Why this 80-year-old Anglican deacon courted arrest for his climate activism

Anglican Deacon Michael Van Dusen usually has plans for the Christmas season that don't involve the Toronto courthouse.

Perhaps he will be preparing his Christmas sermon or visiting family. But on Tuesday, he stood next to a painted banner that read “No Faith in Fossil Fuels” and spoke to a small crowd, including some of his congregants, about what brought him to the judge — and not about the divine.

For the first time in his life, an 80-year-old man was arrested and charged with the intrusion last year during a sit-in at a Royal Bank of Canada branch to protest the bank's fossil fuel financing.

Canadian banks, he said, were choosing to ignore climate science to profit from planetary destruction, and he felt a moral obligation, confirmed by his baptismal covenant, to take a stand.

“We are here because we have a different perspective. We care about the planet and its inhabitants. We value it as a gift from our creator,” he said.

“We want to live in harmony with creation. We are here because we are driven by love, not profit.”

Van Dusen, co-chair of the Toronto spiritually minded group Faith and climate actionis among the religious leaders who are speaking out and even facing arrest for their climate activism. Several more from the group were present at Tuesday's trial, including a 78-year-old Catholic sister arrested during two recent bank sit-ins.

Research shows emissions are not falling fast enough

Human activity, most notably the burning of fossil fuels, is changing our climate – increasing wildfires, droughts and floods. These consequences are already damaging Canada's budget and are expected to further exacerbate economic inequality within and between countries.

Emissions in Canada have begun to fall, but nowhere near the pace that research says is consistent with avoiding some of the worst climate impacts.

Canadian banks invested nearly twice as much in the fossil fuel industry as in low-carbon alternatives last year, higher than the global average, according to a recent BloombergNEF report.

In response to the report, a spokesperson for the Canadian Bankers Association said banks are committed to supporting customers in their transition efforts as part of the country's strategy to address climate change. For its part, RBC has previously responded to criticism by saying it is proud of its climate work and increased funding for low-carbon energy.

Meanwhile, the share of Canadians who say the environment is a top concern has plummeted in recent years to less than 20 per cent from 42 per cent in 2019, according to a recent Angus Reid Institute poll.

Science and economics cannot drive change alone, Van Dusen said. He and other religious leaders say they can bring a moral and spiritual dimension to the matter.

“We're making progress, but not fast enough,” he said. “It needs to be more radical. This needs to be taken more seriously, but I don't think it is.”

Interfaith ties on climate

In May, Faith and Climate Action helped organize a mock funeral and sit-in at RBC's headquarters to protest fossil fuel bank financing, similar to the protest last year when Van Dusen was arrested.

In September the group released open letter signed by more than 100 Canadian religious leaders calling on government and corporate leaders to stop investing in new oil and gas pipelines. Then, on the eve of a major U.N. climate summit in November, after holding a multifaith service, the group headed to Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin's campaign office in Toronto's east end to deliver the letter.

Irshad Osman, a Toronto imam who spoke at the service, said Islamic teachings view humanity as stewards of God, or Khalifaon Earth, which will ultimately be responsible for any environmental damage.

He says his conversations as part of a Muslim-Indigenous Connections program he launched in 2021, designed to help Muslim youth gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture, have helped clarify how to turn those teachings into action.

“The Indigenous community, as far as the environment is concerned, is doing an amazing job,” he said in an interview this month.

“So that’s what I teach—you know, what can we learn from Indigenous people about environmentalism in a practical way, in real action?”

Bishop's trip to Belem

A similar spirit of learning accompanied Roman Catholic Bishop John Hansen during his trip to the Brazilian city of Belem last month for the UN climate summit known as COP30. Bishop Mackenzie-Fort Smith, who covers all of the Northwest Territories and parts of Nunavut, is not a self-proclaimed activist but has seen how climate change is changing his diocese.

In Brazil, he heard from survivors of the relentless climate typhoons that hit the Philippines and from indigenous people in the Amazon who are fighting to preserve the rainforest—a struggle he saw reflected among indigenous people back in Canada.

“It’s because of the stories I heard in Belem that I feel a responsibility to keep their voices alive in the North,” he said in a recent interview.

Hansen said the connection between his faith and climate change “crept up on him.” He began to participate in Laudato Si' A movement in Canada born of Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change in 2015. The late pope's radical call to action says the Book of Genesis enjoins humanity to care for, protect and control the Earth, rejecting biblical interpretations that encourage the unbridled exploitation of nature.

Hansen, who grew up in northern Alberta, said he's still trying to figure out how best to support the cause of climate change, although he hopes his stance might appeal to more moderate voices who feel disgusted by more activists.

He also praised the work of the religious sisters, who he said helped pave the way within the church. One of them is 78-year-old Mary-Ellen Francoeur, who was arrested along with Van Dusen and then again earlier this year for sit-ins at RBC branches. A clinical psychologist, Francoeur is one of the last remaining members of the Sisters of Service, a religious community whose history dates back to the 1920s.

“A relationship with the Earth, a love for the Earth, is what underlies everything I want to be and do,” she said in an interview from her high-rise apartment in Toronto.

Her climate activism initially grew out of her long-time involvement in peace movements. But she said the connection between her faith and her environment has been clear since she was a child.

At home, she says, her devout parents introduced her “to the God of love.” Her father's prayers, rather than orders, were always spontaneous and helped her develop a more personal relationship with God.

According to Francoeur, she found that “God radiates through it all.”

Climate competes with other issues

But even religious leaders who care deeply about climate change say it has taken a backseat to other issues.

Rabbi Dan Moskowitz said it has often been a unifying issue in multi-faith circles in Vancouver, where he is senior rabbi of Temple Sholom. But after the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the Gaza war, he said his Temple Sholom synagogue had “lost many partners.”

“Our safety, dignity and survival in Canada have been a top priority for the last two-plus years,” Moskowitz said, highlighting the rise in anti-Semitism reported in Canada.

After the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, “I was able to breathe” and begin to discuss other issues, Moskowitz said. Then two gunmen killed 15 people during Hanukkah celebrations at Bondi Beach in Sydney earlier this month, in Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years.

“I couldn't talk about climate, and it would have seemed — frankly, right now it would have been out of touch with where I think my members are,” he said.

At the same time, he said, religious leaders could use climate as a common ground to repair strained partnerships while elevating the issue above political score-settling.

“Climate and Earth are what [faith leaders] it is possible and necessary to be able to speak broadly and collectively.”

Coalition building was also on the mind of Van Dusen, an Anglican deacon, as he sat down for an interview in the pews of his church, St. Aidan's, in Toronto's east end. His church is the only religious group to join the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

“We, even as a church, a large mainline Protestant church, are not going to change the situation. What we need to do is build coalitions,” he said.

The church as a whole may have historically been too good at creating mini-heaven experiences inside its buildings, often leaving people with the impression that their service was held after attending on a Sunday, Van Dusen said.

“The idea and my job is that it doesn’t end at the door when you walk out. God is among us everywhere.”

Van Dusen prepared a speech before the judge on Tuesday and even considered whether to ultimately file a constitutional challenge if the trespassing charge against him is upheld.

It was therefore with some disappointment that he learned that he had been recalled.

When his name was called, the prosecutor pointed out that the arresting officer had provided no record of what happened at the bank. Van Dusen, standing silently before the judge, was free.

Back on the street, Van Dusen paused and turned his thoughts to the future. Toronto will inevitably see more climate extremes in the coming months. There will also be more direct action from him and his partners, he said.

“There will be any number of climate events that will affect a wide range of people,” he said.

“We need to let people know that there are things that can be done if they have the willpower.”