Provincial Environment Minister Dustin Duncan says he will talk with climate activists at an upcoming rally.

Young people have been holding climate strikes, often organized through the group Fridays for Future Regina, in front of the Legislature since March.

Three teens who are members of Regina Enviro Collective met with Duncan earlier this week to talk about climate change.

"I made a commitment that I'm going to speak to the students [at a future protest]," Duncan said on Thursday.

Sydney Chadwick was one of three youth who recently met with Saskatchewan Environment Minister Dustin Duncan. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)

"We're going to try to make that work. Certainly it's a few weeks away, but I think that's going to work."

Sydney Chadwick was one of the students who met with Duncan.

Chadwick said while she and her peers did not agree with Duncan on a number of topics they still had a good conversation.

"We kind of just talked about what we wanted to see done in our province and we wanted to know what they were doing in our province to fight climate change," Chadwick told Blue Sky host Peter Mills.

Chadwick believes the province needs to slow down oil extraction and ramp up wind power.

"On our side we wanted to see the oil extraction slowing down and that was something that we kind of I think need to have further conversations on," she said. "But it was very productive and he is really receptive."

Saskatchewan Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said he is planning to talk with climate protesters at a future rally. (Matthew Howard/CBC)

Duncan said he was impressed with the students' knowledge about the province's climate change strategy, dubbed Prairie Resilience.

"They had a lot of questions and a lot of comments … positive and negative from their point of view," Duncan said.

"But I think for me the thing what was probably most heartening was that at the end of the day I think there's more that we actually agree on than maybe that we disagree on."

Duncan said they talked about a number of topics including the oil industry, net metering, what the government was doing to help communities transition away from coal, and looking at other technologies like small modular reactors (SMRs).

"If reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the main thing then we need to look at every available tool in the tool box," he said.

Chadwick said she has always cared about the environment but was frustrated because she felt she didn't have a voice.

"But then I saw Greta Thunberg and the strikes around the world and I realized I actually do have power to make a change," she said.

The Regina component of the Global Climate Strike marched to Legislature on Friday, Sept. 27. (Bonnie Allen/CBC)

Duncan's promise to meet with protesters at an upcoming rally is a departure from his government's past approach.

For instance, no cabinet ministers attended mass climate strikes that were held around the world and Thunberg met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or when the solar industry showed up last week at the Legislature to protest the new net metering program.

But Duncan did say he was willing to meet with the students again.

"And I made a commitment to the three students that I met with that this is our first meeting, but it's not going to be our last."

Chadwick said the time to act is now.

"It would be nice to, you know, be able to go to school and hang out with my friends, go to work without having to worry about it. But it's really important and it's now or never," she said.