This post was updated Feb. 13 at 8:08 p.m.

A former Canadian cabinet minister told climate activists to keep fighting despite a currently unfavorable political background at a Jan. 22 law school event.

The Emmett Institute, a UCLA Law program focusing on environmental law, hosted Catherine McKenna – who was minister of environment and climate change in Canada – at the event. Former chair of the California Air Resources Board Mary D. Nichols joined McKenna for the discussion.

“Tackling climate change is the hardest thing we probably have to do,” McKenna said at the event. “We have to completely transform how we do things – how we think about things.”

McKenna said at the event that she has worked on major climate action – including the 2015 Paris Agreement, a treaty signed by nearly 200 countries to fight climate change – throughout her career.

McKenna said on the panel a major shift needs to come from the government to fight climate change. She added that governmental institutions should break ties with fossil fuel companies and work instead on funding more renewable energy.

Nichols said on the panel that American politicians often treat climate change as purely an economic issue. The Trump administration has also cited economic concerns as the reason for their withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

“The Paris Agreement is really important,” McKenna said. “For the first time, the world came together with a clear temperature goal, and that every country would do its part.”

Janani Acharya, a first-year computer science and linguistics student who attended the panel, said it reminded her of the importance of paying attention to politics.

“Politics do matter,” she said. “I thought I could just do my own thing and let other people take care of all the policy stuff that will help me do what I need to do for climate change. But I just think that’s not true – everyone needs to fundamentally be involved to some level.”

Annie Hoang, a UCLA Health physician who attended the event, said the recent fires across Los Angeles County were also a reminder of the ongoing climate crisis.

“It seems like we are quite behind, and especially now here in California with the wildfires,” Hoang said. “There’s certainly an opportunity to really rethink our infrastructure and how we can better be resilient and withstand the realities of today.”

Narayan Gopinathan, a fifth-year sustainability doctoral student, said the event showed him that the U.S. could learn from Canada’s climate policies, such as carbon pricing and phasing out coal power plants.

While McKenna said on the panel that the current political trajectory does not seem to be in favor of passionate climate advocates, she added that activists should not give up hope. Some of the policies she has worked on have faced challenges, she said, but she added that she remains committed to her goals of climate protection.

Gopinathan said McKenna’s message resonated with him, adding that climate activists should keep fighting.

“Never give up,” he said. “Things are really hard right now, in terms of climate policy, when you have a president so committed to doing the opposite of what we need to do.”