News release details

Students from 64 Manitoba schools will join CBC national science journalist Bob McDonald and CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder for an exciting mass youth event about climate change next Tuesday at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR).

The event – originally planned with American celebrity science educator Bill Nye as keynote speaker – was revised today after unforeseen circumstances interrupted Nye’s travel plans to Winnipeg. Nye will still speak at a sold‐out event on the evening of March 3 at Winnipeg’s Burton Cummings Theatre.

Under a unique challenge called “Take 3 for Climate Justice,” student teams were invited to create three‐minute videos about climate action. Students who submitted videos are now eligible to participate in the exclusive, day‐long event on March 3, with workshops, activities and presentations happening throughout the Museum about climate change and its impact on human rights. The event, led and facilitated by students, was organized in partnership with CBC Manitoba, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and Manitoba Education.

McDonald and Sauder will view the top three videos and inspire students to continue combatting climate change. Students who created the top three videos will have the opportunity to ask them questions.

WHAT: Bob McDonald and John Sauder with students at CMHR

WHEN: Tuesday, March 3, 2020 

• 12:30 p.m. – Media Q&A opportunity with students and organizers
• 1 p.m. – Keynote address

WHERE: CMHR, 85 Israel Asper Way

Four hundred participants are expected at the event, which will be emceed by Lena Andres and Sunny Enkin Lewis of Manitoba Youth for Climate Action, who organized a week of public action last fall, including a “die‐in” outside the CMHR. 

The purpose of next week’s gathering is to provide a forum for youth to voice their concerns about the climate crisis, inspire action to protect the environment, and link solutions to United Nations Sustainable Development goals. The event also aligns with Manitoba Education curriculum that includes study about sustainable futures, global citizenship and student leadership. Community members, organizations and elected officials with a focus on environmental issues will also attend, including the Honourable Sarah Guillemard, Minister of Conservation and Climate for the Province of Manitoba.

The student program at the CMHR will open at 9 a.m. on March 3 with a musical performance by students from Lincoln Middle School, who will sing a song they wrote for their video submission on climate action. Media are welcome.

Eight videos were chosen as the top submissions by a panel that included Jane McDonald, Managing Director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development; Terea de Kievet, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba; and Ian Mauro, Executive Director of the Prairie Climate Centre. 

The top three videos were from Balmoral Hall School, Collège Louis‐Riel and Transcona Collegiate Institute. (Click links to view.) Other videos chosen as part of the top eight were from Andrew Mynarski School, Lord Nelson School, Collège Pierre‐Elliott‐Trudeau, River East Collegiate and Stonewall Collegiate Institute. All the videos have been posted at cbc.ca/take3 .

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The Canadian Commission for UNESCO helps Canadians share knowledge locally and globally in order to create better societies and build peace in the minds of men and women. It facilitates cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture, communication and information to address some of the most complex challenges facing the world today. 

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is the only museum in the world to explore human rights as an aspiration for all people. Using innovative approaches to storytelling, the Museum creates inspiring encounters with human rights for all ages and abilities, in a visitor experience unlike any other.