On the Road with Maude Barlow
As I write this column, the earth has
come to life again, and with it, the
endless promise of renewal and hope.
What an active time we have all had at
the Council of Canadians this past few
months!
In early spring we held a fabulous teachin
in Ottawa on deep integration called
Integrate This! We launched the teachin
with a Friday night musical event at
a club in the Byward Market, which
brought out a huge youth crowd. And
on the weekend, we brought together
hundreds of people from across the
country to analyze the Security and
Prosperity Partnership and propose
a very different vision for our shared
continent. (Click here for a glimpse of
what we learned at the Integrate This!
teach-in.)
The teach-in garnered lots of media
attention, which clearly alerted officials
from the U.S. Embassy, who invited
us to share our concerns about the
SPP with them. In a lively and honest
discussion, I asked a senior official
why the SPP had not been brought to
the legislatures of the three countries.
He replied that the three governments
did not want a repeat of the “bruising
NAFTA battle.” Bet they knew they
would lose if it ever became public!
In early May, my appearance before the
Standing Committee on International
Trade resulted in the committee calling
for a ban on exports of Canada’s water.
Council board member Gordon Laxer
appeared a week later before the same
committee on the issue of energy and
the SPP. The Conservative chair and
MPs stormed out of the room, claiming
that Gordon’s comments about Canada’s
energy security were “off-topic.” We beg
to differ, and so did the other members
of the committee. (See Gordon’s first-hand account of his
experience.)
From May 3 to 4, the Council joined
hundreds of others in Regina for the
historic Tommy Douglas SOS Medicare
Conference organized by the Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives and the
Canadian Health Coalition. While
there, we called for a national campaign
to protect public health care and set out
the agenda for its expansion. We also
laid out the Council’s campaign plans
to enlist the support of community
organizations, as well as Canadian small
and medium-sized businesses to protect
medicare. Everyone involved left feeling
more deeply committed to the fight for
the crown jewel of our social system.
The winter and spring also took me
travelling abroad – to Brussels, Bern
and London – to speak on the right to
water. In May, I became a “Founding
Councillor” with the newly formed
Hamburg-based World Future Council,
whose mandate is to “champion the
rights of future generations, and work
to ensure that humanity acts now for a
sustainable future.”
Somewhere amid all of this action, I
wrote a new book called Blue Covenant:
The Global Water Crisis and the Fight for
the Right to Water. It will be published
this fall.
On a sad note, we recently lost the
very wonderful Doris Anderson – role
model, trailblazer and member of our
advisory board. I first met Doris when
I ran the Office of Equal Opportunity
at the City of Ottawa in the early 1980s
and she came at my invitation to speak
at an event there. I was immediately
taken with her strength, tenacity and
sense of humour – although I was so
intimidated I could hardly speak in her
presence. Over the years, Doris became
a guiding light for me, as she was for so
many other women, and helped me find
my way in what was still a man’s world.
We remember and celebrate the life and
gift that was Doris Anderson.
I wish a safe and happy summer to all
of you in the Council of Canadians
family.
Maude Barlow is the National
Chairperson of the Council of
Canadians.
Photo: Maude Barlow; Credit: Christina Riley
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