Albert Campbell Activists Translate Concerns into Action

In March, a young Grade 11 environmental activist from Albert Campbell CI contacted the Communication and Public Affairs Department to tell us about a petition she had started against the Canadian commercial harp seal hunt. 

We were so impressed with her initiative, and the hard work she and her friends had undertaken to fight for something they believe in, that we asked her if she'd like to share their story. 

"They are a motivated group of young activists with passion and vision," says staff advisor Janice Patterson, "They hope to influence real change in the way we treat the environment and the government's policies regarding our precious planet." 

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by Sylvia Tran, Grade 11, Albert Campbell CI

My name is Sylvia Tran and I created a petition against the Canadian commercial seal hunt. This huge community initiative involved students, parents, neighbours, and teachers from Albert Campbell CI as well as my former school, Henry Kelsey Sr. PS.  It was very encouraging to see how many people felt the same way I did.

Ever since I was a young child I've loved animals and nature. But it was when I met my grade 7 and 8 math teacher and environmental club leader, Ms. Ionescu, that I began to learn more about environmental issues and challenges like the seal hunt. Ms. Ionescu is still an inspiration and motivation to me, and to all of her students.

Since graduating from Henry Kelsey, I've continued to inform myself about environmental issues. When I learned that more than 300,000 seals are slaughtered every year in the brutal seal hunt, I decided to try do something about it because I cannot live my life knowing that such inhumanity occurs in the world.

In February, with the help of some of my friends, we started a campaign at school to raise awareness about the Canadian commercial seal hunt. On the first day, we set up an information table in front of the cafeteria with posters, a video documentary about the seal hunt, and a petition. Every day of the week-long campaign we collected more than 100 signatures. I also went back to my old school with the petition. Ms. Ionescu was thrilled that I was doing this and was more than happy to participate.

This campaign would not have been as successful as it was without the help of my friends Cecillia Y., Carmen K., Teresa C., Alice Y., Jin W., Ivy Z., Maansi V., Wing Ka T., and Belinda M. "I thought the seal hunt campaign was very inspiring," said Belinda. "It really helped open people's eyes to how cruel humans can be."

We were all happy to see that people were willing to take time out of their lives to care about something they never knew about before. By the end of the campaign, so many students had expressed an interest that we decided to create a club at Campbell to focus on environmental issues. One teacher, Ms. Patterson, offered to mentor this club, and we knew she would be the perfect staff advisor because she is willing to take time out of her busy schedule to do something for a good cause. 

In the end, we collected almost 1500 signatures and sent the originals of the petition to our Member of Parliament, and photocopies to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Ministry of the Environment, and to Prime Minister Harper. The success of this campaign has inspired us. In the future we will definitely do more campaigns to raise awareness for the environment, and I hope students in other schools do the same.