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By Camil Dumont

“Hello, my name is Camil Dumont. I’m a Green party candidate for park board. Are you planning on voting on October 20th?”—I used that phrasing hundreds of times this morning as I stood on the corner of 12th and Granville. In one hand I held a four-foot long piece of wood with a giant, triangular sign affixed to the top of it. In the other, I held printed handbills with Vancouver Green party candidate information to give to passersby. The sign read: “VOTE GREEN!”

Cold autumn air today but thankfully, no rain; people wore fall sweaters and colourful scarves as they walked along South Granville. Some avoided eye contact altogether, many walked by buried in their phones or insulated from the sounds of the street via earbuds—music, podcasts, who knows? The majority were quite friendly once I’d spoken my initial introduction. Some were very friendly and chatty. It was much more fun in the end than I could ever have imagined.

A woman in a wool coat, small in stature, maybe 70 or so, approached, let me deliver my opening line, then asked: “Why are you doing this?” I had 10 seconds before the orange hand became a walk sign.

“I worked at the park board for over 10 years, in the gardens mostly. I understand a front-line perspective. I completed a master of science degree at UBC focused on sustainable systems. I’m one of the founders, the head farmer and executive director of Inner City Farms, an urban farm here in Vancouver focused on sustainable food system education. I love parks, I love my city, and believe I’m qualified and ready to give something back.”

The light changed, she took a flyer, fired me a smile and was gone. Her question hung in the air: “Why are you doing this?”

A month before my 10th birthday, in 1989, an oil tanker called the Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the coast of Alaska. Somewhere between 11 and 32 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the sea.

The pictures of the dead and dying birds got to me. There were gulls, ducks, eagles covered in black sludge, suffering and choking. It struck my heart like a hammer.

I was nine when I first truly understood that human beings were breaking the natural world. After Exxon, as a way to channel my emotions, my mum had me pen two letters, one in English and one in French, to Canada’s environment minister, Mr. Lucien Bouchard. I asked: why aren’t adults in government protecting the environment for kids like me? I asked: do you understand the impact of your policies and actions? I asked: will you please change? Will you please protect the environment? I never got an answer.

That was 30 years ago. I hold my questions still. We are now in a climate breakdown. Massive biodiversity loss is being documented all over our earth. We are in the midst of a global extinction event. The relationship between our species and our natural systems is largely broken. We need to heal it. We need to clean up our mess.

I want to live ecological, social, and economic justice. I want it for everyone. I do not believe they exist independently from one another. We are the ancestors of the future. We need to live and act accordingly. We need elected leaders at all levels to engage with policy from this perspective. I will.

I have chosen to run for park commissioner because it is the office where I am qualified. My generation needs to step up and take the lead. It’s time. That’s why I’m doing this.

We are primarily an urban species now. Parks are where most of us have direct experience with the natural world in our busy Vancouver lives. Kids need to run barefoot in the grass. Birds need to nest. We need trees, gardens, spaces to play, walk, breathe, now more than ever. We need green space.

We all need to collaborate and set an example here at home for what a truly sustainable future might look like. Parks are a good place to work on that ethic. We can do it. For a brighter future, vote Green on October 20.