Two UBC students are making sure new Canadians aren’t left out of the debate when it comes to climate issues.
Laura Chen, of Richmond, and Carmen Kim, of Port Moody, who started Green Jobs For All, have just released bilingual videos in Korean and Chinese in the hopes of encouraging people who are new immigrants to vote for candidates who promise action on climate change.
The group is non-partisan and is using the videos to raise the issue but is not promoting any political party.
Kim’s video is a touching portrait of mother and daughter and describes how both see the issue as important to them. Kim, whose mother Young Jae Choi is an immigrant from Korea, said she is pleased with the response to the videos so far.
“A lot of political campaign videos are not very relatable but I thought if I did it with my mom it would relate to a lot of people,” said Kim, who went to Port Moody secondary but graduated from Gleneagle in Coquitlam in 2016.
She is studying Global Resource Systems at UBC with a focus on public health.
Kim’s video is a mother and daughter story in Korean, with English subtitles, while Chen’s video is a conversation with Cynthia Lam, a David Suzuki Foundation elder. Both videos show a personal side to the climate debate.
“Coming from families of immigrants, we recognized the challenges immigrants and people of colour face when it comes to feeling represented and engaged in meaningful ways in the Canadian political process,” Chen said.
Green Jobs For All was started as a way to inform people about the urgency of climate action, Chen further stated.
Kim said she wants to see politicians elected who are committed to taking bold action on climate change.
“That leaves us no choice but to act now and transition our economy that will rely on renewable energy, create good jobs, and ensure that no one is left behind in the transition.”
The students are encouraging people to voice their opinion on social media or with their local candidates, vote for people who will take bold action on climate change and get their friends and family to vote to support action on climate change.
And while the students want to influence the federal vote, Kim said there are more projects on the horizon for the Green Jobs For All group. “It’s guaranteed we want to continue with it,” Kim said.
Mother & Daughter: Korean-Canadian Climate Story (Korean)
Chinese-Canadian Climate Story: A Call to Hope and Action (Mandarin Chinese)
Both ridings in the Tri-Cities have a substantial Korean and Chinese-speaking population. When asked about their views on climate change, both the residents of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam and Port Moody-Coquitlam fall near the B.C. average, according to a recent Université de Montréal national polling project looking at the opinions of Canadians as they relate to climate change in each of the country's 338 ridings. For a full interactive map click here.
