Melina moderated a panel featuring Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks, Gidimt’en Spokesperson Sleydo’, West Coast Environmental Law Association Staff Lawyer, Eugene Kung and oscar-nominated actor and activist Mark Ruffalo to launch the #NoMoreDirtyBanks Campaign. Over 65 celebrities are standing with the Wet’suwet’en and impacted Indigenous communities from the tar sands to demand RBC and their subsidiary, City National Bank, divest from the Coastal GasLink pipeline, defund the tar sands, and respect Indigenous rights. Learn more and sign on at: www.NoMoreDirtyBanks.com

Alongside Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks, Mark Ruffalo, Meryl Streep, Alex Ebert and Director of Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay, Melina discussed the impacts of financing dirty fossil fuel extraction. These impacts extend from Indigenous communities at the source - the tar sands - to communities all along pipeline corridors.

Hope in Resistance features Melina alongside Anjali Appadurai, climate justice lead at Sierra Club BC; and Naisha Khan, co-founder of Banking on a Better Future, in a conversation moderated by Nahlah Ayed (host of Ideas on CBC Radio One). They analyze the plans and commitments that emerged from the COP26 climate summit and discuss the necessity of hope and joy in fighting the climate crisis. This keynote event of Towards Equity was livestreamed from The Cultch's Historic Theatre in East Vancouver with opening and closing words and songs from Shamantsut Amanda Nahanee (Squamish, Nisga’a).

“We need to figure out what reciprocity is in the society that we now live in with this cross cultural understanding. Not cultural appropriation, but cultural respect and understanding… When colonization started, the land was in “pristine” condition, because Indigenous peoples had this reciprocal relationship of love and respect.“

CUI x City of Victoria, Oct 28, 2021

“We are going off a cliff. Indigenous Peoples have known this, because we live in equilibrium and balance with the Earth. That’s what everyone needs to get in line with, because we are in the natural law of a planet that has a finite system. And we are going over the edge, because we are living in this illusion of the economy and capitalism that is based on an infinite system that just doesn’t exist. There is no Planet B.”

Doha Debates, Oct 27, 2021

Melina gave a keynote presentation to the University of Victoria Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement on Indigenous Perspectives and Approaches to Climate Action.

Melina joined Indigenous leaders, celebrities and scientists to demand urgent action to protect the last old growth forests in British Columbia.

STAND.earth, June 17, 2021

“We are talking about getting to the root causes of the issues - for me, that’s the decolonization of our minds, bodies and our spirits… We see this self-care movement, which is definitely individualized, corporatized and capitalized… We know that self-care is intimately connected to collective liberation and collective care.”

Rutgers University, May 20, 2021

“My vision of a net-zero world is one where Canada respects and upholds the sovereignty and knowledge of Indigenous peoples. Implementing a Just Transition and committing to UNDRIP are essential to a net-zero pathway. Prioritizing Indigenous communities who bear the brunt of environmental contamination in their homelands is critical. A net-zero future means we no longer have sacrifice zones or sacrificed communities. It is with these justice tenets in mind that I accept this nomination.”

Canada Climate Law Initiative, May 4, 2021

“Right now, we are in a time where the COVID crisis is basically telling us to go home and sit in our rooms and think about what we’ve done collectively to Mother Earth. My question is: are we listening? Right now, we can choose to look away in fear, or distract ourselves by consuming social media, or we can choose to take the time to look deep within and learn the lessons that we’ve been overlooking.”

David Suzuki Foundation, April 29, 2020