in Columbia and the territory is, you know, workplace has been up in, I guess, I've been affected by climate change. There's an extractive economy, of course, petrochemical, we have that here in Canada were very much in that mode, so we can relate to what you have to say. And then I see, sorry, me. Excuse me, I'm working on two computers. Yvonne Yannis. And she's a founding member of the and the current president of. Actually on call the logic is an Ecuador organization. And she's also well well known and respected climate justice advocate and a member of oil watch. And I remember one of her colleagues from Africa, they have a slogan, keep the oil in the soil. And it's another, you know, Canada, big oil producer and we're trying to work on that areas to so very relevant for us today. So I think that's our three panelists and just put the context. Your countries are where you've come from. You continue to face the impact of protracted conflict. And then with climate change on top of it, like a threat multiplier, as I said, so I'd like to start with one question for all of you to walk through is, what was your experience at COP 27. You know, what's a, maybe one significant takeaway from COP 27. And how do you want to start. I think Kelly will have to leave nine so we want to go. Okay, sorry, thanks Tony. How about Kelly. Thanks very much. Well, first of all, I have to tell you that I'm very, very happy. We're very glad and thankful with this process and this opportunity of being part of COP 27. This is the very first cup that I am part of from my organization. And to us, this is a very fulfilling process. It's been an experience for dimensioning the impact that climate change has worldwide for all people and well mainly for women and also to dimension and know and get to know different processes of women that are also working for climate justice. And outlook from the impact of women when it comes to climate justice that is also gender justice that it's also a matter of human rights, that it's also a very important understanding to be able to face this process in the fight against climate justice that is also a process of fight of saving life. And the most important reflections that I have now is that this might be the last battle that we have to fight for saving the life that we know as we know it now. And it seems that we're losing that battle in my country at least in the region where I'm located here in Latin America, we are facing the climate impact in a very fast and accelerated way. And we are now saying that we are in an emergency in a climate emergency suffering flottings because of rains women have a the highest impact women are the ones that have an impact and they're the last ones to save to be saved because they're looking after their children or because they're looking after adults, or because they're in that work that does not let them be safe, or because they haven't had access to educational systems that allow them to understand system warning systems or to be aware of all the situations. So, yeah, going to cup and see how other women in other places of the world in the global south or in the north or in indigenous communities as well, how they have an impact that's differentiated and it's very aggressive and very specific. So this has been very enriching to see all these. It's one of the most important experiences that I haven't that I had and cop sharing with others and as Rachel was saying earlier. Also to creating networks for strengthening this collective exercise of this fight against climate change in order to speak about climate justice. So that's one of the most important things that I keep from cop and also with a with a with mixed feelings, like thinking in these exercises that we don't reach agreements that well we finally after so many efforts in an event and worldwide event where lots of important people attended where we have very important decision makers that they're reaching this agreement for generating specific strategies that would allow us to stop the accelerated climate change that we're facing. So this also leads to different feelings like anger makes feelings sadness. I feel powerless, because we cannot change that result agreements are not reached. So, in spite of that, being part of it is meeting others so that we strengthen this collective exercise so that we understand other fights, so that we can also generate processes or actions that would allow us to move forward that feed this process that we women have here in Colombia. So, yeah, without a question, participating was a very fulfilling experience and in, and this makes us think about other things. What else we can keep doing in order to fight climate change and to talk about climate justice. So, so well very thankful, very happy with this experience. And we're now thinking in how to strengthen this government, this movement and how to have more advocacy. So, because it sometimes. This is not prioritized climate change is not prioritized but women have put this in the agenda because that's where we also have to create policies that allow us to protect natural resources but life, life as a whole, the life that we have now, because we are in a humanitarian emergency in a climate emergency. Yeah, well said, Kelly, and I guess it's encouraging on the one hand to find a lot of other women at cop or in the same boat, but it's a sad thing that you have to be in that boat right climate change so what do you have a couple of things I'll maybe be focused on you because you have to go up. Do you have any next steps like what you will do because of caught on how you'll change maybe your approach or something like that. Well, yeah, yeah. Several things that change when when you have this type of global experiences the first thing for the process, a more collective processes is that we're thinking how our education schools, when it comes to environmental aspect should focus more and so on climate justice. We're thinking on environment, the protection of the territory but now talking about climate justice is, is a different approach. It is a more frontal approach that allows us to understand more in a more a more comprehensive vision of this environmental fight of women to talk about climate justice. And that's what I want to do now and how that's connected now what we're doing here with be that's a human rights advocacy they're not different things. But we can speak about the education climate education justice and also it includes human rights that's is key to us, and that leads to peace construction, when we can leave all possible lives in peace. That is what we have that submission that we have. So, yeah, that's a very important topic to us. And we will keep approaching these topics. And also public policies. We've been working in public policies in economy. And we want that public policy in economy has an approach of climate justice or that it can somehow touch that big area that that big thing that's climate justice and how we women are living these health. We want to find out more while we're talking about education public policies and research, we want to elaborate on the, on the impact that these women's health, what these extractive actions have an impact in our health in a region. So this would be the three main areas that we're thinking after cop how to strengthen this in our process. Thank you very much. Thank you. Canada has a trade agreement with Columbia and I wonder if you see any Canadian working there. We all can talk about human rights. Stand for that. Do you think Canadians are doing that? Are we doing enough? Well, well, that is a an important question and deep question. I don't know if this is a questions for everyone. So how much are we all doing. I think that, mainly with Canada, we've always had a very important relationship of a deep wresting company. In this fight against human rights, we've been working with chairo's for lots of years already. And we've always said that that international relationship that presents that accompaniment of an international community has saved lots of light for us for our processes region so yeah we think that they've done a lot but we also think that we still need a lot to do in this new time of a humanitarian crisis that we're facing of course more has to be done so there are things that we have to keep doing this comprehensive accompanying because it's not just economical we also have a political support that has saved lots of life to us this has been a very important thing so there's also a lot of presence in our territory of Canadian companies that are extracting resources so support or this should be shared and informed in Canada because we've spoken about this what this extractivism companies do should be more shared in Canada so it's important what they have to do in Canada so that's very important for defending human rights here in Colombia. Yeah well where I am in BC Kelly the mining industry is very big and they tell us yes we are very how to say very sustainable and very proactive taking care of the local people I sure hope that's the case what about the possibility of partnerships between Canadian churches and and Colombian churches I mean for better communication right to keep perhaps these mining companies on honest you will. Well yes I think that those networks are key we in our organization we are a non-sectarian organization we do have we we also have connection with church we our organization comes from the Christian church so our organization works with church but when we have these networks that we can strengthen between church and communities here and communities in in Canada that helps us visualize what happens here that it does not stay here that other people see it that they can know what happens and that they can support what's happening here so those communication networks are very important we usually are raising this awareness of the situation actually on November the 25th we had a press release of voices of women speaking about the violence situation that human that women and girls are suffering here in our region so this is a press release supported by the Catholic Church and that it would be very important that it could be replicated or that it could be strengthened also in in Canada so that it can be visibleized it's a very shameful the situation here life is in a crisis natural resources are at risk this climate emergency it has everyone overwhelmed women are overwhelmed women are in the solidarity campaign so that we can help them and so we need to strengthen these they have to be visibleized these complaints have to be seen all over the world and and these networks could also help help these complaints be stronger well thank you very much Kelly I understand you have to go we're glad to have you and yes there's a a call to order for the Canadian churches to strengthen those those communication and maybe try to make a difference thank you very much Kelly all the best in your day and thanks for joining us so now we're no thank you thanks very much for the invitation yes okay well thank you and I appreciate Hannah Yvonne being patient to um now it's your turn I'm kind of the same same kind of questions but you know starting off maybe Hannah what was your significant takeaway and are you encouraged from cop at all hello everyone it's really nice to see you again thank you Nelson and really it was a great pleasure for me to be part of the cop 27 it is a very new experience to me where I was I learned a lot from cop 27 and it was really a bit confusing moving around the building the and the pavilion at cop but seeing many things many experiences there and lightened my mind and gave me more and more opened my eyes to more things like seeing seeing the Africans really talking about their experience and protesting of what they really suffered from climate change and seeing the indigenous people which all relied to our situation in Palestine as well and also I tried to focus on side events that address issues on gender and gender day was really fabulous for me where I really learned that from now on we have to talk about women not only as or not as victims and vulnerable but as leaders they are they should be because they can't do this and they should be the leaders wherever they are it doesn't matter if they are on a very high level or they are household managers or they are on the farm and they can't really do it so we have to change this narrative of having women as victims and to promote them as peacemakers and as agents of change and also what impressed me the sbgs which also reliance to our situation where we are working in Palestine and within with the organization which we are in order to really implement these sbgs and eliminate gender-based violence eliminate poverty and create jobs and to make unemployment become less and and also the issue of water where I try to really attend some side events related to this where I learned some of the experiences of some of the country about water which we are really suffering from water in Palestine and this is very important to create new ideas on how to rationalize and we know how to use water what else is that I notice that change should start from the government and come also or come into the community also it's very important when I say this that we start from the bottom up and up to the bottom this is very important because if I start in my family changing then this change can go to the outside of the community I notice that through COP 27 that the whole world is a small village we all share the same challenges we all share the same issues of stolen land and for example when Clefard had to do this blanket exercise and to talk about the indigenous people of Canada this was very touching for me and it really I felt like it applies a lot to my people and to myself so there was a lot to learn from there and now I'm taking this what we have learned the experience of other countries the experience of the civil society as well which was present there into my organization in order to start implementing and working more and more into this well thank you very much Hannah I like especially you said you're not victims and yeah focus on on the leadership and not on just the blaming but thank you and let me turn over to to Yvonne what about the again what your experience was and your your main takeaway does it parallel Hannah at all good morning everyone I'm going to speak in Spanish thanks very much for translation and thanks very much both for the invitation today to share our feelings and our visions but also thanks very much for a part of the support that we got for participating in the ecological action at COP 27 so the first thing that I wanted to say is that well I go to these climate change summits regularly this was not my first summit but it was the first summit the first COP where we did not have a summit of the peoples when I go to these events I go to the summit of peoples the peoples to share our fights design strategies to learn to learn of the fight of other peoples and this time a summit without the peoples summit this made that this was a very special summit in terms of well the little thing that we were able to do at this COP but social organizations was in the middle of a summit that's totally illegitimate because for many years this summit this COP stopped being about climate change and it's just a business summit so what I can tell the enormous force take from the summit is the big commitment of a social organization so that we can now in this context and in a country that's fully repressive so that we can do what we were able to do and that's organizing events side events we organized side events that's what I take we were able to to meet in all those gardens of COP to march together in the entrance of COP that is in these few spaces of democracy that exist and this is not the very first time that we do it the cops are always like that cops are always spaces of very little democracy but this time was a lot of low democracy because of the context of the country and because we did not have a people summit this time so my takeaway that was my experience my personal experience as a generous summit but also what I take is that the strength of people summits to organize to exchange strategies to learn and to denounce to it's always there so this is the experience that I could share when it comes to the first question that you asked us from Kyra's well maybe it could continue on just a little bit Yvonne like what you might change I mean it's too bad there there wasn't that opportunity for the people's summit or and kind of repressive democracy as you mentioned what would you do differently now you've been to many cops is there anything going to change for you I personally do not expect okay I go to cops without any expectations that we can get positive results for people's that is the first thing so I wouldn't put all my energy in changing cop but I would put energy and effort so that we do not repeat a cop like this one like the one we had now and that we can have the possibility that cop 28 will be the same or worse I don't know it's always worth that is for sure because it will be in a country where there are no democratic participation processes let alone women and so I wouldn't invest energy in trying to change that however what I what I would where I would put my energy is to try to imagine how to create a people's summit in a context like this one and well I want to share an experience with you now that I'm outside Egypt there was an attempt of organizing and on the 21st and the 22nd and El Cailo forum on climate justice with Egyptian organizations so that we could discuss climate justice social changes economic changes political changes and so forth and two days before the event the organizers got a phone call from the secret police from Egypt telling them that if they organized that event that they would be put in jail it was plain as simple two days before that so what we did was we were 15 people that we we had our tickets for coming back on the 23rd some of them changed their tickets and they got back some of us did not change our tickets so we stayed there so what we did was we went to a hotel to the Marriott hotel so that they don't think anything wrong because you know if they listen to a capitalist if they listen Marriott they think that everything's okay so we went to the Marriott hotel we rented the room nobody suspected anything there and we had a hybrid event so yeah that is a political experience that we have to have a lesson so yeah I'm sharing this because my conclusion is that we always can can find a way to authoritarians we can always avoid all these repression we can dodge all this repression but we don't always have the possibility and these are things that enrich our peoples and that's how we organize this meeting and well it is a lesson and it is learnings that I take from from this context well good for you Yvonne and all who are with you well how about Hannah I mean when it comes to repression that sounds like a familiar theme you might be used to what do you what will you do differently as a result of your cop experience yeah I think before I used like to hear a lot of from people that climate change is not a priority for some communities for some people with all what is Palestine facing but nowadays after cop 27 I think it made a real change in people's minds and they are now they started to know more about cop 27 and how they can address this what change we can make is now that we will work intensively on this topic with other partners locally and internationally as well in order to try to minimize the loss and damage that our people are facing due to climate change hazards and for example we are is now brainstorming on a on a plan that will last for not one year two years three years ten years maybe okay in order to address this issue of climate change we are already started earlier with some awareness campaigns with the community and with the youth because the youth are very important and this is what's really impressed me in cop 27 where many side events focused on the role of youth and their inclusion inclusion in decision-making on topics related to to climate change and so through we are there will be many campaigns raising awareness within the community a cleaning voluntary work with the community as well and they all youth to raise awareness that we should keep our country clean and it looks more beautiful and there are of course many challenges with us as Palestinians and as civil society organizations when we want to address this issue but I think that it is very important for us to try to this link the climate issue awareness with the political issue we know that the challenge is wide the challenge is very high and it is risky but we have to start doing this so through we are there will be a planting of trees through this we can we can fight what is the word desertification and because you know the problem with uprooting of olive trees that Israel has been doing for years and olive trees are very important for Palestinians so through we are there will be more planting of trees in order to to make a healthier air and that people can breathe a better air and better life of course and also there will be a campaign on the importance of women participation in climate change and being leaders there there will be more maybe online courses as well not only face-to-face maybe we can use the international community to participate in this in helping us to learn lessons from from lessons from all over the world as well also about recycling water how to use water because you know for us Israel have access on 85 percent of water resources where Palestinians only have access over 25 percent this always give us less water and less land of course when we talk about land confiscation and land stealing also so we we need to know or to teach to the community women men the children everybody it's not only the role of women to rationalize water and to know how to everybody has to participate in this in order to be able to have more water the community also should know how to preserve water like for example cistern when there is rain this is very important also the use of pesticides and fertilizer it is very important to raise and this is what we are really thinking of doing and they have already started doing this with the community that to use a compost and fertilizer it's from natural materials rather than the chemical ones which are really causing harm to women and causing more cancer and especially a breast cancer to women we want really to start minimizing all these risks that women and youth and the community are facing in our country what else okay the use of plastic also people nowadays they are aware more of that okay we don't want to use cups of plastic or let's use the ones that we can reuse and that we can wash again and use because this will make our environment a better environment sorry keep going sorry okay yeah so this is this is there are of course lots lots of ideas that we are brainstorming and we want of course the health of the international community and spiders and and Canada and everybody in order to be able to implement this and this is on the project sector because the private sector is also very important but also it is very important to have work to be done on the governmental level where for example in Gaza there is a huge need for water for desalination and as you know water in in Gaza is contaminated 90% of the water there is contaminated and there should be an intervention from the government and from the international community in order to be able to really apply this and implement it and what about the sewage treatment sewage treatment is very a huge need where where many hills and valleys in Palestine are really contaminated because of the sewage and drainage that settlements just make it flow into the land of the Palestinian and so there are lots of work to be done and lots of plans. Now after coming from COP 27 I can also see people making phone calls and asking tell us about your experience not only my organization but also people they are really willing to know the church also the church from the Anglican church from St. George's Anglican church in Jerusalem and they asked me to tell the experience there so I can see now that there is more awareness more eagerness to know what is this climate change issue what are the countries gathering for why are they there is it serious will they do something and I was really happy with this historical decision that there will be a fund for loss and damage for those countries that has been really affected affected a lot with the the climate change issue I really hope that we can do together something because alone we can't do anything it is together that we can do not alone. Well Hannah I think you've given a long list of areas that Canadians could help and and I think yeah I mean those are topics that we're dealing with too in Canada so we can we can partner on together there and so just I think we probably need to wrap up Yvonne and anything for Canadians um any message for Canadians or the church in Canada? Yeah I'm gonna speak in Spanish um well I think that it's very important participation in these events because you can see the things that the bad guys are doing the evil of evil let us we say in Ecuador and those evil guys we have Canadian companies as well we have mining companies oil companies that have a strong lobbying in these kind of international spaces it is also very important that Canadian churches and Cairo as part of this economical coalition that they could also support no organizations on land in this fight against mining companies in this case in Ecuador and oil companies as well in Canada that are present in the Equatorian Amazon Amazon area and these mining companies that are in the Andes as well and the Andes are very important because they are the source of clean water for millions of people that live in this mountain range so what they've always done what you've always done and from the church that's organizing events raising awareness in Canadian population that the lifestyle in Canada can be affecting or is actually affecting local populations in the south and in this specific case in Ecuador and yeah I wanted to wrap up saying that in in these cups specifically one of the most important topics that were discussed at the end it actually took two days more for the summit to conclude had to do the loss and damage topic now oil which had a statement on these that's lost and damaged lost and damaged so with these statements what we're trying to do is to say it's not about asking for funds necessarily as a loss and damage that maybe for the cop context will arrive as a debt or that will be connected to I don't know another fund but it is important to to to see this idea along with Canadian churches this is something we've been working on that's acknowledging the ecological debt the climate debt not just the climate debt because of the impact of climate change just as my Palestinian colleagues said but also the local impacts that these has had just as our Colombian colleagues spoke about but also this climate debt because of the use and abuse of the environment for the CO2 emissions that's somehow how I love the industrial development of industrialized of no countries countries of the north but also to speak about this climate debt that comes because of these fake solutions that have been approved for some decades already in these climate change summits for instance the nature-based solutions like for example projects that are offset the word in English is offset carbon offset or for example the net zero emissions and many other that can be making this impact deeper or creating more zones of sacrifice in the south and that's a very important thing that from Canada they also speak about this that they also open discussions on these of what those plans mean where we can have governments involved but also of course lots of companies and unfortunately lots of organizations of civil society believe that these are good ideas they believe that they are good plans but in reality these plans what they do is a perpetuate climate change on the one side but also they create and they increase the ecological debt that countries that industrialized countries from the north have with peoples and countries in the south so it's lots of tasks to denounce what companies are doing but open the discussion as well about these ecological debts well thank you very much Yvonne and so my sisters and brothers in Canada we have our work cut out for us there's so much we could do to make up for this climate debt you know it's a justice debt so thank you very much Hannah Yvonne and for joining us we have to end this panel now turn it over to Tony thank you very much everyone and by the way the blogs of our speakers have been in the chat so you can go back and get more details if you wish thank you very much again yeah thank you thanks a lot thank you thank you so much very important words and perspectives brought here that's part of the focus this panel on women's discussion leadership and that importance we're connected to a lot of that energy and that focus because of the work that is being lifted up so we have an important connection here with some of the efforts of Kairos in their Orange the World campaign the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence and violence against women and girls from November 25th to December 10th there is also that connection of how we are bringing the lessons learned of COP 27 what Yvonne was mentioning about the business summit aspect and the large contingent of fossil fuel lobbyists and others that tend to dominate the conversations and do piecemeal work on taking apart some of the energy and the focus for concerted climate change efforts and and how we need to change systemically in in this work and so by continuing to lift up those voices to to understand that we have a connection we have a commitment and a call in this work as Hannah was saying about the or Yvonne was saying about the ecological debts the global north whose focus tends to be sent self-centered on preservation needs to start to understand that global frame and that our impacts and advocacy extend outside of our borders and how we are affecting the world so we are going to next move on to our second panel we have Alicia Greenfield the vicar of Holy Cross Anglican Church in North Vancouver British Columbia Canada to present our next panel discussion and I'm going to turn it over to her for a discussion on centering Indigenous leadership and history in climate action. Good morning I am looking for my panelists so as they are introduced we can see who they are thank you I see first Clifford who did the blanket exercise at crop and is a blanket exercise facilitator I see Tia who is a policy analyst and I see Paul from the Philippines who focuses on campaigns and mobilization and I know your your stress who works on in as an intern of development and peace is also here because I saw her earlier so I am assuming she will come in my very brief introductions I do not do a quarter a fraction of justice to the incredible activities and thoughtfulness of these people Cheryl will be presenting each of the bios in the chat and I invite you all to meet these delegates more fully at that time. Hi nice to and here is Eustria Eustria to give context to the panel in previous cops Indigenous voices and leadership as well as youth voices and leadership have been marginalized and muted an increasing number of Indigenous land and environmental defenders are being targeted and even killed when they speak to defend the environment and their communities this means that the particular impacts of the climate crisis on Indigenous peoples the relationships with the environment and the solutions are not being heard or taken into account which is a heavy beginning to these questions I'll read all three questions so that we all know where we're going and then I will ask each of you the first question and then the second question so that we understand where we're going together so the questions are how was the experience for you and what is your most significant takeaway so we'll do around with that question then what do you want to do with this experience how will it shape your work on these issues going forward and we'll do around with that question and finally what is the value of this type the cop gathering is there anything else you would add to the Canadian public and so Clifford I would invite you to and we're going in the random order of you appearing on my spring Clifford how is this experience for you what was your most significant takeaway good morning I want to say you give you to everybody across Turtle Island and around the world all of my relations good evening if the sun has set on you in your parts Alicia I just wanted to take a second and say like when when we were all coming on here and you said I seek the privilege to it almost felt like romper room like it was like my romper room moment with the magic mirror so you know it tasted my childhood so thank you for that nostalgia so early in the morning so cop was an incredible experience for myself and I'm sure it was for many many people my big challenge going to cop was you know what do I have to bring what do I have to offer because I don't center my work in and around the environment and ecology I'm a graduate student in public health I have worked in health and social services in delivery and administration so I come at this from a very different place so I was trying to figure out how to fit into that setting and that's something that I've had to do my whole life I've you know never really fit in anywhere that I've ever gone and that's you been a blessing in some situations and it's been a challenge in others and I think that this was one of the times that it was challenging but in saying that cop for me was really transformational and transformative not just for myself professionally but for myself on a spiritual level and deeply personal as an issue of a and someone who has been raised you know outside of my culture I'm actively trying to rediscover and relearn my culture and our traditional teaching so this is something that has occurred in my life you know over over many many years and many experiences help in helping that identity journey for myself and and and cock was no different in that in trying to figure out you know what I could offer to cop you know I had this tool with me that I was offering in the civil society climate justice hub I've facilitated many black and blanket exercises before it's many different groups and so every time you facilitate you kind of have to frame the exercise for the participants that you're getting for lack of the better term whether that's school children whether that's public sector employees like teachers or nurses non-profit sector corporate you know private private industry I've had to I've had to do that so I've had to figure out a way to make the blanket exercise and its message land for people and that was what my challenge was for caught because I've never really had to do it around climate justice and climate action and the climate crisis we talk about land you know all the time in the exercise the whole exercise is based around land and and the story of the land of Turtle Island but not in terms of the climate crisis so that was a professional challenge for me and in trying to you know fulfill that responsibility for myself I was really brought closer to my culture in a lot of ways as well for my people we see ourselves as part of the land we don't see ourselves as people living on the land we understand ourselves as being physically and spiritually connected to the land so the conversation earlier when Nelson I think was talking to Juan Rachel you know talking about our neighbor and loving our neighbor that's that's a really interesting you know concept Christians will ask each other you know like how can I love my neighbor better or you know how can I forgive you know seven seven times seven times our people look to everybody as our relations we don't look at each other as neighbors or as strangers we are all relations and we we greet each other as such it doesn't matter whether or not more people came from Turtle Island or whether you're a visitor to these lands whose ancestors were visitors to these lands or whatnot we are all relations and so I think when we are able to see each other not as strangers and not even as neighbors but as family as people who are you know connected to each other and connected to the land everything that we do changes every policy that we develop and implement every you know economic opportunity that we take dramatically different dramatically changes when we are able to see the land as ourselves we wouldn't extract you know parts of ourselves you know for profit and so why do we do that to the land right or if more people saw themselves as part of the land what would the economy and what would policy and what would development look like thank you and so that's that's how I am seeing a titch interupting so I'll give you one more sentence the issue is I'm watching the time and knowing we have a lot of questions and there for all of you are heard as fully and again I'll say this Cheryl has put your blogs on the side so because I feel like I could listen to you for another half an hour and I could probably talk for another half an hour so what I will say is that it was a transformational experience um and something I'm still coming to terms with um as I look at my work going forward the other piece I heard which is useful for me is to address land and each other as relations um which I have heard again but to hear it again here was useful thank you Paul and and I am so sorry if I have to interrupt okay it's really hard to do Paul yeah uh I think uh attending conference this is also my first time attending conference and it was really a big uh a huge gathering for me and I was there a bit earlier to attend uh the meetings of the legends people's uh focus on the work uh to uh my main takeaway would be one the connection and the linkage of the pressing climbing crisis to the indigenous struggles who are in militarism to the issues of human rights to ecumenism actually and to that larger economic crisis in the amount of solidarity across the world uh across different nations people who are willing to face these challenges uh in the in the pool uh event of COP 27 I think this is the linkage of issues and the people especially of course with kairos with the first nations from Canada that we were able to meet and also from the US and from the whole third third island uh was very important to me second uh I think according to the IP COP which this is the biggest attendance for indigenous peoples this COP and on the other hand this is also the largest number of fossil fuel abuse in attendance so and for Canada with standing issues on oil and gas companies and issues of first nations asserting their uh rights to land I think the Canadian governments has a lot to prove on its commitment on how to seriously fight climate change and uphold indigenous peoples rights and and how it will deal with its oil and gas business and lastly I think there is always an urgent and pressing need for to center peoples rights human rights and justice in in in in any discussions on how to address climate change sometimes we uh think it will be automatically referred to in the documents but no in in many of the language outcome documents in deciding and implementing the actions immobilizing climate finance and climate solutions as I said earlier not not the false marketplace solutions there the these rights do not come automatic but sometimes we there is always a need to assert and push for it to be included in the many many discussions so yeah I think those are and in the outcomes of COP 27 those things uh we we saw it how how the peoples organization civil society has been very very vocal very active to be included uh on these negotiations to really make their voices heard to make human rights peoples rights uh indigenous peoples rights and justice to be the center of the outcome of these negotiations thank you Paul Eustra yeah I just want to start off by saying thank you to Kyra and for the love of creation for allowing me the opportunity to take part on this delegation and it was a truly incredible experience as I am sure it was for everyone on our delegation it was so wild um you know growing up like seeing COP like on tv or just like reading articles about it and just trying to stay up to date with everything that was happening and then actually being there like being right in the middle of all the action seeing so much happen and it was just it was it was unbelievable for me for at least the first couple of days it was I'm still kind of struggling to process all of it because so much happened and it was it was an incredible opportunity and just one thing I'd like to point out um it was great to see an increase in representation um for both youth and indigenous peoples and people of color in general um I definitely noticed that it has improved in recent years and this year was no exception it was absolutely incredible to see so many diverse people and so many diverse voices being represented on the COP stage of course we can only go up from here it's always onwards and upwards and it's always something that you know conferences like COP can improve on it's I'm hoping that next year we just continue to see this kind of growth and we continue to see more and more voices being represented not just at the delegation level but also just kind of in the negotiation rooms as well and at the decision-making levels and people actually having a seat at the table I think I am really looking forward to that and I really really hope fingers cause that we do see that happen but yeah it was it was truly a really great experience for all of the reasons that I've just described and it just it gave me it gave me a lot of hope thank you Yusra Tia yeah it was good it was incredible thank you to everyone at Kyros and the love for creation for all your support and being able to get me there this was my first time experiencing COP so it was really interesting you know I got to meet with like people that I don't see often from Turtle Island I got to spend some time there with them I got to build these relationships with everyone on the delegation and I got to learn so much from the other delegates about the global south you know how we have very similar experiences with this with climate change and the way that we're impacted and I even got to build connections with people like I didn't I've never met before and it's it's interesting that you know these people are from your own country from Canada and you'll probably never cross pass with them like while you're in Canada but when you're in this little space at COP you know you're constantly running in and bumping into people that you probably weren't in Canada and yet you share so many similar interests about like climate change and I'm wanting earth justice and all that sort of stuff so I had a really great experience in terms of that and I I learned so so much but I think I'm also like depending on the way you experience and you see the world COP is going to look different for everyone like we're hearing from all all the delegates and I'm still sort of struggling with the idea of COP kind of reflecting on that quote from Boris the UK prime minister from at Glasgow last year like if these things were really working why why is this like our 27th COP and I'm also like the youth voices there was some Indigenous youth from the states that got there bad that were debudged during the first week so they weren't there the second week and that to me is like you're still silencing the voices of Indigenous peoples when you're doing that the the region or the the town that it was in to me it seemed like unsustainable and I thought to myself what if we hosted you know COP it generates a lot of revenue what if we like gave COP or or hosted COP in places that are leading on sustainability rather than hosting them in places that just you know have the most money or or bid on a bid the most but like that would create a a big difference because countries would be like oh well we want more revenue so let's let's host it there um yeah so I'll try to keep it short sorry but my experience was really good and I'm also reflecting on how to keep challenging the status quo because we don't have a lot of time until 2030 like there's only six years so I'm thinking about these future generations and and what what we need to do right now immediately to create that drastic change that we desperately need thank you Tia so reflecting on the experience hearing all of you um that there was a wealth of it um that there was some incredible beauty in relationships and in relationships knowing that I was a part of the virtual delegation last year those relationships continue and that we continue to connect and to grow into those relationships and then a diversity around most significant takeaway around the increase in diversity and the hopefulness of that on the continuing silence uh silencing on the challenges of of um Paul hearing your comments around people say they're going to do these things now let's see it um and Clifford uh the that sense of who are we identity wise if we are all relations and in relationship with land so uh a lot of Richmond richness in that first reflection on experience so the next question I'm okay I'm going to be we have I've been told we should be done in about 20 25 minutes um and so watch me be tight here um what are you going to do with this experience and I so I'd invite you to reflect on on maybe one piece and I would invite everybody to save your blogs because boy we we'd be interested in all of us in the fullness and depth of your reflection but if there was one thing you were going to do with this reflection this first week um what would you think that would be and I'm going to go in the opposite direction so Tia um yeah one thing that I'm thinking about um you know a lot of indigenous organizations are still even though the UNDRIP recognizes our rights and you know there's an indigenous people's caucus they still struggle to find badges um to enter these spaces and get accreditation so I'm thinking about two you know grassroots people people within my own community that have been doing this work with the environment and being on the land for 30 20 years how to start bringing them into these spaces because I I think their knowledge is really valuable and one quote that I heard is you know if you're not at the table you're on the menu so how do we keep bringing more indigenous people to the table to start advocating and asserting our rights thank you Eustria I think like the experience has given me a lot to think about and just um more ways that I can grow I just I really hope to continue having these kinds of conversations just trying to listen to as many different voices as I can um prioritize listening to these voices whenever I can and just keep thinking about ways in which um you know I can play my part in helping to amplify um these messages and at any kind of conference or at any kind of platform um maybe a future cops and conferences in general and yeah it's like I said it's um something that I'm still processing and um something that you know I just again just wanting to continue thank you Paul I think from the initial frontier and uh Eustria and from the initial panel the solution is really in how people come together it's in the people's hands so those who are mostly affected by the crisis this I think uh I would carry and be motivated to for us to more to do urgent bold and aggressive steps to link each other to organize and rise together I think through our linkages with uh different indigenous peoples networks the IPMSDL network uh the people's rising for climate justice and other environmental groups there is so much to bring back to our members to the national and local communities and also there's a lot to share today to the national platform on the realities of what's happening on the ground meaning the role of indigenous peoples uh in preserving the remaining biodiversity in the lands and waters especially in those in their ancestral territories thank you Paul Clifford I think for myself what I encourage my participants and blanket exercises to do thinking about reconciliation is to think about what you can do yourself in the capacity that you have so that is my approach to my climate action efforts I can only do what I have the capacity to be able to do and for me that might be conversations where I encourage people to have a paradigm shift Tia talks about Tia talks about the table and if you're not at the table you're on the menu when I talk about reconciliation I talk about a table as well and I talk about that table needing to be reset we can't just shuffle the chairs and the people who are there and the dishes that are being served we have to fundamentally change what that dining experience looks like because if we're just incorporating you know a couple of new people and a couple of new ideas that's not really a new way of doing things that's just you know a softer kinder gentler colonialism we have to change what we're doing and that requires non-indigenous people to gain indigenous knowledge and to use that knowledge in a good way and change what we're doing going forward and that starts the paradigm shift and I might be able to encourage that in the work that I do thank you very much I heard both personal growth and building bridges I heard paradigm shift and urgent and bold on that note the next question has two pieces what is the value of this type of gathering of a crop type gathering so if you could say a sentence about that and then two minutes you have a you have probably some of the most passionate people the people who are willing to get up at five thirty in the morning just to hear what you're you have to say what with what actions or thoughts or relationships would you invite this community to explore this next year and Clifford it would be to explore that paradigm shift it would be to challenge your inner working model and the knowledge that you have and the truths that you understand as you understand them right now and gain a different perspective and try to see yourself as part of land and then watch everything that happens from that point forward because it'll be monumental and it'll be incredibly different than what you're doing upon the land right now so one follow-up question to you who have spent some time thinking about paradigm shift if I will believe you I totally do that's a piece of what we need to do next what would be one thing you could do to shift your paradigm which is really hard to do that's difficult for me to answer in the constraints of time I don't have a response to that in the moment I'm sorry well it's not fair to put you on the spot because that that is the question that I've been struggling with since I went last year so I was just you know if you had a brilliant solution I was going to borrow yours um read learn different learn from different perspectives if it feels unsettling then you're doing it right thank you Paul yeah I think the value of attending cop and service still this is another just one part or sell of the opportunities to forward the struggles of indigents this is where the governments and companies confront we can confront them of their historical depth to the global south to to their depth of injustice historically to the indigents and coming from the Philippines the most dangerous place in Asia for environment defenders linked with foreign-instructive businesses for investments and we have some canadian mining companies here in our countries I think there's definitely strong for the canadian public to ensure that these monies with with some of the commitments of the canadian government with the Philippines or any other governments where they channel their the people's people's money basically if it's a government one to ensure that this money is not used to attack indigenous peoples communities through false solutions this money is not used to disregard indigenous peoples rights to land to people's basic freedoms not for militarization or the terrorist tagging and criminalization of indigenous peoples leaders who are resisting any exploitative projects and oppressive policies and I think with everyone here attending here there is always a need for support to fight for indigenous peoples who are as we have said silence and attack especially linked to the grabbing of their lands and the injustices raised it to your government to to you to your leaders nato linco but in many other platforms as as much as we can you know we're with our members with like-minded groups and institutions to forward the voices and the fight for indigenous peoples while I heard a call again to accountability that we as canadians pay attention to where the money goes and that it isn't enough to sort of send it off without thinking and falling following through I heard again from the prior panel that call to accountability for canadians in their participation, engagement, in mining. Thank you. Eustra. I echo Clifford's words completely. I think there is a lot of value in having cops. Things like the loss and damage fund would not have been established without participation it would not have been established without lobbying and it would not have been established without the conversations like the ones that we're having today. Again like I completely echo what Clifford said about unsettling being part of the process discomfort is a feeling that you should acknowledge and latch on to and understand when you're having these kinds of conversations and you know I always urge people to pay attention to just the voices that are being platformed but then also pay attention to the ones that are not. Pay attention to the voices that aren't there and then actively seek them out if you can. That active portion I think is something that we've started to do a lot better in recent years and I think we should just continue doing that and yeah that's all for me. So what I heard in terms of I heard two things one is that there is value of cop and not to lose sight of the pieces that do work in valid and reasonable criticism of the pieces that do not and then I heard a challenge to everybody who is here at this table to notice who is in your conversations and who is not and to take action which can feel uncomfortable to invite voices that you are not hearing and that that is a piece of work that you are asking of us at this time. Tia. Yeah I'll just reiterate like everything that Clifford, Eustera and Paul said I think though too with the whole loss and damage look at it's great that it's happening it should happen. It's not black or white for me like yes we need loss and damage but we also need to keep striving for more and better changes. We need to shift that mindset of you know loss and damage is kind of this harm reduction mentality when we just need to stop the harm period you know like and over consumption like that's a huge issue that the global north is playing a role in like living beyond our needs and our means like that's something that I try to be mindful of every day is just like is this something that is a want or a need like over consumption is a huge issue and then when we're thinking about just transition kind of what Eustera was saying there was a panel at COP where they were talking about just transition there was no indigenous people on that panel and I don't even think they mentioned like indigenous people once like on that panel and so how do you expect our communities when we don't even have clean water to start you know getting smart cars and and our teslas like you got to think about indigenous communities when we're talking about just transition to who's being left out of these conversations how can we support them and then with that shift of mindset what Clifford was talking about for me it brought me to think about you know love is the highest vibration that we can feel as human beings and my name my spirit name is ganoke which means the golden eagle woman and that eagle in the seven grandfather teachings it represents love and that represents love because it's the highest flying creature and it's closest to creator and it has the ability to see from afar it can see everybody's perspectives it can carry all those teachings so just just always try and come from a place of love and just have the have the be willing to view multiple perspectives so yeah that's it for me thank you thank you Tia hearing hearing the importance of just plain stopping the harm like just stopping paying attention to over consumption here in canada and to end thank you Tia on love on love in a deep sense of curiosity of other perspectives and paradigms so thank you all so much for your reflections and your time it is an honor to have met you and to have heard you my understanding is that there is now time for some questions for all of the panelists and that I turn it over to Tony Cheryl and Shannon to host those questions blessings on all of your work thank you thank you so much Alisha and the panel I'm going to take these spotlights off we'll go back to gallery view and see if we can talk to everyone oh there we go um I don't really need a spotlight either um so folks now is your opportunity I have not yet seen um questions in the chat so you could put up your hand if you want to ask verbally or you could drop a question into the chat to any of the panelists that we have heard now a few of them had prior commitments and needed to slip away um but uh the the second panel is all um here I think Tia's only here for a couple more minutes and um let me just see from the first panel Hannah is here um from the first panel as well so participants do you have questions there are some comments going into the chat trust you're all looking at those now this question got written to everyone and not to a specific person um I saw I'm going to read it out from John I saw an interview with a politician during COP 27 in which he explained the importance of keeping the pressure on officials by holding vigils marches letter campaigns etc so that they know the particular issue is still front and center in people's hearts and minds what ways will you be going um keeping the climate change and human rights pressure on the decision makers going forward I think that's a question for all of us um as so one of the delegates alluded to but are there any um of the delegates who want to share any of those pieces that you know will happen in the year to come or things you're you're thinking about and wishing would happen Tia go ahead I'm actually in Colorado right now I'm going to attending a UN human rights summit and I'll be talking about traditional knowledge so I'll definitely be talking about a lot of the stuff that I said today and that'll be keeping my pressure on the UN but besides that we also talked to one of the Green Party members while we were in COP Clifford Rachel and I um and we talked about doing a campaign um so that's something that I'm interested in in doing to you know keep that pressure on and think that's important um so yeah maybe keep an eye out for that because we could use your support definitely in the future absolutely we'll keep in touch and Tia maybe you can stay there from them because I I know that um you also had an opportunity to talk to the Canadian minister of the environment and climate change can you tell the rest of the audience a little bit about that and about what might come of that yeah it was during a BIPOC youth meeting with the minister and we all had the opportunity to like share what we wanted to say and we went around the roundtable a lot of people talked about you know the water crisis that's still happening just transition um yeah there was a lot of important information that was shared with him and then at the end he he mentioned that you know I'll never understand your frustration and so at that point um I offered him um an invitation to my community to come see that frustration firsthand for himself um and he said I accept your point but my point was the invitation so his team got my information and hopefully next year he'll be able to come and uh we'll take him out on the land my family owns a lodge out there and we're very very connected my cousin works at the heritage center that does a lot of environmental work so hopefully we can take him out um he can build a relationship with the land and see it firsthand for himself um because I think yeah that that's something that's really important I don't know how often these politicians actually you know they're so busy how often do they actually get to go spend some time on the land when they're constantly advocating for the land like they should be building their relationship with the land to be able to do that work so um that was kind of my idea behind it there what a wonderful idea I think that just builds on exactly what Clifford was saying then the need for the paradigm shift like be on the land of course and we sure hoped that um that the government follows through on that that uh Steven Guibo will actually be there and and if there's any way we can support that uh you know if they need a little pressure to make it happen that's what we're about um and I wanted to ask all of the delegates uh this question that Cheryl put in the the chat what are the top policy asks for the Canadian minister of the environment and climate change so does anyone want to say what are the policy Hannah has a hand up yeah great Hannah and if you had another point that's okay too Hannah I'm not hearing you sorry uh yeah I wanted first to answer the first question which is how do we think of the future of climate change and I would like to say that now I'm part of the gender policy and the environmental network which we will work more and more into brainstorming and bring new techniques and and and methodologies into this also we have is the part a part of the many um many partners the network where they are working on gender and gender-based violence and environmental um environmental awareness and campaigns and etc uh what we would like to see is that to have more pressure on the government on the Israeli government for example to abide with its uh with the agreement that has signed and ratified uh that applies to the uh Palestinians and also to hold accountable the Palestinian government also to really move forward with uh its implementation of the agreement that has uh signed thank you Hannah yes you're welcome keep up the pressure yeah another suggestion in the chat was we can all go to our banks and discuss ethical banking and think about how we personally talk with our money and with that I'm going to turn it back to Tony uh actually before we turn it back to Tony we're going to have a couple of pieces from Cheryl in terms of what are some other actions and things we can consider so a couple of announcements from Cheryl before Tony will have the opportunity to close well great and thank you and thank you to all of the delegates um uh for um you know expressing their experiences to us and um there were some really invaluable insights we I'm really really grateful um to what you had to say so uh it was brought up a number of times um Canadian corporate accountability we do have two uh bills uh private member members bills uh before the House of Commons uh they are bill 262 and 263 that we're really trying to push this is something that the government of Canada is resistant to so we need all the pressure we can apply to this um what we have done is we've taken that and those two bills as well as the environmental racism bill also a private members bill bill 226 kind of package them together in a way um noting that all of them um do touch on the issue of environmental racism whether it's here in Canada or uh in other countries as well certainly in the way Canadian mining companies operate or their impacts so we do have um we do have a letter um that you can easily uh it can take you under a minute to you know put your information in and off it goes or you can also put a little bit more information in there as well um I do have an update on bill 226 the environmental racism bill uh the House of Commons Environmental Committee has actually approved it it did so on November 14th and now it is ready for third reading and final vote in the House of Commons not too sure when that will be but it could be soon so if you have not done so already we're asking you to please contact your MP in support of this bill and the two uh corporate accountability bills as well and I'm asking Shannon I already put it in the chat earlier but Shannon's putting it in the chat again and you may want to uh you know add or in in in that letter um to you know something about um really hoping that you will um vote for it when it goes to final vote um soon uh the other thing I want to mention um is that I'm sure you all know um next week is the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference otherwise known as COP 15 it begins in a Montreal on December 7th and it goes to the 19th and they will meet to determine the post 2020 global biodiversity framework um and I'm sure Shannon's going to put something in the chat about that I do want to highlight a few things though um we know that the stakes are very high just as they are with the climate crisis and of course those are incredibly linked um just the scale of nature loss whether from climate change or other human development uh including entire ecosystems have been lost um so the situation is quite dire and requires urgent attention the Lodato Sea movement of Canada will be at COP 15 and together with the international Lodato Sea movement it has been gathering support for a healthy planet healthy people petition calling on political leaders at COP 15 to tackle the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis together promise no more biodiversity collapse for at least 50 of the year's lands and marine areas be protected for nature by 2030 ensure equitable global action including support for those most affected and and equally and very important protect and respect human rights including the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in climate and biodiversity you can sign this petition they will be taking it to COP 15 and Shannon will put that petition in the chat and one more final thing and this is for groups groups can sign on to an international multi-faith response to the post 2020 global biodiversity framework by visiting on an online forum the deadline for that is December 5th um and Shannon are you able to put those okay great awesome and that's for me thank you over to you Tony thank you so much um and thank you to everyone for their participation today for your participation in charmerl chic and for the work of kairos as they moved forward with the accreditation of the united church to to represent our interests and the interests of faith communities and the work of inclusion for the youth delegation for the delegation of indigenous people and the work that continues especially with the inclusion of women's voices women's leadership very important part of how we are coming together as more of a coalition of groups and our concerted efforts as we continue this work of climate advocacy and climate justice the work that as we heard will continue in montreal and the work that will continue into the next year we encourage all of the participants delegates and others to help and submit when you have events and things coming up when you have blogs as we've seen from from cliford very important to to maintain our connection and our work through social media and other ways that we support one another that we are not alone in this effort to promote change to promote leadership to promote a sustainable world and the work of our different interests to bring together in one voice that we can have a an effect or marginal incremental changes that are being proposed that we have more of a a voice within that represents where we are going and where we are heading as a community as a nation and as a global interest so very thankful for all those from the various areas that came and took part that came and offered their words and perspectives having brought a different experience and a different understanding to this group and a call for more work on ourselves more work in our support of those in the global south and other areas the interests that we leverage here from the global north and the interests of the companies and lobbyists and groups that advocate in our government that we need to parallel with our own work and we need to ensure that we are doing our campaigns that we are doing our letter writing that we are doing our advocacy in our communities and to our leadership that we have a voice within this and that I call to participate and really make that effort as we are trying to help the future help those future generations that will ultimately find the benefit of what we are doing today. So we want to thank everyone and give a short blessing to everyone for their time here and moving forward we will of course have other information and other sessions that come up when I went to Madrid and as the delegation for Glasgow the I think a part of that was that feeling that we needed to continue to be present and to participate to help out and so very happy to to be here to do that as well but for those that are part of this new family of people through the COP experience I encourage you to continue to reach out or continue to build on the relationships and the experience the advocacy very important for how we move forward how we understand the world it's a very trying and I think frustrating experience to go to COP and to try to find space for advocacy work with those that are struggling with a lot of the issues especially from who come representing interests of indigenous people or places that are not generally recognized and don't have leadership within that forum to say what they need to say so we pray for them as well we pray for all of those that are here and and all those that are yet to come so let us pray greater god you are our light you are our guide you set us upon creation to be part of this world to integrate our knowledge with the knowledge that you have hidden in every leaf and every flower and we know that as we grow and learn from this creation and your works we will find a better balance to be here in this land in a way that is helpful and nurturing and sustaining for all these things and all these gifts that you have given us we give gratitude and thanks and for all the challenges that are yet to come we hope that we will support one another and be in community as we grow into our calling and our purpose for the future help us and be with us as we experience trials and troubles and challenges we know that together we work better and that we work in a more concerted effort that will make serious change for our future blessing to all of those that traveled safely to the their destination and back blessing for all of those as we enter into this season that they might find blessing that they might find encouragement that they might be energized for the future as they take time to be with family to be with their community and to support and share with one another thank you all thank you thank you everybody it was nice seeing you today and for the discussion also thank you Tony and all the delegates and everyone who came thank you take care thank you everyone