Canadian environmentalist Tzeporah Berman joined the protest and called on President Obama to act strongly to reducing greenhouse gases. Canada will soon face "hard caps" and have to address emissions from oilsands as the President and Congressional leaders promise aggressive carbon reductions.

"We have to seize the momentum Obama is creating and remind him today that so many people across the continent want him to take bold action. I hate to write off my own country, but Canada is stuck in the past and is going to get a big wake up call from this new US administration," said Tzeporah Berman, executive director of PowerUP Canada.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cautioned that Canada will have to reduce global warming pollution by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid catastrophic climate change.