Ottawa,  Ontario, February 7, 2023 — At 9 a.m. this morning, supporters of Last  Generation Canada blocked traffic on Wellington Street, as one spray  painted the Prime Minister’s Office. The group is demanding government  action on the climate crisis, starting with the creation of a national  firefighting agency. The supporters’ arrests come as the group commits  to continued civil resistance in the Ottawa area.

The campaign demands that the  federal government create a national firefighting agency that trains and  employs 50,000 firefighters in time for the upcoming fire season. In  addition, the group demands that the government implement a citizens'  assembly with legally binding power to decide how to tackle the climate  and ecological crisis this year.

“200 000 Canadians had to  evacuate their homes last summer” says Ben Holt, who sprayed the paint  today. “Entire communities were burned to the ground. And yet our  government has done nothing to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis”

On Tuesday, a supporter of Last  Generation Canada set fire to an empty stroller on Parliament Hill to  illustrate the consequences and urgency of government inaction on the  climate crisis. In 2023, the campaign interrupted the Juno Awards,  painted museum exhibits, threw paint on art, and caused traffic delays. A  part of the global A22 Network, Last Generation Canada is coordinated by ordinary people driven to act as climate impacts ravage the country.

“Roadblocking and disruptions  are inconvenient, however the devastation of the wildfires and climate  crisis are threatening life on earth,” says Laura Sullivan, a three time  arrestee for Last Generation. “We’ve tried everything - writing to our  MPs, marches, and petitions. We’re in a phase now where we’re simply  running out of time. We need a National Firefighting Agency.”

The group’s demands are fueled by the out-of-control Canadian wildfires that, in 2023 released two billion tonnes of CO2, an amount greater than the total emissions of 100 countries. The wildfires destroyed five per cent of Canada’s Boreal forest, an area the size of Greece.

Currently, over 70 per cent of Canadian firefighters are volunteers. As Alberta Fire Chiefs urgently call for a provincial strategy, Last Generation Canada calls on the federal  government to train and employ 50,000 firefighters this year.

The nonviolent campaign says  disruptions will continue this week in the Ottawa area, and that the  campaign will iteratively undertake further nonviolent disruptive action  in the future until their demands are met.

“I can accept that my actions  will have consequences,” says Holt. “What I can’t accept, and simply  won’t accept is continued government inaction. Business as usual is  destroying the climate that we all depend on.”