For Our Kids Burnaby is a grassroots, family-led climate advocacy group working to build a stronger, more resilient community for future generations. Since launching in 2022, the group has brought together parents and kids through hands-on environmental activities like native planting, invasive species pulls, art builds, and climate rallies — all with a strong sense of joy, community, and purpose.
Local lead Kate McMahon, a member of the national For Our Kids advisory council, helped found the Burnaby chapter after realizing the urgency of the climate crisis for her children’s future. She and her team work to empower families with the tools, skills, and connections they need to take meaningful local climate action — from advocating for city policy changes to simply getting their hands in the dirt together.
Whether you’re interested in a mending circle, planting event, or writing your first advocacy letter, For Our Kids Burnaby offers an open invitation to join a growing network of families protecting what matters most.
Describe your charity/non-profit/volunteer work in a few sentences.
For Our Kids, Burnaby is a family-led climate advocacy organization that focuses on community building, environmental stewardship and climate action that will ensure a livable future for our children. We run events and campaigns that bring families together through hands-on activities and actions that directly help our community and/or build skills in parents and kids to be stronger advocates for protecting our future. Some of our activities include native planting and invasive species pulls, mending circles, kids climate club, art builds, nature walks, rallies, local government advocacy and collaboration with the schools and other organizations.
We are the Burnaby chapter of the national For Our Kids network with similar chapters across the country.
What problem does it aim to solve?
Climate change is real and is happening now. Millions are already impacted by changing weather and extreme weather events, even here in BC. Heat domes, floods, fires and smoke are just some of the impacts people in our communities are already dealing with. Our group aims to help build Burnaby into a more resilient community, better prepared to face changing environmental and economic conditions and do everything we can to mitigate climate change now through activism, advocacy, stewardship, education and building community. Climate change is solvable; the solutions exist, we just need the public and political will to make it happen.
When did you start/join it?
As I became a mother, the risk of what was at stake for my children’s future became more and more apparent. I knew I needed to start doing more towards trying to protect their future. I found the For Our Kids network and thousands of other parents with similar concerns. None of us were climate activists, but we all wanted to learn how to have a bigger impact in protecting our kids’ futures. I connected with another Burnaby mom, and we started the Burnaby chapter in 2022. Our group grew organically, through our friends and our kids’ friends and their parents. Our events focus on fun, hands-on activities that bring people together to help the community and protect the planet. Joy is always a big part of the events, as are snacks!
What made you want to get involved?
Our first event was joining other groups at a rally at city hall, encouraging the city of Burnaby to sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, which they did. Our momentum grew from there. Last year, we collaborated with many other groups on the Sue Big Oll campaign. The kids and parents all wrote letters to the city, asking them to join many other municipalities in a class action lawsuit, which will hold fossil fuel companies, not taxpayers, accountable for the damage that climate change is causing to our communities. We try to run a variety of events that balance hands-on stewardship and education with advocacy and campaigns, so there are many ways for families to engage with us, no matter what their experience or interests are. Realizing that just by showing up and engaging, we have already been able to make an impact on city policy was inspiring for me and others. These successes, along with the sense of community we are building, and the fun we are having doing it, is what continues to motivate us.
What was the situation like when you started?
The whole FOK network was created to fill a gap in climate advocacy. Many viewed the climate movement as not necessarily a safe or welcoming space for families and children. Yet children will be the most impacted by our changing climate. The FOK network fills this gap by creating space, skills and connections for parents and families. Everyone’s voice is important and showing up and knowing how to use your voice is an important life skill that parents, on this issue, weren’t as well equipped to participate in. I think this is changing, in part due to the work of the many FOK groups across the country and similar groups around the world.
How has it changed since?
Parent groups are often leading the way now. Look at the Moms Clean Air Force in the US, Parents for Future in the UK and Our Kids Climate globally. Parents are a huge demographic and voter block, and despite our diversity, we all want the same healthy, safe, clean future for our kids. In an increasingly divisive world, a healthy future for our children is something all parents can agree with. Locally, we are seeing many more families coming out to climate rallies and events. At the annual Global Climate Strike and other rallies, we host the kids’ tent and create a safe space for families to do art, eat snacks and get away from the crowds, but still participate and connect with other families.
What more needs to be done?
A lot. Canada is nowhere near reaching its emissions targets, and the transition away from fossil energy is not fast enough. Fossil fuel extraction for energy and plastics are what is causing climate change. Biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate, in part due to climate change, but also to habitat destruction, resource extraction and pollution. There are so many viable solutions to both the climate and biodiversity crises, but we need more public and political support to make them happen. Everyone cares about the health of our planet, but so many people feel helpless, anxious or just don’t know how to help. But if everyone did their part, it would make a huge difference.
How can our readers help?
Start local, get some friends together and do something…start a community garden, connect with your local streamkeepers group, write a few letters to your school board or MLA about climate-ready schools or more climate curriculum. Ask your city councillors about adopting the Zero Carbon Step Code for new buildings, if they haven’t already, or about improving the urban tree canopy to cool our cities down. If you can afford it, take a look at heatpumps for heating and cooling your home, start a mending circle with your friends to keep clothes out of the landfill or even just start talking about climate change and climate solutions with your friends and family.
If you are a parent interested in connecting with the FOK network, check out our webpage and find a chapter near you. There are chapters in Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, North Van, the Sunshine Coast and a new chapter coming to Tri-Cities soon. If you aren’t in one of these regions, there are other ways to engage with the network or check out WE-CAN, which is a network of all climate and environmental groups working in BC.
Do you have any events coming up?
Yes, we will be hosting a table at the Burnaby Neighbourhood House: Brentwood Summer Street Party on August 14th and hosting the kids’ tent at the Global Climate Strike: Draw the Line in Vancouver on Sept 20th. We also have two invasive species pulls and a planting event lined up for Beecher Creek and another mending circle for the fall planned as well.
Where can we follow you?
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