Take Action! Tell the federal government “Don’t frack with our water!”
Fracking is a controversial method of extracting natural gas that is trapped deep inside shale rock formations. Millions of litres of water, sand, and tens of thousands of litres of toxic chemicals are blasted into the ground at extremely high pressure, creating cracks that allow pockets of natural gas to be released.
Communities across Canada are saying “no” to these projects. Council of Canadians members and chapter activists have been at the forefront of fights to stop this dangerous industry and protect their water from contamination from the toxic chemicals used in the fracking process.
Sign our “Don’t frack with our water petition” and tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the federal government has a responsibility under federal laws – such as the Environmental Protection Act and the Canada Water Act – to ban fracking until full safety reviews are conducted. Fracking has serious health and environmental impacts and puts people’s well-being and health at risk. The federal government has a duty to protect the safety of Canadians.
The Council of Canadians and Canadian Union of Public Employees have released a briefing note on recently leaked documents related to ongoing Canada-European Union free trade negotiations. The documents show that Canada and the provinces have failed to protect drinking water and wastewater services from trade rules that would encourage and lock in privatization.
Toronto councillors and community groups hauled a giant Trojan Horse in front of City Hall this morning to warn about the hidden dangers in a proposed Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) a day ahead of an executive committee meeting that will consider whether the city should be excluded altogether from the deal. Read more »
Canada's municipalities deserve a say in the CETA negotiations. A growing number of municipalities, school boards and municipal associations have raised concerns about CETA’s procurement chapter. Most of them want to see the municipal sector excluded entirely from the deal. In total, more than 30 cities, towns, school boards and municipal associations in eight provinces have passed resolutions on CETA.
Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver - Yesterday’s announcement in Washington, D.C. of a Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan amounts to the wholesale replacement of Canadian privacy and security standards with U.S. ones. The result is the virtual abrogation of the privacy rights of Canadians. This deal is nothing less than the integration of Canada within the US security regime without any protections for Canadians and other persons. Read the media release and statement of principles »
It is a sweet victory. President Barack Obama has listened to his people and his better nature and rejected the Keystone Pipeline. In spite of a massive campaign south of the border by the federal and Alberta governments and the energy industry, which included expensive wall-to-wall television ads, common sense has won the day.
The tar sands of Northern Alberta have become a symbol of the destructive side of globalization and a flashpoint in the debate about alternative futures. With their heavy carbon footprint and their destruction of watersheds, the tar sands have become an international symbol of excessive development and the clear reason behind Canada's abandonment of its Kyoto commitment.
The route the pipeline would have taken through the United States on its way to be refined in Texas would have taken it over the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the most important and endangered underground water sources in the world. As ranchers and farmers and communities across whose land the pipeline would have traversed found out about it, they spoke with one voice: Putting the waters that grow the food for America’s heartland at risk for the profit of the energy industry is lunacy. The President agreed. Read more »
Contrary to mainstream media, the Durban talks did not lead to a breakthrough deal. The Harper government is pleased with the outcome, but in today’s political context, this should raise red flags. Certainly, one could argue that the continuation of the talks (ie., preventing a full blown breakdown of talks) towards a legally binding agreement can be construed as a ‘win’ but this is far fetched faced with what is actually needed. Read more here.
Canadian Civil Society Groups Decry Government Inaction on Climate Change
The Council of Canadians joined with other civil society groups to release a joint statement on the first day of the UN climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa denouncing the Harper government’s inaction on climate change. The statement highlights key examples of how the Canadian government has lost its moral compass on climate change. Signed by organizations and unions representing more than one million Canadians, the statement reads, “The world needs an ambitious, equitable and binding international agreement on climate change. If Canada refuses to lead or follow in this pursuit, we should at least get out of the way.”
Read more about the Durban climate talks in our blog.
Check out our an exciting new multimedia education project, System Change not Climate Change! SystemChange.ca is a multi-media tool for climate justice organized by the Council of Canadians’ Climate Justice for People and the Planet campaign.
"We who live around the Great Lakes of North America have a very special responsibility to preserve and care for them in the light of the global reality now so clear."
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and Michigan-based Flow for Water chair Jim Olson presented to the International Joint Commission in Washington, DC on Tuesday December 13.
Read Maude Barlow's remarks to the Commission here.
The Council of Canadians is expressing its firm opposition to the federal government’s reopening of a rejected proposal for the Prosperity Mine in British Columbia, arguing the move violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN-recognized right to water. Read more »
A municipality can become a Blue Community by: 1) recognizing water as a human right; 2) promoting publicly financed, owned and operated water and wastewater services; and 3) banning the sale of bottled water in public facilities and at municipal events. Burnaby has now adopted resolutions affirming these three criteria.
Through the Blue Communities Project we provide community leaders and activists the tools to resist public-private partnerships, promote water as human right at the local level, and ban the sale of bottled water in public spaces. More about the The Blue Communities Project »
Send a letter today to Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, Health Critic Libby Davies, your Premier and provincial Minister of Health asking them to improve public health care for all Canadians through the 2014 Health Care Accord at www.canadians.org/2014accord.
Toronto – The Harper government let down millions of Canadians this week by effectively walking away from the opportunity to craft a 2014 Health Accord that brings real reform to our health care system. Read more »
The Council of Canadians supports the Occupy movement.
The world-wide occupations seek to draw attention to the corporate control of our economy, and the resulting wealth inequalities, austerity measures, environmental harms, loss of democratic rights, and exclusion of popular voices.
It began with Occupy Wall Street, inspired by the Arab Spring approach of occupying a public space. The Occupy movement has consistently emphasized non-violence, consensus decision-making, and the broadest inclusion of people. It says the one thing we all have in common is that, ‘We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%’.
Council of Canadians members, chapter activists, Board members, and staff will be at Occupy locations across Canada on Saturday October 15 and beyond. These locations include:
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Campbell River
Courtenay
Duncan
Kelowna
Kamloops
Nanaimo
Nelson
Vancouver
Victoria
PRAIRIES
Calgary
Edmonton
Lethbridge
Red Deer
Regina
Winnipeg
ONTARIO-QUEBEC
Kingston
London
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
ATLANTIC
Nova Scotia
Moncton
St. John's
During the recent Indignez-Vous! conference in Montreal, Council of Canadians chapter activists, Board directors, and staff visited Occupons/ Occupy Montreal to demonstrate our solidarity with them.
In the video you will see the Council of Canadians marching to the Occupy Montreal site at Square Victoria in Montreal's financial district, a short interview with chairperson Maude Barlow, and drumming by Board member Chief Garry John of the Seton Lake First Nation in British Columbia/ Coast Salish Territories.
The Council of Canadians helps to #Surround the White House to say NO to the Keystone XL pipeline
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and Political Director Brent Patterson were in Washington, DC to join with 12,000 others to surround the White House and demand that US President Barack Obama say no to the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Rights of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, launch in New York City on April 21, 2011. The book is published jointly by The Council of Canadians, Fundación Pachamama and Global Exchange (2011).
The book - The Rights of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth - can now be purchased on-line at canadians.org/rightsofnature.
The Council of Canadians and partners launched the book on April 21 in New York City and it can now be purchased through our website for $15 (tax, shipping and handling included). While buying the book, you can also make a donation to support our work and/or purchase a 1-year Council of Canadians’ membership for $45.
Multimedia
Canadian Perspectives editor Jan Malek was present at the UN for the 'Nature has Rights' debate and the 'The Right of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth' book launch from April 20-21, 2011 to report on the proceedings.
See updates on Twitter @CouncilofCDNs. Read Jan's blog posts:
Toronto faces hidden threats from Canada-Europe trade deal, say councillors and community groups
