I was thinking about the seniors getting arrested on Parliament Hill. The seniors travelled to Ottawa to deliver photos and stories from many other Canadians, but they weren't even able to make it into the building. Instead, they were arrested for trespassing. There's an irony in the seniors being arrested for trespassing on an open grass lawn after travelling thousands of kilometres to get there from both sides of the country. Were they trespassing, or were they going the distance? It makes you ask who is really in trouble, and for what. To me, the trespassing arrest shows how the government system isn't built to listen to people. It's designed to protect itself. That security ethos is deeply embedded in the paternal model of government. Even a harmless group of elders couldn't make it into Parliament, the building that's there to represent the fundamentals of democracy and public participation. Instead, they were forcibly removed from its pristine, vacant lawns. I think it shows how lost we really are, in some ways. When elders come to their government, the government should leap to listen. MPs should show appreciation and respect to people who put their bodies on the line for issues affecting all Canadians. They should meet with them, listen, and be able to say: we really heard you on this, and we can accept that some of the positions we're taking may not be in the best interest of everybody. But none of those meetings happened. #SeniorsClimateWitness #ClimateAction #CdnPoli #ClimateJustice #Democracy