Eight representatives from Nunavut, NWT, and Yukon met in the NWT this August for the Young Leader’s Summit on Northern Climate Change. The group visited Fort Providence, Enterprise, Behchoko, Hay River, Kakisa, and Yellowknife to talk to community leaders, politicians, elders, and scientists about the effects of climate change on their communities. They visited a burn site from the devastating 2014 forest fires that swept most of the NWT, explored the campus and farm at the Northern Farm Training Institute in Hay River, interviewed elders, and discussed climate change adaptation and mitigation with MLAs, the mayor of Yellowknife and other activists. At the end of the summit the young leaders wrote a declaration expressing the need for 1) the development of local agriculture to improve food security in the north; 2) the incorporation of climate change education into school curriculums; 3) the recognition that our energy needs in the north are substantial and that we can all do our part to reduce our impact on the planet; and 4) the territorial governments to take leadership roles in responding to climate change. Nunavut sent two young women to the summit, Teresa Tufts and Carmen Barrieau. Attached is their experience of the summit.
