Despite stormy weather in Kenora Friday afternoon, a few dozen people rallied together as part of the Global Climate Strike, a worldwide protest movement encouraging action on climate change.

Magdalena Angel, a Kenora resident, volunteered with Climate Action Kenora to organize the event and is passionate about the cause.

“I would love to see … people that have a lot of impact, organizations that have a lot of impact make really major changes in the way they handle their waste and the way they use that energy,” she said.

Her four-year-old son, Theo, accompanied her to the rally – and like his mom, he wants to see everyone help the Earth.

“[People] should be grateful for their homes and plant trees,” he said.

Local environmentalists, residents and their children gathered under the Whitecap Pavilion to make signs and hear speeches from local leaders. The rally was originally scheduled to happen in front of City Hall but was moved because of the rain.

Jacob Boutwell, a member of Climate Action Kenora’s steering committee, co-led rally organization. He said he’d like to see members of Parliament in Ottawa and Queen’s Park push for sustainable economic decisions: fewer fossil fuels, more renewable energy.

“I would really like to see them vouching for the local communities and putting more power in the hands of people who really want to make change,” he said.

He said he’s disappointed that the provincial government is “more interested in attracting business than creating good climate policy.” Recently, the Ford government clashed with Ottawa over the federal carbon tax, filing an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada challenging its constitutionality.

Last Tuesday, Kenora City Council unanimously approved a motion declaring a climate emergency in the city. They will be drafting a Climate Action Plan and partnering with Grand Council Treaty 3 and the Kenora Métis Council to address climate change.

Coun. Kirsi Ralko – who is running in the federal election as the Green Party’s candidate for the Kenora riding – says the declaration was “a big step.”

“I’m hoping both in my role as a city councillor and as a candidate for the Green Party, that we start to see some shifts, especially from industry, which is one of the biggest polluters, and some shifts towards green jobs,” she said, referring to Canada’s reliance on fossil fuel and petroleum.

Across the world on all seven continents, millions of people – primarily young people – marched through the streets in a “strike” for the climate on Friday, Sept. 20.

Greta Thunberg, a teenage climate activist from Sweden, began the movement August 2018 when she walked out of her school and demonstrated outside the Swedish parliament. On Friday, she was in New York as part of the strike with tens of thousands of protesters.

Aneira Olson-Atchinson, 13, and Sam Newton, 11, were out in Kenora on Friday, touting their sign which read “Strike for the climate.” Olson-Atchinson is glad young people like them are participating in the strike around the world.

“As they grow up, they’re going to pass it on to their kids and then their will do more good for the Earth,” she said.

zhmood@postmedia.com