Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson will be speaking to high school students from across Fort McMurray – the heart of Alberta’s oil sands and the starting point of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline that would send crude oil to the BC coast and, ultimately, on tankers through spirit bear waters.

Jackson will be speaking at the annual youth empowerment conference put on by the Justin Slade Youth Foundation. His message of the power of one will aim to encourage students to take ownership of their community and world by taking a stand for the issues they care about – such as saving the spirit bear and altering the route of the proposed pipeline that threatens its future.

While in Fort McMurray, Jackson will also meet with local leaders to discuss the pipeline and advocate for the Youth Coalition’s balanced vision: environmental innovation for the oil sands, an alternative route for the proposed pipeline using existing infrastructure that still allows for critical exports, and a sanctuary for the spirit bear that does not burden any community or the Canadian economy.