Topless Junos protester wants drastic climate action
The woman who took the stage shirtless at the Juno Awards in Edmonton on Monday said she did so to draw attention to the loss of natural carbon sequestration areas across Canada.
Ever Hatherly appeared in Edmonton court on Wednesday for mischief and said the stunt created an international buzz around climate change.
“That’s part of why I do my topless environmental activism — because it’s good for headlines,” Hatherly said.
Messages written on the Hatherly’s bare chest read ‘land back’ and ‘save the Greenbelt’, referring to Ontario’s decision last year to open a protected area for housing.
“The Greenbelt is one of our incredible carbon sinks in Canada,” said Hatherly.
“We also have old growth forests in British Columbia that are being logged as we speak.”
Hatherly said her group is traveling to Ottawa to demand a citizens’ assembly — a randomly selected group of Canadians who would be called together to discuss an issue — on climate action.
“We have so little time to take these drastic measures,” she said.
Hatherly said her original plan was to crash an Avril Lavigne musical performance, until she found out Lavigne wouldn’t be performing.
“When she got on stage to present an award, we kind of went there… for the title, we knew it would get a good title,” she said.
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Hatherly said she’s held topless protests for climate action before and doesn’t mind that the stunt may have drawn negative attention.
“It’s normal for people to talk about the wrong thing right now because it happened two days ago and people are still asking questions.”
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