Saskatoon students flex their civic muscle in rally for the environment

The next generation of voters came out to speak publicly on climate issues at the Vimy Ridge memorial in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

Around two hundred and fifty students from elementary to high school showed up for the event, giving speakers a chance to try their hand at activism while practicing their public speaking skills in front of their peers.

Teacher Michael Prebble says he helped organize the event because young people are the most important voices to hear from in the climate debate.

"These guys honestly are the people that take it the most serious, the younger generation. Our generations, including adults and policy makers in the power positions, we've been dragging our feet too long," said Prebble.

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Student Summer Williams says she wants the provincial government to meet with the youth once a month to discuss these issues.

"Basically we want to be able to give the government ideas of what the youth want, instead of them focusing on themselves,” said Williams.

“We wanted to give everyone an opportunity to speak. Especially for the kids — this is our future; we're frightened for it.”

As the next generation, Williams feels the responsibility falls on them to make the changes they want to see.

"Climate change gets passed down to the younger generations to deal with it. In enough time we won’t have time to even fix it. It’s our futures we're working for, so if we really care about it and want to live our lives how we want to live them, then we need to focus on climate change now instead of pushing it off," she said.