Youth of the Beaufort Delta aren’t taking climate change lying down, and they have the declaration to prove it.
Following a three-day conference March 6-8 at the Ninhat Gwich’in Council building where the group of youth
Youth of the Beaufort Delta aren’t taking climate change lying down, and they have the declaration to prove it.
Following a three-day conference March 6-8 at the Ninhat Gwich’in Council building where the group of youth learned about erosion of the coastline around Tuktoyaktuk, changes in ocean chemistry from climate change, how scientists track and monitor Beluga whales and how scientists know what climate in the distant past was like, the group drafted a one page document.
“We wanted to take the youth and ask them what are their ideas, do a little bit of education and come together and think about solutions to the bigger problems,” said organizer Maddysen Kingmiaqtuq-Devlin, a 2019 alumnus of Students on Ice who put the conference together with the help of her father, Tony. “So far it’s mostly been observing, a lot of idea creating. I’m very impressed by all the very intelligent people that have come to this conference. They’re very mature and able to take the information and do something with it.”
Having completed the Students on Ice Program, Kingiaqtuq-Devlin was able to access the Expeditions to Community (E2C) program, which covered the costs of putting the conference on.
The declaration was inspired by similar declarations written by the Gwich’in Youth from the 2016 Gwich’i