In February 2024, Étienne Eason was arrested for a protest action he undertook at the Museum of Nature in Ottawa. As a participant in the climate action movement Last Generation, Eason sprayed paint on a replica dinosaur skeleton. Eason says that the action was meant to generate attention around the risk of mass extinction posed by the climate crisis—symbolized by the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Eason now works as a social policy researcher at CPJ. We asked him a few questions about his experience and rationale and whether it fits into the framework of public justice.
What were some of the significant moments that occurred during your action?
They had the replica dinosaur up on this platform, and that’s where I was going to spray the washable paint from. As I was swinging my leg to get up on it, I had a security guard behind me yelling “sir, sir, don’t do that!” I don’t take pleasure in doing something illegal, and I wasn’t doing it for the adrenaline rush. In that moment, I had the chance to fall back into the social norms and not be transgressive, but ultimately I chose to go against comfort because this is a cause that begs for us to be uncomfortable. It was a really difficult moment, because it made me sad that I’d been pushed to this point.
A lot of people care about the climate—and similarly feel like there are few options left—but few ever take drastic action the way you did. What led you to taking an action like this one?
It started the summer when we had that unprecedented wildfire season [in 2023]. Waking up in the morning and seeing the sky be this apocalyptic shade of orange in Ottawa and going outside and breathing in that smoke really made an impression on me.
That same summer, Last Generation Canada (who at the time were known as On 2 Ottawa) were holding talks at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, where I was working as the Office Administrator. It was my job to unlock and lock the doors for the talks, and I thought, “what the heck? I’ll sit in,” and maybe after the fifth talk I really could no longer ignore how bad the environmental outlook is, but also how the history of civil resistance shows it’s been really successful in the past.
Also, I think the fact that the talks were in a church meant that I was primed to think about moral issues and what’s really important. And I’m a Lutheran specifically—the whole church is named after a guy who was incredibly disruptive and polarizing.
Not only did some people take issue with your action—a lot of them vehemently disagreed with your methods. What do you say to them?
I understand that my action made a lot of people uncomfortable or angry. However, discomfort and emotional response are absolutely key to getting more people to take action on this crisis. We have all the facts we will ever need—all these statistics and reports telling us what is happening—but unfortunately it’s been insufficient to get a mass movement of people into the streets. I really want people to connect with that discomfort—even anger, which is generally a negative emotion, but sometimes I feel it’s necessary to have a bit of it to lead to action.
The Museum of Nature isn’t exactly an institution that’s responsible for the climate crisis. Why make it the site of your action?
I definitely respect the Museum of Nature for what it does in educating people about the environment, and I have no personal vendetta against it. I guess what I would say is that I thought it was an appropriate place to make a statement about climate because of what it represents on a symbolic level: we put effort into preserving artifacts, and there were three security guards patrolling the hall I was in to make sure those dinosaurs were safe. But where is that same effort and zeal for protecting the real nature that’s out ‘there’; the nature that we’re all dependent on?
What was your interaction with the police and getting arrested like?
The police arrived pretty quickly—the museum is right next to the police station. They arrested me, put me in handcuffs and drove me to the police station. Once I was there, they took my clothes and gave me a papery jumpsuit, and I was able to speak to a lawyer.
They then put me in a cell block, which was initially pretty boring. Things turned south when I found out I was going to be spending the night in jail, because I was not expecting that and I was pretty distraught.
They took me to the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre and put me into a dorm with about 20 other inmates. There was one inmate who was kind of the lead, and he was really nice. He put his arm around me and showed me around.
Some of the inmates were giving me advice, too. One inmate who I was playing Scrabble with was telling me not to do this kind of thing because he was concerned about my future. It wasn’t climate denial—he acknowledged that what is happening to our planet is horrible—but he said it wasn’t worth it for me to be doing this.
Looking back on it, it was really a textbook example of how Jesus told us to treat and welcome strangers. And it was in jail—one of the darkest places in society—no less.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity by Scott Cooper, Communications & Public Engagement Specialist at CPJ.
