An interview with Climate Justice UofT
With this summer’s devastating forest fires in recent memory, the climate crisis is top of mind for many young people. It is troubling that UofT has connections to the fossil fuel, mining, and arms manufacturing industries, but there are UofT students who are fighting to hold the university accountable. I sat down with Lila and Jamie, two lead organizers of Climate Justice UofT (CJUofT), to discuss the organization, past campaigns, and goals for the future.
The Strand: Thank you for sitting down with me to chat today. Can you start by telling me about Climate Justice UofT?
Lila: Climate Justice UofT is a grassroots, student-led organization pushing for a fossil-free future and the liberation of all life on this planet. Our main objective is getting UofT to divest from fossil fuels, arms manufacturing, and the mining industry.
The Strand: What has CJUofT focused on?
Lila: One campaign is DivestUPP, which focused on getting the federated colleges to divest from fossil fuels, and is now focused on divestment of the university pension plan. The second campaign is Fossil Free Research; we are pushing the School of the Environment to stop taking donations from fossil fuel companies, because that produces very biased research. Our third campaign is Banks Off Campus, which has been very successful. We successfully pushed the University of Toronto Student Union to stop leasing space in the Student Commons to RBC.
The Strand: Your most memorable action took place at Victoria College. What happened here in 2023?
Lila: Members of CJUofT successfully pushed for UofT to divest from fossil fuels; in 2021 UofT committed to divesting its $4 billion endowment in fossil fuels by 2030. But the federated colleges—Victoria, Trinity, St. Mike’s—have their own pension plans and investment networks. We pushed Vic to divest, but they wouldn’t meet with us. [ … ] So, CJUofT and several other organizations came together and staged an 18-day occupation of Old Vic [in April 2023]. That action led Victoria College to agree to divest by 2030. Trinity and St. Mike’s were scared, so they also voted to divest. As of 2025, Trinity College and St. Mike’s announced [separately] that they had fully divested from fossil fuels. If UofT and Vic don’t hit their targets, we will be ready to take action again.
The Strand: You recently launched a new campaign: mining justice. Can you tell me about that?
Lila: Mainly, we are looking into the connections between mining and the Earth Sciences department, the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, and the Munk School. [ … ] The founding donor [of the Munk School], Peter Munk, was the founder and president of Barrick Gold, which is a mining company that is involved in human rights violations, resource extraction, and environmental degradation across the world. [ … ] Every community that is involved in mining is facing the brunt of the pollution, health effects, and climate change. [ … ] Our goal is to organize with students, make connections with faculty and unions, and put pressure on these institutions to break their connections with mining.
The Strand: What has the response been so far to your new campaign?
Jamie: We have many connections with professors who [ … ] continue to be supportive of our mining justice campaign. [ … ] At our orientation event, it was really great to see so many fresh faces come out and be so interested in mining justice. A lot of people care about these issues but don’t always have a clear avenue to put their care and effort—when we organize here, people really rally together. [ … ] It’s been great to see people invigorated and ready to take action.
The Strand: I know the mining justice campaign is still in the early stages, but what are some potential end goals of this campaign?
Lila: Speaking for myself, I would want to see the university highlighting more opportunities for engineering students and geo science students to go into ethical fields. Creating opportunities for them to use their degrees to do good instead of [careers] that extract from and destroy the environment. For the Munk School, [ … ] I hope that they can at least use the money they have for good, and stop using the money they have—which is essentially blood money—for furthering Zionist, extractionist, and colonial causes. I hope that they can implement contemporary, more radical teaching in their school. I hope that one day they will be able to address the wrongdoing [of Peter Munk] and reconcile that in any way they can. Maybe that will look like teaching more about exploitation in the Global South and Canada’s connection to that. Something has to change.
The Strand: What motivated you to get involved with CJUofT or climate activism more generally?
Jamie: Student activism has always been a driver of liberation historically. [ … ] To have a space like this, where I could put my first efforts at climate organizing, has provided such a great community space for all of us to come together, find a group, and a safe space where we can make direct change on campus.
The Strand: How can students learn more about your campaigns and get involved?
Jamie: They can come to our meetings, Thursdays from 6-8pm every week! We also have actions that we organize. Information about us is on Instagram and in our LinkTree, where we have op-eds and open letters that you can read to see our work. You can always reach out to us on Instagram (@climatejusticeuoft) or by email ([email protected]). We’re always looking for new people and any help is welcome!
Lila: If you feel nervous about organizing and want to know if you can help in smaller ways, you can ask us; we’re very open! Our club is non-hierarchical, so everyone is an equal member and everyone’s voices are weighed equally. […] When the world feels big and scary, it’s nice to sit with your friends who care about similar important things and do your best to make a change.
The Strand: Thank you so much for your time! Given how successful Climate Justice UofT has been in pushing UofT to reduce its investments in the fossil fuel industry, I look forward to seeing your mining justice campaign unfold.