10 Key Values

The Greens are rooted in the Civil Rights, Feminist and Peace movements of the 1960s and 70s, and the Nuclear Disarmament, anti-Toxics and Deep Ecology movements of the 1980s. The first Green Party in North America was formed in British Columbia in 1983. Similar parties have existed in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, since the 1970s and have elected representatives to local, regional, and national legislatures.

The emerging Green constituency caused other parties to examine the links between their environmental policies and the economy more seriously. Greens have always emphasized a multifaceted approach to social justice and ecology.

The Green vision includes a responsibility to create both a healthy environment and a healthy society, both of which are fundamentally interrelated.

Sustainability

Like the people of the First Nations, we must consider the welfare of our descendents, for seven generations, if we are to be wise stewards of the earth.

Social Justice

The worldwide increase in poverty and inequity is unacceptable. All must be able to fulfill their potential regardless of gender, race, citizenship, or sexual preference.

Grassroots Democracy

The powerless suffer the most from resource depletion and toxic pollution. People must be able to participate in the environmental, economic, and political decisions which affect them.

Non-violence

Violence is a morally wrong and ultimately self-defeating way to resolve disputes. We must work to end war, and eliminate the root causes of crime.

Decentralization

The people most affected by a problem must have the authority to solve it. Distant administrations cannot be responsive. Power must be returned to local communities.

Community-based Economics

Rather than people being subservient to the economy, the economy should provide for human needs within the natural limits of the earth. Local self-reliance to the greatest practical extent is the best way to achieve this goal.

Gender Equality

The ethics of cooperation and understanding must replace the values of domination and control.

Diversity

We celebrate the biological diversity of the earth and the cultural, sexual, and spiritual diversity of the human race.

Personal and Global Responsibility

Global sustainability and international justice can only be achieved when responsibility is shared at all levels of society.

Ecological Wisdom

The earth sustains all life forms. Whatever we do to the earth we do to ourselves .