More than 2,000 people gathered at Maisonneuve Park in Montreal Sunday with Canada’s more famous environmental champion, for a concert to protect the planet.
David Suzuki was on hand for the Blue Dot tour, a cross-Canada concert series organized by the David Suzuki Foundation.
The free, festive event brought generations together for a fun day featuring Suxuki and musicians Les Cowboys Fringants, Lisa Leblanc, Paul Piché, Gilles Vigneault, Eléanore Lagacé and Ian Kelly.
Suzuki, 78, said he is looking to pass the torch of environmental awareness on to a younger generation after spending decades fighting for environmental protection.
His latest goal is for environmental protection to be a right protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“We're long overdue to enshrine this idea of a healthy environment in our constitution and it's not a radical thing, One hundred and ten countries in the world already have it enshrines in their constitutions or their legal system,” he said.
Suzuki has travelled a third of the country on the tour, raising awareness and gaining support for legislative protection for the environment.
“Already 46,000 people have signed on to this movement, the Blue Dot movement, to have the right to a healthy environment recognized,” said Karel Mayrand, the Quebec director of the David Suzuki Foundation.
For many attending and performing, the health of the planet is a major concern. Musician Ian Kelly said society has misplaced priorities.
“The economy is always the top priority, and the environment, I feel anyway, should be our top priority,” he said.
It’s that shift that needs to be made now, said Suzuki.
“The air, the water, the soil, those things keep up alive and we're using them as garbage cans. So if we don't change the way we see the world we're just going to keep on this destructive path that we're on,” said Suzuki.
