Our Vision:

We envision a world organized around the principles of climate justice, centering the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. We strive towards a better relationship with the land and with each other.

Our Mission:

We engage people in Manitoba in the global mass movement to advance climate justice. We champion a just transition to environmentally and socially responsible energy sources. Through grassroots community organizing, we fight for far-reaching climate justice measures. We act in partnership and solidarity with individuals and communities working toward a more just world. We believe everyone can be a valuable part of the movement for change, including you.

Who We Are:

MEJC is a community-led alliance of volunteers living in Manitoba committed to climate action and climate justice. We seek to protect and restore our environment while promoting social justice policies and community resilience, now and in the future. We are committed to working in solidarity with other frontline and fence-line communities directly affected by fossil fuels and climate change impacts. Our organizing prioritizes relationship-building and is campaign-focused, based on set strategies, and preparing for moments of opportunity. Everyone is welcome.

Values:

Justice and Equity Seeking

‘Climate justice’ is rooted in an understanding that the causes of climate change are social and political—they are a result of unjust and inequitable systems. We work to dismantle those systems and replace them with fair ones that meet distinct needs of all groups and individuals. We commit to: 

• Promoting climate justice, not merely climate action: Our work is not limited to narrower goals (like reducing carbon emissions), but goes further to challenge the systems of oppression and exploitation that give rise to the massive carbon emissions.
• Fighting environmental racism and colonialism, following the leadership of affected communities.
• Believing that economic norms under capitalism are fundamentally incompatible with a habitable future.
• Understanding that, in a just transition, no worker can be left behind (the just transition is a major job creator).
  

Open and Empowering

Everyone can play a key role in the fight for climate justice. Everyday, ‘regular’ people can change the world. We commit to:

• Working together in ways that do not replicate the systems we want to dismantle.
• Embracing opportunities for accountability.
• Making room for complexity.
• Asking hard and critical questions.
• Listening to the voices and experiences of others, especially those who are actively silenced.

Experimental

We embrace ideas for just climate action that are emerging and re-emerging.  We commit to:

• Embracing moments of opportunity with flexibility and agility
• Moving beyond how things are usually done
• Building on existing solutions and best practices
• Changing how we work together when it does not serve our goals

Decolonizing and Unsettling

We operate on Indigenous land stolen and occupied by Canada. Our work is rooted in confronting and addressing the harm that colonization has caused and is still causing. We commit to:

• Challenging Canada’s claims to sovereignty over Treaty territory in Manitoba. 
• Supporting the demands of the Land Back movement, and recognizing that Climate Justice work will not succeed without putting Indigenous lands back in Indigenous hands. 
• Following and supporting Indigenous leadership and working in solidarity for the advancement and protection of inherent Indigenous rights
• Working consistently to dismantle the harmful racist and colonial beliefs, actions, and strategies that underpin mainstream environmental movements
• Honouring the legacy and ongoing work of Black, Indigenous, disabled and other marginalized voices in the environmental justice movement, recognizing that too often the movement centres those who are white, male, heterosexual, cis-gender, and able-bodied.

Collaborative

Collaboration is when every person works together, contributing as much as we can while staying well and recognizing that individual capacity ebbs and flows. We commit to:

• Understanding that nobody does everything.
• Recognizing that accountability builds intimacy and belonging.
• Completing necessary work, but balancing necessity with enjoyment.
• Being honest and proactive when we need support and accepting of constructive feedback.
• Ensuring that when someone cannot accomplish a task as originally intended, we will respond with grace and offer help when needed.
• Unwelcoming non-constructive arguments and unsolicited advice.
• Focusing on collaboration as a tool for building strong, resilient communities.

Non-Hierarchical

We actively resist top-down decision-making structures, both within the organization and outside of it. Colonial and capitalist systems have made it so that certain groups have access to power and privileges that others don’t. In our work, we strive to subvert this pattern by centering the voices and experiences of the most marginalized in all that we do. We commit to:

• Recognizing that no person or group is inherently superior to any other and opposing all forms of discrimination
• Being collectively accountable to the work and broader community
• Doing our parts so that no one person or group of people assumes too much control (related to above)
• Sharing accountability for group action or inaction
• Ensuring that the people affected by decisions make the decisions

Relational

We are committed to nurturing connections and relationships, both internally and with other individuals and groups. We commit to: 

• Being respectful in relationship with people and with the land
• Addressing disagreements and conflicts promptly instead of allowing them to fester
• Being mindful of the space taken up in meetings and in the broader community
• Amplifying the voices and experiences of people who are targeted by colonial capitalist society

Non-Violent

We can and will achieve our goals through peaceful means that do not injure or abuse other people. We acknowledge that violence has long been used against marginalized communities and we strive to resist and undo its effects. We commit to: 

• Recognizing that the tools we use to shape the future will be reflected in that future: if we want to stop systems of violence, our role is to actively resist  oppression and reinforce justice.
• Recognizing that non-violence does not mean passivity or withdrawal.
• Engaging in forms of action that are strategic, intentional, and loving.