This Friday, the students of Divest MTA will lead the Mount Allison community in another Fridays for Future global climate strike protest. Divest MTA is a long standing collective movement that is demanding Mount Allison divest its endowment funds from fossil fuels companies. But Friday’s protest has a broader call, says Divest member Kate DesRoches.
“It’s definitely part of a bigger movement that pushes for comprehensive climate action,” says DesRoches. “Our main ask is still divestment, but the Fridays for Future strikes are part of a global movement that is pushing for climate action in general.”
Divest MTA is starting the academic year on the heels of some successes from last year.
“We have a lot of momentum right now, despite the pandemic,” says DesRoches. “This past year, we’ve received a lot of support from the Mount A community. Even the university president has publicly supported us.”
One feather in the cap of the Divest MtA collective was a university talk featuring David Suzuki in November 2021, when the long-time environmentalist lambasted the University for its continued refusal to divest from fossil fuels.
“I think it’s disgraceful that after seven years Mount Allison hasn’t divested,” said Suzuki. “I think it’s a disgrace. And anybody associated with the university that takes climate change seriously should be embarrassed by this. If not embarrassed, ashamed.”
Divest MTA got another boost when the university’s faculty council voted to support divestment in January 2022.
Divest MTA meets with university administration about once per semester, and after such a meeting last spring, the group reported that the university’s Board of Regents would be looking into, ”various approaches to divestment across Canadian universities, which will inform MTA’s path forward.”
They also reported the President Jean Paul Boudreau reiterated his support for divestment, and told them he expects the Board of Regents’ study “to result in direct calls of action, and that he hopes to see some progress during his time at MTA.”
Friday’s protest will go on rain or shine, says DesRoches. The threat of dangerous weather hitting the Maritimes Friday night and Saturday just drives home to urgency of the protest Friday afternoon, says DesRoches.
“Especially being in an area like Sackville that’s so vulnerable to climate change in that we’re in such a low lying area,” says DesRoches. “We’ve all been doing a lot of thinking on what we need to be doing in terms of preparing for climate change, and also how long overdue the mitigation side of things is.”
“We’re starting to see these impacts already,” she says, “and yet, there’s still so much that we’re not doing in terms of climate action that could have been mitigating this for so long.”
Protesters and supporters are being asked to gather outside the Ralph Pickard Bell library starting at 10:30am, and marching to the Centennial Building at 11am. People are also invited to join a poster making session on Thursday night at 7pm at Gracie’s Pub in the basement of the student centre.
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