18: Politics: An Avenue for Climate Action
Canada
A Climate Pollinator story by Sierra Ross Richer
When Mike Morrice was elected to represent Kitchener Centre, Ontario in the Canadian parliament in 2021, it was, in part, because of the help of Scott Albrecht, a member of First Mennonite Church in Kitchener.
In the weeks leading up to the September election, Scott knocked on doors promoting the Green Party candidate, and helped manage the campaign’s finances.
“I’m not saying the Green Party has all the answers,” Scott said. “But at some point when you’ve got a ballot, you have to make a decision.” Mike Morrice is the founder of an organization promoting sustainability in the Waterloo region and his campaign was based on environmental policies.
“That seemed, from the environmental side, what was most needed at the moment,” Scott said.
That was Scott’s first time being involved in a politician’s campaign. Traditionally, Many Mennonites have stayed out of politics, but Scott said, “I think that’s something that’s evolved in the Mennonite community in my 40 years of experience with it. I think Mennonites are more willing to see that as a legitimate and necessary part of any action.”
An example of the shift is the big blue and green banner hanging over the door at First Mennonite, Scott’s church. It reads: “Join communities for climate justice: act now.”
The banner was put up in 2021 as part of a project by the Faith Climate Justice Waterloo Region advocacy group to call the community to climate action. A flock of birds on the banners displayed by churches around Waterloo represents the need for collective action.
The group is currently working to make more affordable, environmentally-sustainable housing available in the region, an issue Scott and others from the church continue to be involved in.
Another way First Mennonite Church has engaged in local activism is through a campaign called 50 by 30.
In 2020, a group was formed to push the local government to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 50% of 2010 levels by 2030.The Mennonite congregation wrote a letter supporting the campaign that was signed by church members and encouraged other churches to send letters.
In 2021, the Waterloo Region and its seven municipalities agreed to make the commitment as a step toward the longer-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% in 2050. That same year, Mike Morrice became one of two Green Party members in Parliament and is pushing for sustainability in Waterloo and all of Canada.
For Scott, it’s encouraging to see that more Mennonites are now “seeing that political side of things as one avenue for action that is needed.”
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