After sending nine letters, I finally got one back. It looks like a copy and paste letter, but I’m still happy to get it. After all, it’s good to know they are being received. Here’s the reply:
January 27, 2020
Dear Amelia:
On behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence, in which your raised an issue that falls within the responsibilities of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. I regret the delay in replying.
Please be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed. I have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your correspondence to Minister Wilkinson, who, I am certain, will wish to give your views every consideration.
Thank you for taking the time to write.
Yours sincerely,
J.P.Vachon
Manager, Executive Correspondence Services
After sending eleven letters I got another reply. I have a feeling they’ve only just started reading my letters and that I’m going to get a reply to every letter. The letter is different, which is nice. Here it is:
February 11, 2020
Dear Amelia:
On behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your recent letter expressing your concerns about climate change.
Prime Minister Trudeau is always interested in learning the opinions of young Canadians, and he appreciates the time and effort you have invested in bringing your views to his attention. It is obvious that you have given a lot of thought to your comments. Please be assured that your correspondence had been carefully reviewed.
Thank you for taking the time to write.
Yours sincerely
M. Breeseson
Executive Correspondence Officer
Alright people, it’s now November and I finally got another reply. The first two came in fairly close proximity and I’m surprised I haven’t gotten another until now. This new letter is a form letter very similar to the second so I won’t post it because it’s not interesting. I’m going to assume it’s COVID that’s holding up the reading of my letters and replying. Maybe they’ve noticed how many I send and just stopped replying, I don’t know.
In March 2021, I received this letter:
Dear Amelia:
On behalf of Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, I would like to acknowledge receipt of you letter regarding Orange Shirt Day, commemorating the residential school experience.
For reasons related to the COVID-19 outbreak, our office was unable to provide ou with a more timely response. I sincerely regret the delay in processing your correspondence.
Thank you for sharing your interest in this campaign with the Prime Minster. I know he welcomes the views of young Canadians on issues of national important. You may be assured that your comments have been duly noted and are appreciated.
Thank you again for taking the time to write.
Yours sincerely
Mr. Bredeson, Executive Correspondence Officer
I thought this response was extremely interesting. If you look back at my letter about Orange shirt day, I did not mention that I was writing a letter a week. I wonder if they made a decision not to reply to my weekly letters, but didn’t realize that this was on of mine since I didn’t mention my campaign. They also didn’t mention how I tied how we’ve mistreated Indigenous people in the past to how we continue to mistreat them to the climate crisis. They seem to have little interest in accountably today, focussing instead on how they are working to be accountable for the past, which while important is nothing without action today.