Saskatchewan Teen Heading to the Arctic After Winning National Award

By KAREN PINCHIN

TORONTO (CP) – A Saskatchewan teen is headed for Canada’s north after winning a national award honouring his environmental leadership Friday presented by the country’s foremost environmental activist David Suzuki.

B.J. Bodnar of Casa Rio, Sask., said his personal focus is on sustainability as well as environmental education and awareness surrounding issues like climate change.

“What we’re basically trying to do is raise more public awareness and curriculum education about environmental issues,” the 17-year-old said.

Bodnar won the award for his extensive work lobbying both the federal and provincial governments and the United Nations.

As part of the prize, awarded at Toronto’s Earth Day Gala, he will travel to the Arctic in August to conduct research with scientists and youth from around the world.

The tour – dubbed “Students on Ice” – will take Bodnar from northern Manitoba all the way to Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Bodnar said he’s heartened Canada’s government is now recognizing that climate change and the environment are of great importance to Canadians of all stripes.

“The Canadian public has really taken a stance on a lot of these environmental issues and said, ‘Regardless of what kind of government or what kind of party, we do care about the environment’,” he said.

“Whether it’s right wing or left wing or somewhere in the middle, the bottom line is that Canadians are going to care about the environment and progress is going to be made on environmental issues.”

This idea was echoed by Jed Goldberg, president of Earth Day Canada who said any amount of progress on behalf of government and business must be led by individual change, which is why this award is so important.

“We need a concerted effort from all levels of our society for this to be successful,” Goldberg said.

“For us to establish a generation of young people that consider the environment to be their number one priority will only bode well for our future.”

Young people absolutely need to be supported and encouraged, both financially and symbolically, when it comes to caring about the environment, Bodnar said.

“The environment is just now emerging as the issue that is going to be the centre of attention for governments and business as we head into the next century,” he said.

“And it’s only going to pick up steam.”

Bodnar said young people considering a career in sustainability should stick with it, “because it’s going to be the place to be.”