Are climate change protesters helping the debate?

Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation turn their backs in protest during Environment Minister Peter Kent's opening address at the U.N. climate change talks in Durban, South Africa on Dec. 7. (Canadian Youth Delegation)

Environment Minister Peter Kent's opening statement at a climate change conference in Durban, South Africa was derailed somewhat by a group of student activists.

As Kent began his speech, six members of the Canadian Youth Delegation stood up and turned their backs, revealing the messages "Turn your back on Canada" and "People before polluters" on their t-shirts.

Security escorted them out; their accreditation was revoked.

The sextet included Brigitte de Pape, the former Senate page who was fired last June for holding a sign that read "Stop Harper" in the upper chamber.

Other protesters have gathered in Durban, some of them wearing t-shirts and holding signs with the Greenpeace logo on them. One photograph shows a protester wearing a mask of Stephen Harper's face, which is being gagged by a stuffed puppet with a rope bearing the Shell Canada logo.

In his statement Wednesday, Kent repeated that Canada would not make a second commitment to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol after its scheduled expiration in 2012. "Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past," he said.

Are protests such as those by the Canadian Youth Delegation helping the climate change debate, or are they soiling Canadians' reputations at the conference in Durban? Let us know in the comments section below.


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