Council of Canadians taking action in Cancun and Canada
With one week to go before pivotal UN climate change negotiations, the Harper government has once again labeled Canada a climate laggard, instead of a climate leader.
As the unelected Conservative-dominated Senate killed Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, Harper defended the move as something his government never supported anyway. The Bill would have required Canada to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
But new poll results conducted by Environics Research on behalf of the Council of Canadians and other organizations show that the Harper government is out of step with the majority of Canadians. Poll results confirm that more than 80 per cent of Canadians agree that too much focus on economic growth and consumerism is a root cause of climate change. Eighty-seven per cent affirm that industrialized countries – which have historically produced the most greenhouse gas emissions – bear the most responsibility for reducing current emissions. Canadians also strongly support government investment in green jobs that transition the economy away from fossil fuel dependency, and that there should be a World Climate and Justice Tribunal to judge and penalize countries and corporations whose actions have contributed to climate change and damaged the environment. The majority of Canadians would also rather see money spent on military actions be used instead for efforts to reduce GHG emissions.
The climate crisis demands urgent action, but Canada is going in the wrong direction. The Canadian government remains committed to being an energy superpower focused on export-oriented energy trade, allowing this to trump much needed action on climate change and energy security. As the climate change crisis continues to grow, people must demand action from their government.
Council of Canadians representatives will be in Cancun, Mexico for the next major round of UN climate negotiations, which are taking place November 29 to December 10, 2010. While the last round of talks failed to produce a binding agreement, the Council of Canadians will be working with allies, social justice organizations, environmental groups and thousands of concerned people as part of a burgeoning grassroots climate justice movement to demand “system change, not climate change.”
Click here to read more about our actions in Cancun and find out how you can get involved.
Go here to read more about the Environics Research poll results.
Follow us on Facebook! Join the Council of Canadians’ Climate Justice Now! Facebook group here.
Here’s more about what’s new at the Council of Canadians:
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"I joined the Council of Canadians because over the years it consistently represents my views on what not only Canada but the world should be like. It has fought, and continues to fight, for what I consider the important things in life: social justice, fairness and a chance for all to have a decent life. It is an effective voice for Canadians and has many great successes to show for its struggles."
– Mike Antoniades
Toronto, Ontario
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Parliament Hill screening shares Inuit knowledge of climate change
 On November 24 the Council of Canadians will join The Indigenous Environmental Network and Isuma Productions for a premiere screening for Members of Parliament and Senators of Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change.
The film features Inuit people speaking firsthand about how their landscape is changing; how the sky has turned colour, and whether the polar bear really is endangered. Their insight – borne from centuries of shared knowledge – reveals a deep intimacy with their environment and convincingly challenges mainstream media accounts of climate change. Unsettling accounts of new flora, thawing permafrost and dwindling ice point directly to the truth that climate change has become a human rights issue for many Indigenous people.
These climate and landscape changes are making offshore drilling in the Arctic more attractive to multinational oil and gas corporations. You can read more about the Council’s campaign to “leave it in the ground” and stop offshore drilling in the Arctic here.
Council meets with Members of European Parliament; Releases legal opinion about proposed Canada-EU trade agreement’s impact on toxic tar sands
Members of the European Parliament heard firsthand accounts from First Nations representatives about the devastating environmental and social impacts of the tar sands.
Earlier this month, Council of Canadians staff attended a meeting hosted by The Indigenous Environmental Network between Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and elected leadership from First Nations in Alberta and British Columbia. First Nations leaders spoke of Indigenous rights violations in their communities caused by tar sands development. They offered their support for the EU Fuel Quality Directive that proposes to list tar sands bitumen as a dirty fuel.
“The European Union should be designating tar sands as dirty fuel as part of its fuel emissions regulations,” said Chief Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation of Northern British Columbia on the EU Fuel Quality Directive. “Tar sands production is speeding up climate change, destroying land, forests and water, and it is subjecting Indigenous peoples to incalculable long-term harm. If Europe cares about climate change, is true to its commitment to Indigenous rights, they should take action to stop the tar sands and stop growth of tar sands infrastructure like the Enbridge pipelines and oil tankers.”
Following the meeting, the Council of Canadians held a press conference on Parliament Hill to release a legal opinion from international trade and public interest lawyer Steven Shrybman about the impacts of a proposed Canada-EU free trade agreement on the future development of the tar sands. The report states that, “While the terms of CETA have yet to be settled, it is clear that this proposed trade treaty is being viewed as an important test of EU priorities, particularly where the challenge of combating climate change conflicts with those of promoting further trade liberalization.”
To read our media release about the meeting, as well as a copy of the legal opinion go here.
Give the gift of social and economic justice for the holidays
 Are you still searching to find that special gift for a loved one? Consider giving a gift to friends and family that will really make a difference – a Council of Canadians gift membership. Social and environmental justice are always in style! Get your gift membership by December 10 to make sure it arrives in time for the holidays.
You will be helping the Council’s work to promote clean water, trade and climate justice, energy security and public health care for everyone. You will also be providing your loved one with an opportunity to learn more about these issues, and information on how to get involved in the fight for a better Canada and a more just world.
With your gift of a Council of Canadians membership, we will prepare a package that includes:
- A personalized holiday card advising them of your gift
- A 2011 membership card (valid for one year)
- The most recent issue of our informative magazine, Canadian Perspectives, and other current campaign information.
Visit our website today for more information, or contact our membership department at 1-800-387-7177 if you have any questions.
Happy holidays! And thank you for helping us to create a better Canada and a fairer world.
Kamloops chapter gives out community award
The Kamloops chapter of the Council of Canadians celebrated the organization’s 25th anniversary by starting an annual award for community members who really make a difference.
This year, the chapter honoured Ruth Madsen, an environmental activist who helped galvanize the community against a rail-tie gasification project.
“This award's not just for me," said Madsen in a local media report, adding that the fight was successful thanks in part to the support she had from the Kamloops chapter.
The chapter will present the award annually in categories that reflect the Council's concerns in areas of social justice, health care, national sovereignty and water protection. Anita Strong, chapter contact, noted how the Council of Canadians’ strong 25-year history is reflected in community activism. "[The Council of Canadians] was just a small group and since then has spread across the country and become a grassroots movement of people who want to protect what we have here in Canada," she said.
Win! Moncton, NB stops selling water for fracking; Inverness, NS chapter delivers petition to legislature
Less than one month after the Council of Canadians turned up the political heat on the City of Moncton, New Brunswick for selling public drinking water to an American-owned oil and gas company for hydraulic fracturing (more commonly known as “fracking”) explorations, the water sales have stopped.
The City of Moncton has been selling its drinking water for $1.58 a cubic metre to Apache Canada, a U.S.-owned mining company, for exploration wells in the Frederick Brook Formation in the Elgin area in southern New Brunswick. As many as six to eight trucks a day were being filled with water and then driven 50 kilometres to a “lake” that had been created to store the water for these operations. Fracking is a process where huge amounts of water, chemicals and sand are “injected” at high pressure into shale rock formations to access natural gas deposits. “Flowback” or wastewater from fracking is polluted to the point that it is no longer useable.
The Council of Canadians spoke out publicly against the city selling public drinking water for fracking testing in media interviews. Members of our Moncton chapter handed out educational information about fracking at a local farmer’s market. In early November we sent letters to the Mayor of Moncton and to members of City Council asking them to stop selling water for fracking. We also contacted elected officials directly and demanded a full public debate on the issues.
Moncton City Council is now looking at stronger policies about water use and sales. In a vote on November 15, Moncton Council unanimously agreed to ask the province to protect the city’s drinking water by not allowing any exemptions for fracking near the city’s drinking water source in the Turtle Creek watershed. According to media reports, the province has committed to preserving this watershed.
A fracking ban in Nova Scotia
The Council of Canadians’ Inverness County chapter is also actively seeking a fracking ban in Nova Scotia. The chapter recently submitted a petition with more than 1,200 signatures to their local MLA, who in turn presented it to the Nova Scotia legislature, and has been working hard to raise awareness about the issue locally. Thom Oommen, chapter chair, and Atlantic Regional Organizer Angela Giles met with Nova Scotia Energy Minister Bill Estabrooks to talk about the extensive environmental and health concerns associated with fracking. Oommen said he was pleased with the meeting, but added there is still more work to be done. “This is just one step,” he said. “We’re not done by any stretch of the imagination. We are making connections with other communities where this has happened.”
Council works with groups to have Great Lakes declared a Commons
 The Great Lakes hold one-fifth of the world’s freshwater and supply one out of three Canadians and one out of seven Americans – 45 million people – with their daily water use. The majority of Great Lakes waters pass down the St. Lawrence River and are of critical importance to the health and well being of many. Taken for granted as inexhaustible, the watershed is now showing signs of being vulnerable to human activities.
Water levels are dropping due to climate change and growth. The water that remains is increasingly affected by industrial pollutants and invasive species. Proposed nuclear waste shipments will add to the decades of tritium contamination. The threat of bulk water exports becomes more pronounced as worldwide water demands increase, and neighbourly goodwill is the only thing stopping the U.S. from diverting water from Lake Michigan to mid-west states that are rapidly drying up.
We need a different future for the Great Lakes. This is why the Council of Canadians, as part of a new network of Canadian, American and First Nations communities around the Great Lakes, is determined to have these lakes names a Commons, a public trust and a protected bioregion. Council staff and National Chairperson Maude Barlow recently took part in a four-day meeting at the Blue Mountain Center with network members and allies to build links and campaign plans with the goal of protecting the future of the Great Lakes watershed.
Read more about the meeting here.
New report details links between health care and the Canadian economy
Robert Chernomas, Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba and Council of Canadians’ Board member, writes about the current state of the Canada’s public health care system in this new report, “Profit Is Not the Cure 2010: Is the Canadian economy sustainable without medicare?”
The report examines the continuing threats to Canada’s public health care system from for-profit service providers and examines what factors are really driving health care costs. By exposing how governments have cut budgets to make it look like public health care costs are ballooning, Chernomas provides clear evidence and examples of why Canadians need to be vigilant about protecting public health care as the most cost effective and fair way to deliver health care services.
Go here to read the report.
Join the Council of Canadians
Founded in 1985 by a handful of citizens including Farley Mowat, Pierre Berton and Margaret Atwood, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s pre-eminent public watchdog organization. By becoming a member of the Council of Canadians your generous support helps give our organization a voice on social, economic and political issues and build a strong, independent and diverse Canada. Join the Council today, and help us prove that a better Canada is possible. Already a member? Share this newsletter with a friend and encourage them to join or donate and become a part of Canada’s largest citizens’ advocacy organization.
Get Active!
The Council of Canadians has a new way to keep you informed about issues that matter. Join our new ACTIVlist and get regular updates about emerging news stories and actions you can take to help make our communities and our country better for everyone. Together, we can all act for social justice.
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