Sherbrooke, QC, March 18, 2024 -  Members of Dernière Génération Canada disrupt a Liberal Party of Canada  fundraising dinner party in Sherbrooke. Ministers François-Philippe  Champagne and Marie-Claude Bibeau, along with Sherbrooke MP Élisabeth  Brière, are members of the Liberal government that despite expert  recommendations, has yet to implement a national firefighting agency in  the lead up to summer 2024.

"Our forests are burning, and  you don't care," says Luisa Pierrette, a student. Last Generation Canada  is demanding the creation of a federal agency that would employ and  train at least 50,000 wildland firefighters. Provincial agencies have  been slashed in recent years, and volunteers now account for over 70% of  Canada's firefighting force. The demand for a federal agency has been  supported by the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Green Party of  Canada.

"How can you let the country  burn? You are incapable of managing a crisis that we see coming at 100  miles an hour, a crisis that puts both our people and our forests at  risk," says Jean-Philippe Amann, a computer programmer and committed  father. Forest fires forced 240 000 people, a large proportion of them  indigenous, to leave their homes last summer. Last summer, 8  firefighters died while in service fighting fires, including a  19-year-old. Last Generation Canada is also calling for a citizens'  assembly with legally binding power to guide Canada's response to the  climate and ecological crisis.

This disruption comes as Alberta  Wildfire warns of extreme danger this spring, and the world has its  first year-long breach of 1.5 degrees. Updates in late February warn  that this season has the potential to be worse.