by CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

Montrealer Cameron Stiff is fast becoming the poster boy for a new generation of environmental activists. But greenies aren’t the only ones who’ve taken notice of the 23-year-old. During the United Nations Climate Change Conference in early December, and on the eve of a protest march that he helped to organize, Stiff received a “disturbing” phone call from the police, who informed him that they had an outstanding warrant for his arrest stemming from the 2001 Quebec City brouhaha.

“I thought all the charges had been dropped,” says the Toronto-born Stiff. “What I didn’t know was, that to have the charges dropped, you had to show up in court. When I didn’t, they issued a warrant for my arrest.”

Following the courtesy call, he made his way down to the police station, where he thought the misunderstanding would be cleared up. Instead, he was booked on the spot. After a five-day stay in some of Quebec’s finest penal institutions, Stiff found himself in Quebec City, where he was finally released. He still faces charges of unlawful assembly.

Stiff’s political consciousness didn’t really emerge until after he came out as gay at 15, which helped him realize that there was an “underlying truth you could see if you looked.” After getting his feet wet working with Planned Parenthood in Toronto, his political coming-out came during the aforementioned FTAA protests.

Two years ago, Stiff moved to Montreal to study sociology at Concordia, where he did a short stint with the Concordia Student Union before diving into the always sexy world of sustainability and non-governmental organizations. Since then, he’s worked with the Sierra Youth Coalition, Energy Action and the Sustainable Concordia Project. He also organized the Climate Justice Convergence Centre during the UN conference, and helped out with the parallel International Youth Summit.

“Personally, I’m really preoccupied with how to set this movement on fire,” says Stiff. “We need a full-scale revolution. Nothing short of a massive revolution in our ordinary lives will stop things from getting worse.”

To contribute to his legal defence, visit www.energyaction.net.