VANCOUVER—Earlier this year, 10-year-old Mira Bortolussi organized a climate strike at her British Columbia elementary school to highlight what she calls a desperate need for action.

Bortolussi was one of 10 youth climate activists ranging in age from 10 to 18 who met with Premier John Horgan on Friday afternoon as millions of young people took to the streets around the world.

Bortolussi became involved after being struck by the devastating impact of plastic in the oceans.

“In your lifetimes, you’ve seen and felt the changes that we need to address today. It’s not insurmountable,” Horgan told the room.

“We have been able to do this in B.C., not in a partisan way, but together to see changes in reducing our emissions profile while population growth is happening, the economy is growing, wealth is being generated, and we can still be world leaders.”

Each of the young activists expressed with vigour a fight for their future — which for them, is uncertain.

Youth were at the heart of mass demonstrations in cities around the world Friday, where they demanded stronger action on climate change to avoid the worst effects of a crisis that has already taken hold. Millions took to the streets in Melbourne and hundreds of thousands in New York.

The largest rallies in Canada are expected to take place Sept. 27, but youth activists have demonstrations planned for the whole week.

Circled in a small office, the 10 activists represented University Hill Elementary School, University Hill Secondary School, and the North Vancouver Climate Leadership Youth Council. Bowinn Ma, MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale and parliamentary secretary for TransLink, joined the roundtable.

During the hour-long meeting, the topics of discussion included corporate accountability, transportation, food security, rising sea levels, and better emissions regulations.

But it wasn’t only issues these youth brought to the premier, it was also solutions, such as reconfiguring vehicle engines to electric ones in order to reduce emissions from shipping and metal waste.

Sehaj Hundal, 16, told the premier that there’s a discrepancy between the facts and necessary action.

“When you think about how little action there is for such a great crisis, it makes me feel small and minuscule compared to how big of a challenge it is,” she said.

Horgan responded by telling Hundal that she resisted this feeling of hopelessness by being hopeful. Several times during the talk, he repeated — as those in the room shook their heads in agreement — that climate change is connected to issues of inequality and human rights.

The premier encouraged the activists to get involved at an institutional level and commended their advocacy work so far.

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“We do not have the same luxuries you did. We cannot wait to become leaders of tomorrow, which is really uncertain,” 17-year-old Nikolas Michael told the premier. “That’s why I think youth activism is so big now. This is our moment.”

Canada, which is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world on average, is already feeling the effects of the climate emergency.

Researchers from the University of Victoria and Environment Canada concluded the devastating wildfires that ripped through B.C. in 2017 burned an area seven to 11 times larger than they would have expected without climate change.

These fires are expected to become more intense and more frequent in the future. Heat waves, which can already be deadly in Canada, are becoming more extreme. And, in some areas, torrential rains, which can trigger landslides and major floods, are becoming more common.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city on Friday, hundreds gathered in Vancouver for a “die-in” meant to illustrate the dire consequences of climate inaction.

Rallying first at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the youth climate activists quickly made their way into the Pacific Centre Mall’s food court, surprising security guards, who at first tried to get them to leave. Media were also told to leave before Vancouver police arrived and helped the protest action proceed.

At 11:55 a.m., someone blew a whistle, and hundreds of youth and supporters laid down on the floor, holding signs like, “I died fighting wildfires” and “I died because crops failed.”

From there, the group marched to the office tower that houses Teck Resources’ Vancouver headquarters.

On the steps of the mining company’s headquarters, they repeated the “die-in,” this time complete with buckets of fake blood pouring down the courtyard steps. A bagpiper played a mournful ballad as actors dressed in hazardous materials suits removed the bodies of “dead” children on homemade stretchers.

Fifteen-year-old Lilah Williamson, a Grade 10 student at a Burnaby high school, said the protesters targeted Teck because they believe it is one of the world’s largest polluters, and frequently drives an agenda rife with climate change denialism.

“Corporations all over the world have been spreading lies about the climate crisis since it was discovered in the 1900s,” Williamson said. “We need to send them the message that this needs to stop and we need to move to renewable energy.

“We want to show them this is the world they are creating for their children if they don’t stop,” Williamson said.

With files from Ainslie Cruickshank

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