The Reverend Canon Michael Van Dusen

Michael Van Dusen is an Anglican Deacon, Canon of the Diocese of Toronto, co-chair of Faith & Climate Action (www.faithandclimate.ca), a multi-faith group advocating for the reduction of carbon emissions, and co-author of the Toronto diocese’s Social Justice and Advocacy motion of 2026 on climate change. He became interested in climate change in 1973, after reading Limits to Growth. His theological foundation arose from Laudato Si, Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on Our Common Home, the Earth.

Van Dusen sees climate action as an extension of his baptismal vow to safeguard the integrity of God's creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth. It is a duty of care for our neighbours with whom we share the planet.



Van Dusen has advocated with federal and provincial Members of Parliament, corporate finance executives involved in financing pipelines and been arrested for a sit-in at RBC, the largest funder of tar sands development in the world. He is currently trying to get a meeting with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. He believes that our faith brings a unique perspective that is distinct from, but complementary to, that of environmental science.