Council of Canadians Annual General Meeting promises action, celebration and positive energy

• Council challenges private water corporations at World Water Congress meeting
• Win! Red Deer Chapter helps successful lobby to stop gravel quarry on local aquifer
• Board member attends FDA hearings on GE Salmon
• Council Chapters “Dig In” for October 10/10/10 Work Parties
• Harper government undeserving of seat on UN Security Council
• Take Action! Stop shipments of radioactive materials on Great Lakes
• Your voices have been heard! 86,000 petitions (and counting) delivered
• Join the Council of Canadians

Council challenges private water corporations at World Water Congress meeting

Representatives of the world’s private water corporations were met with a river of blue – representing the 100 million people who don’t have access to clean, safe water – as they gathered for a meeting in Montreal, Quebec earlier this month.

The Council of Canadians, the Montreal Chapter of the Council of Canadians, and representatives of Quebec-based allies gathered outside the World Water Congress meeting on September 20 to protest the meeting’s “water for profit” agenda. The World Water Congress meeting was sponsored by Suez Environnement, Veolia Water, the Oil Sands Developers Group, and Environment Canada and focused on how to profit from water scarcity and private water services.

The Council of Canadians spoke out against the Harper government’s sponsorship of the event.
“This sponsorship calls into question Prime Minister Harper’s sincerity about protecting water,” said Council of Canadians National Water Campaigner Meera Karunananthan.

“The Prime Minister and the privateers at the World Water Congress would like to be able to sell water for profit to the highest bidder, but public water is a human right,” added Karunananthan. “The Harper government still seems oblivious to the realities of increasing water scarcity and climate change. It’s clear most Canadians and Quebecers support the right to water, so the question is why doesn’t Harper?”

Win! Red Deer Chapter helps successful lobby to stop gravel quarry on local aquifer

The Red Deer and Area Council of Canadians chapter joined with the Medicine Flats Aquifer Commiittee, the Butte Action Committee and local landowners to defeat a proposed gravel quarry in their community that would have threatened the local watershed.

The quarry, proposed in an area west of Innisfail, Alberta, would have had a negative environmental impact including threatening the local water supply, explained Ken Collier, Red Deer Chapter representative. “At least two alarming aspects are in that application – digging gravel pits into the aquifer water (largely to get cheap washed gravel) and allowing an asphalt plant. Asphalt leaches benzene, which will then enter the Red Deer water supply, not to mention water for farmers and ranchers locally and everyone else downstream, all the way through the Saskatchewan River system to Hudson’s Bay,” said Collier.

On September 21, the Red Deer County Municipal Planning Commission voted overwhelmingly against a “discretionary use” application for the gravel quarry operation following an intensive lobbying campaign that had people calling their municipal councillors and speaking against the proposed quarry at the planning meeting.

Congratulations Red Deer and Area Chapter!

Board member attends FDA hearings on GE Salmon

Council of Canadians Vice-Chair Leo Broderick traveled to Rockville, Maryland to speak at hearings along with dozens of U.S. groups that were testifying about the problems with GE salmon.

Broderick – along with representatives from environmental and health groups – has been a vocal opponent of AquaBounty’s Bay Fortune, which has applied to commercially produce genetically engineered (GE) fish eggs at the company’s PEI facility. The company is asking the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve its GE Atlantic salmon for human consumption and says it will soon ask for approval in Canada. AquaBounty plans to produce GE fish eggs exclusively in PEI, then ship the eggs to Panama for growing out and processing to then sell into the U.S. consumer market. 

“We need to make sure we can get as much information as possible for Canadians and Islanders about the risks of GE salmon. Canadians and Islanders haven’t been consulted at all about AquaBounty’s plan,” said Broderick. “The U.S. hearings could have a big impact on PEI and Canada and I think someone from the Canada and Island should be there. If the U.S. approves GE salmon, PEI could soon become known around the world as the home of Frankensalmon.”

To read our media release go here.

Council Chapters “Dig In” for October 10/10/10 Work Parties

On October 10, 2010 (10/10/10) the Council of Canadians will be joining people around the world for a “Global Work Party.”

Spearheaded by 350.org, the work parties will encourage people to do something that will help address global warming in their city or community. Actions range from installing solar panels, to starting a transition town, hosting a garlic growing party, or having a “dig-in” to challenge a local freeway project. It is a day to send a pointed message to political leaders: “If people can get to work to challenge climate change, you can get to work too.” There are already more than 2,500 groups in 150+ countries around the world that will be taking part in the events.

Council of Canadians chapters are planning actions in communities across the country. To see a list of events and to find out how you can get involved go here.

Harper government undeserving of seat on UN Security Council

The Council of Canadians has challenged the Harper government’s bid for a UN Security Council seat.

The vote for the seat takes place on October 12, 2010. Through letters to the editor, letters to UN representatives and by speaking to the media we have argued the Harper government does not deserve this seat because of its refusal to recognize the human right to water, its refusal to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and its dismal climate policy.

“Unsafe water and sanitation are the source of 85 per cent of all disease, and one in every six people on Earth has no access to clean drinking water,” wrote Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow in the Globe and Mail in March 2009. “A UN covenant would clarify that it is a state’s responsibility to provide sufficient, safe, accessible and affordable water to all of its citizens. If the government fails to act on the global water crisis, it simply does not deserve the leadership role it covets at the United Nations.”

Take Action! Stop shipments of radioactive materials on Great Lakes

Hearing are now underway that could allow radioactive waste to be shipped across the Great Lakes, a source of drinking water for more than 40 million people in Canada and the United States.

Bruce Power is seeking permission from Canada’s nuclear regulator for a licence to ship (radiation-laced steel) steam generators from its power plant in Kincardine, Ontario on Lake Huron to Sweden, where 90 per cent of the metals inside the generators will be recycled and resold. The remaining materials that are too radioactive to be recycled will then be returned to the Bruce plant to be contained.

Council of Canadians Researcher Emma Lui spoke at the hearings, held this week at Canada Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) offices noting: “The Council of Canadians opposes the shipments for several reasons including the shipment’s failure to meet established national and international regulations, the possibility of the precedent rendering the CNSC powerless to limit future shipments, the health risks of recycling radioactive material into scrap metal and the lack of meaningful consultation with First Nations and other communities along the proposed travel route.”

Take Action!
Fifty organizations – including the Council of Canadians, the Ontario Coalition of Aboriginal People, the Canadian Environmental Law Association, the Sierra Club, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Greenpeace Canada, the Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment – and more than 2,500 individuals have signed a petition opposing this plan to ship radioactive tubes across the Great Lakes. Please add your name by going here.

Your voices have been heard! 86,000 petitions (and counting) delivered

The Council of Canadians strength is in its members. Our organization brings people from coast-to-coast-to-coast together to speak with a collective voice on issues that matter. Whether it’s in support of a National Water Policy, to oppose the destruction of healthy freshwater by “Schedule 2,” a loophole that allows mining companies to dump their waste in our lakes and rivers, or for immediate action to address climate change, our members are taking action and speaking out.

So far this year we have delivered more than 86,000 petitions and action cards to government leaders on behalf of our members including:

• 5,000 petitions calling for provincial action against Site 41 and for the protection of groundwater against landfills to Ontario environment minister John Gerretsen’s constituency office in Kingston.
• 3,000 action cards to the Canadian embassy in Copenhagen calling on the Canadian government to act immediately on climate change.
• 56,000 petitions from members across the country demanding a National Water Policy and recognition of the human right to water to Parliament Hill.
• An open letter signed by more than 1,000 people by canoe to the G8 calling for the G8 and G20 summits to be scrapped.
• 6,000 letters opposing the proposed Canada-European Union trade deal to the Mission of Canada to the European Union at Avenue de Tervueren 2 in Brussels.
• 15,000 petitions against Schedule 2 (which allows freshwater lakes to be used as “tailings impoundment areas” for mine waste) to the Confederation Block where Environment Minister Jim Prentice has his Parliament Hill office.

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.