Fossil Free Guelph and five years of protests
Over the past five years the student activist group Fossil Free Guelph (FFG) has staged over 20 protests and reports for policy input, pushing for a blanket divestment from fossil fuels to take place over the next five years.
On Monday, Nov. 26, about 20 activists split into two groups to protest on the corner of Gordon Street and Stone Road as well as Gordon Street and College Avenue.
“I think everybody here at Fossil Free is really optimistic. Since the initial postponement of the original decision, we have had a really good dialogue on an individual level and a committee level,” Ben Stuart, a long-standing member of Fossil Free Guelph and environmental activist, told The Ontarion.
The administration has postponed their final decision on divestment for two years, the latest in April of 2018.
“As of now they told us they will have a decision by Jan. 23, they also said that last year. Given the history I’m not certain it will happen,” Megan Peres, another member of Fossil Free Guelph, told The Ontarion. “I spoke to the chair of the finance committee last week, and she said that they are really trying to work out a way to make it happen.”
“Again though, she was pretty vague as [the administration] usually are when we speak to them about where their direction is going,” Peres continued.
“The special action committee is still heads down working through some final research and their recommendations,” Nancy Brown Andison, chair of the finance committee told The Ontarion. “Their report is not finalized and has not come to Finance Committee yet.”
Peres said that she is “hopeful,” but does not want to get her “hopes up” regarding any speculative decision by the Board of Governors.
In 2017 following a three-month student campaign, Laval became the first Canadian university to commit to fossil fuel divestment, ricochet media reports.
Photos by Mars Chester Chow