Who is up for joining a shale fracking protest in Sarnia?

From Tobin Black:

On May 19th there will be a closed door meeting for corporate players that are scheming to poison Ontario and waste VAST amounts of fresh water for a new form of natural gas extraction that many people just call "fracking" (rather than "hydraulic fracturing") -

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3077519

If you've seen the documentary Gasland

<http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/gasland/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TopDocumentaryFilms+%28Top+Documentary+Films+-+Watch+Free+Documentaries+Online%29>,

then you'll know what I'm talking about. Here's an 11 minute trailer for it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Nc-kxWfmc

An activist in Sarnia is trying to arrange a rally out there, and I'm up for getting together carpooling from London.

That Sarnia activist (Zak) also gives toxic tours of the Chemical Valley area -- including the native reserve that is surrounded by petro-chemical plants. A visit to the area is an unforgettable experience.

Here's a quick run-down of what shale fracking is all about - Water, toxic chemicals, and sand is blasted very deep underground. As a result, people's drinking water becomes flammable, and there's a risk of their homes exploding. There certainly have been explosions at the actual spots where the fracking is done -- not far from homes, in many cases. Various substances (e.g. methane, e.g. radioactive materials) also are released from underground as the mixture of fluid is blasted down there. Hundreds of chemicals that have been injected into the earth and the ground water are trade secrets -- yet they still end up flowing around the environment. There also is air pollution, mini earthquakes, and the fresh water waste is absurd. Millions of gallons of fluid is injected into each well. Pools of toxic sludge are left above ground in tailings ponds that should be expected to leak into the environment before long. The industrial operations also involve a lot of truck traffic, and other noise. All of this can happen near a property (e.g. a

farm) with no consultation with the owner, and farmland and streams can be poisoned indefinitely. Water and air pollution flows across property lines. The methane released during this process is a very dangerous greenhouse gas that impacts the world-wide climate.

Without resistance, all of that will happen in Chatham-Kent, Lambton, and between the Greater Toronto Area and Lake Simcoe. I also think there might end up being operations around Georgian Bay. But the schemes aren't publicized, so it's hard to know what will happen.

These operations are well underway in nearby U.S. states, where there also increasingly is resistance from activists.

In Canada, there are active anti-fracking campaigns on the east coast -

-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Fracking-Way-New-Brunswick/199663823391584

<http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Fracking-Way-New-Brunswick/199663823391584>

-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Fracking-In-Nova-Scotia/192536797443762

<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Fracking-In-Nova-Scotia/192536797443762>

In Ontario the conflicts are coming. And why should we wait for environments to be poisoned indefinitely first? The companies that are looking to profit from this devastation already are active.

The pollutants -- including radioactive substances -- would flow into multiple Great Lakes around the area.

In Quebec there actually is a partial moratorium right now. And there are moratoriums in Maryland, New York State (in a more limited sense), and the city of Pittsburgh.

In Alberta there has been more passivity in the face of this devastation, but this woman is filing a lawsuit - http://tinyurl.com/3wtlaya This documentary is about a local conflict in Alberta - http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/passionateeyeshowcase/2010/burningwater/

Monthly Meeting: Tuesday May 10

Next meeting of the London Chapter of the CoC
Tuesday May 10, 2011
7:00-9:00 p.m.
Carson Branch, London Public Library
465 Quebec St. (at Dufferin)

Agenda: click here

Minutes of last meeting on April 12: click here

Cpac/Rogers televised debates/panel discussions

Click here.

Federal Political Party Papers (and NGOs)

A list of websites, including the Council of Canadians: click here.

Party platforms on peace issues

"With the notable and limited exception of the proposed F-35 purchase, the issues of war and peace have been almost entirely absent from the current federal election campaign, even though the country is now involved in two on-going wars.

The major parties have all published election platform documents, however, and these policy statements do occasionally touch on various peace-related issues.

Here is a brief guide to the party platforms on peace-related issues."

(From ceasefire.ca)

ELECTION 2011: WHERE DO THE PARTIES STAND ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES?

Environmental Defence, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Equiterre and the Pembina Institute asked the five main political parties to respond to 10 questions on key environmental issues. (The Conservative Party did not respond...)

Click here for the results.

REMINDER! MEETING TONIGHT!

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.blogspot.com/2011/03/monthly-meeting-tuesday-april-12.html

Election 2011 – Voters’ Toolkit

Re-posted from national office newsletter:

Donate for democracy – Support the Council of Canadians

We need your support to step up our election campaign and reach voters with the message that we need a Canadian government that will support democracy, the right to water, public health care, fair trade and climate justice. With your help, we will highlight to Canadians across the country our shared values, concerns and priorities for social, environmental and economic justice. Your generous contribution will let us step up our campaign and help people make informed choices about the kind of country they want to have after Election Day.

Please donate today

On May 2, 2011, Canadians will go to the polls and elect a government and a leader that will represent the values and vision of Canadians. Voting is one of the truest acts of democracy. By putting pencil to paper you will join people across Canada to vote for the candidate – and by extension – the political party you think will best lead this country.

We are once again at a political crossroads. The country has been plunged into the third federal election in five years. As the Harper government pushes for a Conservative majority – something it has been unable to achieve – this push is being met by the resistance of people across Canada who believe that what Canada really needs is a federal government that is committed to fair trade deals, strengthened public health care, access to safe, clean water for everyone, and strong environmental stewardship to protect our land, air and water from pollution and privatization.

The Council of Canadians believes that democracy – broad, deep- rooted and effective democracy exemplified by democratic government – is a fundamental pillar of our society. Through true, citizen-led democracy we can build a better Canada and a better world.

But since 2006 when the Harper Conservative government seized power with a minority government that until the recent election call, only represented 38 per cent of Canadians who voted, the most basic principles of democracy have been increasingly undermined.

The Council of Canadians is a non-partisan organization. We will not tell you which candidate to support, or what party to vote for in the upcoming federal election. We do encourage you to learn more about candidates in your riding; to ask tough questions of them when they come to your door and at public meetings; and to keep tabs on the campaign through the media and by speaking with your friends, family members and neighbours about election issues.

In this special federal election e-newsletter, you will find links to our Voter’s Toolkit, election blogs, and ideas about how to take action in your community.

Be a part of democracy. In the coming weeks find out about the candidates in your riding, go to all candidates meetings and make an informed choice about which candidate will best represent your values in the House of Commons.

Add your voice. On May 2, 2011 be a part of democracy and vote.

Here’s more about what’s new at the Council of Canadians in the lead-up to the 2011 federal election:

• Watch Maude’s election v-log (video blog)


• Council launches Election toolkit offering one-stop access to resources you can use in your community


• Take action! Blow bubbles for democracy


• Read all the latest updates in our 2011 Election blog

Watch Maude’s election v-log (video blog)

Every week, Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow will share her thoughts and comments about the week’s happenings on the campaign trail. In her first video blog she talks about how health care is being ignored by party leaders – Stephen Harper in particular – even though the majority of Canadians want it to be a central election issue. While Stephen Harper is ignoring health care, he is talking about trade deals, putting enormous emphasis on Canada signing deals that put our water, public services and environmental policies at risk. In this video, Maude shares information about how Council of Canadians members and chapters will be active this election, pushing hard for the Canada we all want.

Click on the image to hear what Maude has to say.

---

Council launches Voter’s Toolkit filled with resources you can use in your community

Want to help make a difference in your community by taking action during the federal election campaign period? Check out the Council’s new Voter’s Toolkit. The kit includes downloadable resources such as a 2011 Election leaflet, “Vote for the Canada you Want,” questions for candidates, tips on how to organize an all-candidates meetings, window signs and much more.

Download and print your copies today!

---

Take action! Blow bubbles for democracy

The Conservative Party is tightly controlling any public access to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper during the election. Harper is not holding any public events, “main-streeting” with the public, or going anywhere that ordinary Canadians would be able to speak to him or hear his views. Even reporters are being kept away, having to shout questions (Harper has limited the number of questions to five) from several feet away. Those attending Harper’s speeches must pre-register and then produce identification at the door. On the campaign trail Stephen Harper is effectively “in a bubble.”

Two teenage women were turned away from a Conservative Party event in London, Ontario simply for having gone first to hear what Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had to say and posing with him for a picture. Two apolitical veterans advocates were turned away from a Harper rally in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for unknown reasons. In Guelph, Ontario, two university students were turned away for having sung “O Canada” outside the hotel where Harper was speaking. A Sierra Youth Coalition activist was also turned away from this event for having gone to the recent climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.

Harper’s “bubble” is an affront to democracy. Politicians are public figures. They are accountable to the people who cast the ballots that put their party in power.

Ironically, people have asked why (and how) Harper is doing background checks on people for his events and restricting their access because of a facebook photo or an event they attended, while failing to know that one of his party’s top advisers, Bruce Carson, had five convictions for fraud.

TAKE ACTION!

Council of Canadians chapters will be setting up a bubble stations along the campaign trail. You can join in too by posing for a photo “blowing a bubble for democracy.” We will post these photos on our website, and raise media awareness.

Help burst Harper’s “bubble!” Blow your own bubble for democracy today.

Go here to send in your photo or upload them to a Flickr group called “bubbles4democracy”.

Read all the latest updates in our 2011 Election blog Want to keep up on all the latest election news? Read about what party leader’s have to say on the campaign trail, get analysis on current issues and party positions, and read about how election happenings relate to Council of Canadians’ campaigns. Go here to read the Council’s 2011 Election blog.

All Candidates Meetings

For details see our calendar on our website.

All Ridings Friday April 15, 2011

All Ridings Monday April 18, 2011

London-Fanshawe Monday April 18, 2011

London North-Centre Tuesday April 19, 2011

Agricultural Issues (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) Tuesday April 19, 2011

Health Care (London West) Wednesday April 20, 2011

London-West Tuesday April 26, 2011

Elgin-Middlesex-London Thursday April 28, 2011

Post-secondary Education (London West) Thursday April 28, 2011

(These are all the meetings we know about. None of them are being run by the Council of Canadians. If you find out about any other all candidates meetings, let us know, and we will be happy to add them to the list and our calendar.)

Rally against Harpocracy!

Sunday, April 3 · 3:30pm - 5:30pm

Four Points Sheraton on Wellington Rd.

Show that we stand Canadian values against the CONtempt of the CONservative CONmen!

The London Chapter of the CoC will be there! Join us! Bring an anti-Conservative and/or pro-CoC sign! Tout CoC values; trash Conservative ones! Signs should be as large as possible, the messages short and to the point, and the lettering should be large enough to be readable from a distance. Simple recognizable graphics are always effective (e.g. Harpo's mug inside a red circle with a diagonal red line across it).

(Remember, as a non-partisan organization, we can't campaign for a particular party, so don't bring any campaign signs if you are going to be with us, but we can criticize Harper and the Conservatives relentlessly! You can, of course, campaign for one of the other parties there if you wish, but not with our group.)

NOTE: This is not a CoC event exclusively. It is open to any and all groups or individuals who oppose the Conservatives.

London Bottled Water Ban

For the record, the 2008 resolution banning the sale of bottled water in City-owned facilities can be found here.

April Newsletter

The April newsletter of the London Chapter has just been published:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/Newsletter.pdf

Forum: "Bringing Home Climate Change"

Tuesday March 29, 2011

Wolf Performance Hall,
London Central Public Library

251 Dundas St., London, Ontario

Join us to hear internationally-recognized local scientists present the most current global
and local information about Climate Change.

Agenda
6:00 p.m. Informal Poster Presentations of Recent Research Results
• How Uncertain are the Future Extreme Precipitation Events ?: An Upper Thames River Basin Context by Tarana A. Solaiman and Slobodan P. Simonovic
• Moving towards Probability based Intensity-Distribution-Frequency (IDF) Curves under Climate Change by Tarana A. Solaiman and Slobodan P. Simonovic
• Climate Change Uncertainty and Water Resources Decision Making – Probabilistic Approach by Dejan Vucetic and Slobodan P. Simonovic
• Climate Change Uncertainty and Water Resources Decision Making – Fuzzy Set Approach by Dejan Vucetic and Slobodan P. Simonovic
• An Approach to Quantifying Uncertainty in Estimates of Intensity-Distribution-Frequency (IDF) Curves by Fahad Alzahrani and Donald H. Burn
7:00 p.m. Climate Change – Global Prospective – Dr. Gordon A. McBean
• what is climate change
• what are the main global problems
• how to deal with climate change (global and local issues)
• mitigation and adaptation
8:00 p.m. Climate Change – Challenges at the Local Level – Dr. Donald H. Burn
• how is climate change manifesting at the local level
• what are the main issues (scales, uncertainties, communication)
• temperature, precipitation, extremes
• Upper Thames River Watershed experience
8:30 p.m. Climate Change – The Local Experience – Dr. Slobodan P. Simonovic
• review of work done in the Upper Thames River Watershed
• impacts of climate change in the Upper Thames River Watershed
• from impacts to adaptation action
• City of London precipitation and risk to infrastructure work

For more information contact
Teresa Hollingsworth
Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, at
hollingswortht@thamesriver.on.ca
http://thamesriver.on.ca

London Health Coalition Meeting

When: Tuesday, March 29th, at 7pm

Where: CAW Local 27 Hall - 606 First St., London, ON

At this meeting we will have briefings and discussions on:

• Distribution of federal election leaflets
• Discussion of findings for written draft of London report
• Town Hall meeting re London Hospital Cuts
• A campaign staff of OHC will be with us; also, Natalie Mehar is trying to make the meeting

For more information please contact Shirley Schuurman at:
shirlschuu@kwic.com

Call for Renaissance of the Bank of Canada

Dear COMER (Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform) colleagues, and advocates of monetary policy change and social justice for Canada,

I am writing to ask your assistance in an initiative to gain support for an urgently needed change in monetary policy for Canada. As you may be aware, I have been working for many years---ever since 1994 when I first learned about this possibility---to induce our federal government to use our publicly owned Bank of Canada to provide essentially interest-free loans to governments at all levels in this nation in place of the present practice of governmental borrowing at interest from private banks and other private money lenders. Reviving these powers of the Bank of Canada, which were used for public benefit from about 1935 to 1975, could save our governments some $60 billion in interest payments each year, freeing huge sums of funding to meet human and environmental needs, to eliminate gradually existing debt, and to avoid imminent devastating funding cuts and privatization of our highly valued social programs.

I am asking for your support not as individuals, but as activists working valiantly in many different public welfare organizations, to urge your organization(s) to endorse a "Call for Renaissance of the Bank of Canada". This "Call" has now been posted on the website of the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (comer.org). Using the website, your organization can sign on to endorse the "Call", and join other organizations in announcing publicly support for this urgently needed change.

My thinking in promoting this effort has been that many of the organizations working in Canada for public welfare are necessarily constantly pressing for public funding for the causes they espouse, whether they are working for improved medical care, or justice for native peoples, or poverty reduction, or environmental improvement, or responding to any of many other urgent needs. I have long been dismayed that such organizations have not pushed for the changes in monetary policy which could make abundant funding available to meet the whole range of social and environmental needs for which they advocate. If organizatiions could join in calling for these changes, perhaps they could have some significant political impact. When we get several organizations to endorse the "Call", we will start posting their names on the website. As this list grows we will be able to point to increasing understanding of monetary policy, and to support for returning to the creative 1935-1975 use of the Bank of Canada which is a key part of Canadian history.

Anything any of us can do to recruit organizations to endorse the "Call" will contribute toward our efforts to promote the changes in monetary policy that we need. With an election now imminent here in Canada, we have an opportunity to enable our organizations not only to request better funding, but also, through the "Call", to show that increased government funding is fully feasible even while deficits and debts are brought under control. This is a great educational opportunity as well as a means for exerting pressure on the electoral process. I will be doing all I can to recruit endorsements from the connections I have, local, provincial, and national. And endorsements from organizations of any size at any level, local to national, are welcome. Please take a close look at the part of the website dealing with the "Call". I ask your help in promoting it, as you are able. I am willing to coordinate this effort, with help from John Riddell on the technicalities of the website.

There is another opportunity we have to make creative use of the COMER website. When the Green Party at its convention last August passed a resolution calling for return to use of the Bank of Canada for public welfare, Elizabeth May, the Party Leader, asked us to provide information on this issue for Green Party candidates running for the federal Parliament. As some of you know from an e-mail I sent on March 21 to Elizabeth and copied to you, I have already referred her to the COMER website for information for GP candidates. If you have any ideas for strengthening the website for this purpose, please communicate your suggestions as soon as possible to Ann Emmett (ann.emmett@gmail.com), who is focussing on this issue. If you have not explored the website thoroughly lately, as I had not until recently, I can attest that it is well worth careful study. If we want to make use of it, we need to know how to direct people to the parts of it that promise to be most useful for them.

One additional matter. Ann called to my attention this morning a CBC report that describes an extraordinarily outrageous penalty fee extracted by Scotiabank for early termination of a mortgage. You can see it on the internet at "cbc radio" by typing into the search bar: "customer fee to pay out mortgage doubles". This information is very useful in showing how our banks are increasingly gouging us---in this case for $25,000. In the discussion following this CBC report, other people tell of similar experiences. This incident reveals the ever-growing abuses that result from control over our money system by privately owned banks.

Not since the Great Depression has the need for monetary policy change been more urgent than now. Just to our south in the U.S., state governments are claiming that public deficits and debts constitute a crisis justifying devastating attacks on public sector unions, on democratic institutions, and on public services. This is "disaster capitalism", as described by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine, and we are in danger that right-wing governments here will follow suit and take similar actions. In order to prevent our bondage to our present money system from becoming even more devastating, we need to go on the offensive to transform it into a power for creative social change.

The COMER community appreciates all you do for social and environmental well-being, and hopes you find it possible to enhance your existing commitments by helping to work for transformation of our crucial money system.

Many thanks and all best wishes,

George Crowell

georgecrowell@rogers.com

No to CETA—CETA and the Tar Sands Teach-in

Environmental Justice Toronto is holding a teach-in about the CETA and its implications on the Tar Sands and communities.

Friday, April 1st

3-6pm Panel discussion, followed by discussion and snacks.

OISE Room 2211 (At Bedford and Bloor, St. George Subway Station)

http://ejtoronto.wordpress.com/upcoming-events/

CETA is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement–a free trade deal between Canada and the European Union. This trade deal will allow for water, land, and oil to be exploited. Who bears the brunt of this resource exploitation?

What does this mean for environmental justice? What does this mean for trade justice? What do we do about it?

Speakers:

Clayton Thomas Mueller: Tar Sands Campaigner, Indigenous Environmental Network

Stuart Trew: Trade Campaigner, Council of Canadians

TBA: UK Tar Sands Group

Watch "Burning Water" Online

If you missed our screening last night, you can watch the entire documentary online here. It is a fascinating, if depressing look at how a private citizen can be crushed by a private corporation acting with impunity with the help of an unsympathetic government (in this case, the Alberta provincial gov). Fracking will soon come to Ontario, and we will be in the same boat. Forwarned is forarmed.

Maude Barlow's Message for WWD

A message from Maude Barlow:

Dear friends,

Today is World Water Day and a time to reflect on the gift of water that sustains all life on Earth. While many have access to clean safe drinking water, millions do not. We must come together this World Water Day to commit to a new relationship with water. We must conserve it, restore watersheds, protect source water from pollution – pollution must be viewed as a criminal act – and share it more equitably for all humans, for the future and for other species as well.

Modern humans see water as a great big resource for our pleasure, convenience and profit and not as the essential element of a living ecosystem that gives us all life - so we pollute it. We dump an amount of industrial and human waste into the watersheds every year equivalent to the combined weight of all humanity. We pump water from watersheds and rivers into mega cities where, if they are anywhere near the ocean, it is then dumped as waste – a major cause of rising oceans. We grow crops with flood irrigation in deserts. We poison water with mining, nuclear, fracking and tar sands production. We let water drain away from ancient rusting pipes because we have "run out of money" for public infrastructure.

The United Nations has recognized water and sanitation as a human right, which means that every government must now come up with a plan of action based on the "Obligation to Protect, Respect, and Fulfill" this right. We expect no less from the Harper government. The United Nations must also turn its attention to water conservation and watershed restoration, and to finding ways to make water a means of peace, not conflict.

We must also declare water to be a common heritage, a public trust and a public service, and we need to support the government of Bolivia in its new move to declare that water must be protected as a public right and not allowed to be delivered on a for-profit basis by the private sector. We need water for life. Water can teach us how to live in harmony with one another and more lightly on this Earth if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Maude Barlow
National Chairperson, The Council of Canadians
March 22, 2011

Find World Water Day events and resources at www.canadians.org/worldwaterday

Greenpeace shuts down Darlington nuclear hearing

Just received from Greenpeace:

"Happening now: Greenpeace shuts down Darlington nuclear hearing

Greenpeace activists have shut down hearings for new nuclear reactors in Ontario by locking themselves down in front of the panel at the centre of the hearing.
Watch live streaming video from inside the hearings.
The four activists have locked themselves in front of the panel to prevent the hearing from continuin with a banner that reads "No nukes are safe - Stop Darlington". Other volunteers have taped over their mouths, symbolically bearing witness to a flawed hearing process that fails to allow discussion of important issues such as catastrophic events and clean energy alternatives.
The government of Ontario is moving full speed ahead to build new nuclear reactors at Darlington, just outside of Toronto, even while a nuclear disaster continues to unfold in Japan.
Last week and again yesterday, Greenpeace and other groups called for the hearings to be suspended until more is known about safety concerns highlighted by the events in Japan, but this call has been ignored.
Take action with us: Email Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Opposition leader Tim Hudak demanding Ontario choose safe and clean energy alternatives."

Cinema Politica: "Water on the Table" about Maude Barlow

Is water a commercial good like running shoes or Coca-Cola? Or, is water a human right like air?
Liz Marshall / Canada / 2010 / 79 min.

Water On The Table is a character-driven, social-issue documentary by Liz Marshall that explores Canada’s relationship to its freshwater, arguably its most precious natural resource. The film asks the question: is water a commercial good like running shoes or Coca-Cola? Or, is water a human right like air?

This FREE documentary film screening is proudly presented b Cinema Politica and the London Public Library.

Official Site for Water on the Table

When: Mar 28 2011 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Hosted by: London Public Library and Cinema Politica London
Street and City Location: Wolf Performance Hall, Central Library, 251 Dundas

BREAKING: Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project

Change of toll-free dial-in telephone numbers for English audio for the Darlington Joint Review Panel proceedings

This is to inform those individuals wishing to listen live to the Darlington Joint Review Panel hearing proceedings beginning March 21, 2011, that the toll-free dial-in numbers for the English audio have changed. They are now 613-960-7527 or 1-877-413-4815. The identification number is 5760957.

The toll-free dial-in telephone numbers for the French audio remain the same. They are 1-877-413-4788 or 613-960-7513. The identification number is 7346589.

Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available the day after each session.

Find out more at: http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/readingroom/newbuilds/opg_darlington/follow-the-cnsc-at-the-darlington-jrp-hearing.cfm#tollfree

Webcast of Joint Review Panel for proposed Darlington new nuclear power plant project

The proceedings of the Darlington Joint Review Panel public hearing for the proposed Darlington new nuclear power plant project beginning March 21, 2011, will be Webcast via the CNSC’s Web site.

To access the Webcast starting at 1:30 EDT on March 21, 2011, click on the link below.
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/commission/webcasts/index.cfm

Monthly Meeting: Tuesday April 12

Next meeting of the London Chapter of the CoC
Tuesday April 12, 2011
7:00-9:00 p.m.
Carson Branch, London Public Library
465 Quebec St. (at Dufferin)
NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE!
Agenda: click here.

Minutes of March 8 meeting: click here.

World Water Day Film: "Burning Water"

World Water Day documentary film presented by the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians
Tuesday March 22, 2011
6:30 p.m. Reception; 7:00 p.m. (sharp), film, "Burning Water", followed by discussion & Q&A
Free to all; donations always welcome
The Black Shire Pub, 511 Talbot Street (2 doors north of Dufferin Avenue)

Coming soon to an aquifer near you!

For recent info on contamination of Canadian water supplies by "fracking" for natural gas, see

http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/fracking-natural-gas-affects-water-quality

http://www.sqwalk.com/q/alberta-firm-eyes-ontarios-untapped-shale-gas

For a poster of World Water Day events in London, Ontario, click here.

To see what other CoC chapters around the country are doing to mark WWD, see

http://canadians.org/water/issues/World_Water_Day/actions.html

ACTION ALERT! No more fossil fuel subsidies!

The Canadian government is one of the major financiers of the hated tar sands... Tell the oil stoog in the PM's office that we don't want to subsidize fossil fuel industries with our tax dollars!

CLICK HERE to give him a piece of your mind!

Council of Canadians Toronto: 2011 Toronto Chapter Water Forum

Council of Canadians Toronto: 2011 Toronto Chapter Water Forum:

Water Forum 2011: Healthy Water, Healthy Cities
Sunday, March 20
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Metro Hall, 55 John Street

1. We have a car going down from London early Sunday morning that can take 4 passengers.
2. Please contact Don McLeod asap to add your name to the list.
3. Don: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca
(519) 667-4016
4. Council of Canadians are paying for the gas for car pooling.

REMINDER: MEETING TODAY (TUESDAY MARCH 8)!

Hello Folks:

Reminder Notice

Council of Canadians London Chapter March 8, 2011

7PM - Literacy Room - Floor 2, Central Library 251 Dundas Street

Attachments:
Agenda March 8, 2011
Meeting Minutes Feb 8, 2011

Please bring articles and research on issues for discussion along with event notice posters for announcements.

We hope to see you there!

Don McLeod
Facilitator
London Chapter Contact
Council of Canadians

March Newsletter

London Chapter Newsletter

Maryanne MacDonald's Letter to City Council re Bottled Water

February 22, 2011
Dear Mayor Fontana and Members of London City Council:
The purpose of this letter is to bring light to some of the many issues with bottled water. The ones I wish to highlight are with the water itself, the plastic and the health issues.
I am writing this letter as a concerned citizen and on behalf of Waste Free World (WFW), a London based grassroots organization. WFW works in collaboration with local citizens and organizations to raise awareness and find a solution around our need to eliminate unnecessary waste on a finite planet.
In nature, plants are made up of the basic building blocks of all life, carbon dioxide and water and through help from the sun these plants become miniature power houses producing energy and oxygen for animals and humans. When the plants and animals die and decompose the elements are returned to the environment for reuse. If we constantly bombard and interrupt this process with toxins and the introduction of such compounds as plastics, not part of the natural cycle, eventually our ecosystem will cease to be able to provide for our needs.
We are choking the planet with plastic – plastic cannot be broken down in any great quantity by the decomposers that currently exist in nature. Therefore it accumulates – even when the bonds that hold the plastic together break apart we are still left with toxic bits of plastic dust. This then enters our food chain and water systems as birds, plants and animals mistake it for nourishment.
Polluted air comes from the burning of fossil fuels caused in part by the production and transportation of heavy bottles of water and the collection and transportation of those bottles to a recycling facility.
Dr. Peter Gleick, an expert on water policy and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California9] said: “Overall, the average energy cost to make the plastic, fill the bottle, transport it to market and then deal with the waste would be "like filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil." This I think you will agree is a gross misuse of a non renewable resource.
Switching from the bottle to the tap helps to reduce the use of oil - and helps to alleviate the trash burden created by the 25% or more of bottles that do not make it to recycling facilities. While we each struggle to cut down on our consumption of fossil fuels, bottled water increases it.
In the manufacture of a 1 litre plastic bottle it requires anywhere from 3 to 5 litres of water. We are throwing away water to sell water.
Safe drinking water is readily available at the turn of a tap without the above listed impacts to our environment. There are many towns that suffer because we have bottled water. There are aquifers that are depleted, water tables lowered, roads damaged and air quality compromised by the extraction and production of bottled water. Yes a few jobs are provided in the area of the water removal, but that is short term gain for long term damage to the environment and the lifestyle of an entire community.
Water is the basis of all life and needs to be seen as a basic human right. To commodify it and put the power in the hands of multinational corporations is putting the right to life in their hands as well.
In Victoria Park over the past few summers efforts have been made to reduce waste. Surveys indicated Londoners were overwhelmingly in favour of reusables and were grateful to have the option of filling their water bottles from the water fountains and the bottle filling station. When we use reusables instead of disposables the impact on our resources and landfills is significant.
David Suzuki is quoted as saying: “Canadians who want to do something about the environment should start by drinking tap water.”
Dan Huggins, Water Quality Manager for the City stated, at a local Water Forum, that in a survey 81% of Londoners did not know where their tap water came from. If citizens don’t know this, they probably don’t know the level of quality control that goes into ensuring that a safe reliable supply reaches their tap – but they sure know about the supposedly “superior” quality of the water in plastic bottles – yet the bottled water companies are not mandated to tell us where that water comes from nor do they have the same rigid testing requirements as municipal water.
Since the 2008 decision made by Council, there has been further research findings. One of the most disturbing was made in 2009 by researchers, Martin Wagner and Jorg Oehlmanm, at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany who have identified estrogens in bottled water that they claim have leached from the plastic packaging. "We must have identified just the tip of the iceberg in that plastic packaging may be a major source of -- man-made substance that has a hormone-like effect -- . Our findings provide an insight into the potential exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals -- low-dose exposure to chemicals that interact with hormone receptors that may interfere with reproduction, development and other hormonally mediated processes -- due to unexpected sources of contamination."
The study adds to growing concerns about products that span the plastic spectrum, says Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. "I used to say: '4, 5, 1, and 2. All the rest are bad for you,'" she says, referring to the recycling codes on plastic products. "Now, I'm not saying that anymore. We don't know about 4, 5, 1, or 2. This raises questions about all plastic bottles."
One endocrine disruptor is pthalate: Pthalates are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity) and have been found in bottled water. They are of potential health concern because they are known as endocrine disruptors of animals, and some research has implicated them in the rise of birth defects of the male reproductive system.[33][102][103] Endocrine disruptors interfere with natural hormones in the body responsible for the maintenance of normal cell metabolism, reproduction, development, and/or behavior."[1]
These findings, I believe, indicate a huge health issue that points to the need to eliminate bottled water. For years bisphenol A was allowed as a component of plastic baby bottles until the anecdotal evidence from mothers forced researchers and governments to look more closely at the possible health effects. Bisphenol A is now banned in baby bottles after years of allowing it. Are you willing to take the risk that the plastic in bottled water is safe, when in fact evidence is mounting to prove otherwise?
In a report released in March 2005, the UN stated that Canada is second to Finland for the world’s highest water quality but warned Canadians not to let the abundant supply of clean water lull them into complacency.
At the May 26th 2008 meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students a motion to oppose bottled water was unanimously passed. Since that time many campuses have eliminated the sale of bottled water and others are in the process. The public is demanding change. Our youth are demanding change.
In June 2008, 250 mayors in the US made a proposal to support a ban on bottled water. Leaders are waking up to the issues with bottled water.
London has a mandate from the provincial government to maximize waste diversion. WFW’s view is to eliminate at source. One logical and easy step is with bottled water not just because there is a need to slash disposable trash but because there is a safe, reliable, inexpensive alternative at the turn of a tap.
In the London Free Press on August 11, 2008, Scott MacKay president of Probe Research responded to Nestle’s claim that without bottled water consumers will turn to less healthful bottled drinks. Scott stated that the survey results shouldn’t be used as evidence consumers who can’t buy bottled water will buy other bottled beverages instead. “I don’t think we have data to support that. It’s an inference at best”, he said. If it is inference it is therefore not fact but only something that the Nestle spin doctors put out there in hopes that no one will challenge the information. To assume that there will be an increase in obesity and diabetes if people do not have the choice of bottled water is misleading. Bottled water has been a choice for at least 20 years and in that time obesity and diabetes has had a steady increase. In light of this, it doesn’t appear that bottled water is the solution to these health issues.
If water fountains are a concern as some see them as unsanitary the solution is not bottled water but an improved infrastructure to keep them clean. Also, there needs to be a strategy to provide the correct type of fountain with a goose neck attachment so people can easily refill their personal water bottle without concern. What we need to concentrate on is making the tap water safe, the fountains safe, and citizens knowledgeable about the true value of tap water in our society and why the infrastructure that supports it needs to be funded not only for today but for the future.
Bottled water is a convenience not a necessity. Our own health and the health of the environment is a necessity not a convenience. In summary, the quality of bottled water is a concern, the plastic is a concern and the resulting health consequences are concerns.
I am hopeful you will show leadership to the public and do what is right for all Londoners by maintaining the previous Council decision to eliminate the sale of bottled water in city owned facilities and by strengthening your resolve to continue to make our municipal water accessible and the safest it can be.
Respectfully submitted
Maryanne MacDonald

Don McLeod's Letter to City Council re Bottled Water

Thursday February 24, 2011

Dear Mayor Joe Fontana and London City Councilors:

We have an opportunity for London to show continued leadership on an extremely important environmental issue: Please “Say No to Bottled Water”.

In 2008 City Council voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of bottled water in City facilities and parks. Through long and detailed discussions London Citizens, Councilors and City staff worked hard to accomplish the leadership decision to ban the sale of bottled water in City Facilities and City Parks such as Victoria Park.

As a concerned citizen of London and the London Chapter Representative for the Council of Canadians we urge you to uphold the process that resulted in the City of London showing leadership by banning the sale of bottled water.

The London Chapter of the Council of Canadians has 1200 registered members in London, Ontario and another 500 London Citizens on our affiliate mailing list.

The following are key supporting reasons to maintain and enforce no bottled water to be sold in City facilities and parks:

• The ban on the sale of bottled water is in place and should be enforced.
• Hundreds of hours by London Citizens, City Councilors and City Staff resulted in the ban on the sale of bottled water in 2008.
• Nestle drains 3.6 million litres per day from the Guelph aquifer resulting in a reversal of ground water into Mill Creek.
• Our environment is negatively affected by the use of fossil fuel consumed in the manufacture of plastic water bottles and subsequently for the transportation of water bottles to distant markets.
• Tap water is readily available to every London Citizen.
• Reusable water bottles help provide an environmental solution for porting water for people’s use.
• Our land fills have a tremendous burden on them – banning the sale of plastic water bottles helps to reduce waste sent to our landfills which reduces the cost of our City of London waste management $$$!
• Municipal tap water is safe as it is tested continuously.
• Water is a human right – by not commercializing the sale of water we are maintaining peoples right to water regardless of their ability to pay.
• Ontario Municipal Water Association supports the ban.
• Federation of Canadian Municipalities supports the ban
• Association of Ontario Municipalities supports the ban on the sale of bottled water.

Let’s work together with our fellow Ontario and Canadian Municipalities!

Our organization will work closely with the City of London to promote water issues that are environmentally responsible.

Thank you for your support of the current ban on the sale of bottled water.

Yours sincerely,

Don McLeod
London Chapter
Council of Canadians

Canadians for Emergency Action on Climate Change

http://www.climatesoscanada.org/

"Government’s key role is to serve as the trustee of the commonwealth and the common health for this and future generations. Yet …
Canada now stands out as one of the leading major industrialized countries opposed to targets for deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and one of the biggest blockers of climate change negotiations.

Canadians for Action on Climate Change is a non-profit organization of activists, academia, physicians and citizens focused on climate change mitigation, a true cost economy and relocalization. Our organization seeks to provide news, reports and analysis to inform, educate and develop environmental policies for all levels of government in Canada and Internationally. We are committed to being part of a global movement against the capitalist destruction of our shared environment. Our current economy is unsustainable and an unethical catalyst to ever increasing global warming. This model assumes endless growth and limitless potential wealth, that completely disregards the fact that the earth’s life support capacity is finite. We respect the integrity, resilience, and beauty of the common wealth of all life as the foundation for a new sustainable economic model for our finite planet that will benefit generations to come.

We are a member of the Climate Justice Now network.

Climate Justice Now! is a network of organizations and movements from across the globe committed to the fight for social, ecological and gender justice."

You can contact us at canadiansforactiononclimatechange@bell.net

From Cory Morningstar

ACTION ALERT! Show City Councillors we DON'T want bottled water!

Monday, February 28 · 5:00pm - 6:00pm, City Hall, Council Chambers (3rd Floor)
300 Dufferin

Come on down to city hall and show that you support the ban currently in place on the sale of bottled water in municipal buildings

A bunch of people went down Feb 15th to let a subcommittee know that we did not want the bottled water ban rescinded. It was fun to be there and hear the debate on the issue, none of it even really covered any of the underlying issues...

WATER is a basic HUMAN RIGHT!
...RECYCLING should not be used as a replacement for REDUCING..

Bring your refillable water bottles, signs, etc and come meet some people!

Sophs, let your frosh know about this event, it's a good chance to see what actually goes on in the City of London's council meetings!

New Health Findings since the original decision in 2008:

Since the original decision in 2008 there have been findings in the scientific research that show bottled water is contaminated with estrogenic compounds that leach from the plastic into the water. Now that is a real health issue. One of the researchers from the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany is quoted:

"We must have identified just the tip of the iceberg in that plastic packaging may be a major source of xenohormone -- man-made substance that has a hormone-like effect -- the researchers said in a statement. "Our findings provide an insight into the potential exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals -- low-dose exposure to chemicals that interact with hormone receptors that may interfere with reproduction, development and other hormonally mediated processes -- due to unexpected sources of contamination."

The study adds to growing concerns about products that span the plastic spectrum, says Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. "I used to say: '4, 5, 1, and 2. All the rest are bad for you,'" she says, referring to the recycling codes on plastic products. "Now, I'm not saying that anymore. We don't know about 4, 5, 1, or 2. This raises questions about all plastic bottles."
One endocrine disruptor is pthalates:

Pthalates are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity) and have been found in bottled water. They are of potential health concern because they are known as endocrine disruptors of animals, and some research has implicated them in the rise of birth defects of the male reproductive system.[33][102][103] Endocrine disruptors interfere with natural hormones in the body that are responsible for the maintenance of normal cell metabolism, reproduction, development, and/or behavior."[1]

These findings indicate a huge health issue that points to the need to eliminate bottled water.

Bottled water is a convenience not a necessity. Our own health and the health of the environment is a necessity not a convenience.

1. voice your concerns in writing to the Mayor and all Councillors. If they don't hear from you they will assume that Nestle's request is reasonable and there are few objections. I believe it is better to send a letter in your own words however in case you don't have a lot of extra time to create a letter here is an online form that you can attach your information to and it will be automatically sent to the entire council. http://www.insidethebottle.org/stop-nestles-bottled-water-push-london
2. voice your concerns in the media - send a letter to the editor of the London Free Press and the Londoner
3. join me in the gallery at the February 28th Council meeting to see your elected representatives in action and to listen to the discussion and the decision. Your presence will be a visual indicator of your concern and of your support for keeping the original decision. Council meeting begins at 5:00 pm

From Maryanne MacDonald

Gina Barber's blog on the bottled water meeting

http://ginabarber.blogspot.com/2011/02/waterlogged.html#more

Another bottled water poll! TODAY!

ACTION ALERT! Take the poll down on the right hand side of the LFP website: "Should London scrap its ban on bottled water sales at city-owned sites?" VOTE NO!
http://lfpress.com

ACTION ALERT! Participate in radio poll!

Please get the word out. AM980 is running a poll TODAY on whether the City should lift the ban on sales of bottled water at city facilities. http://www.am980.ca/
about half way down the right side of the page.

London Bottled Water Ban Under Threat

From: maryanne.macd@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:51:48 -0500
Subject: Bottled Water on City Hall Community and Neighbourhoods Committee agenda for Tuesday February 15th
To: wastefreeworld@gmail.com

Nestle has written a letter that is included on the agenda of the Community and Neighbourhoods Committee Meeting on Tuesday February 15th. Please read it and write to your councillor to let them know your feelings on this. We have been through all of the rationale for this and the previous City Council voted in favour of banning the sale of bottled water in city owned facilities where there was access to safe, clean, municipal water. They didn't ban the bringing in of your own purchased bottled water. It is a question of City Council showing leadership. As pointed out in the letter from Nestle this not about quantity....yet they insist on pursuing it because they know it is about optics and the trend that London has set.

It was as a result of what was done in London that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities recommended that other municipalities take the same action. Thus far this has occurred in over 80 municipalities and numerous universities and colleges across Canada because it is the right thing to do. These cities and educational institutions recognize that water should be a basic human right not a commodity sold to the highest bidder. London has made a difference.

Go to the following link to see the resolution that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities adopted.

http://www.insidethebottle.org/files/FCM%20-%20Bottled%20Water%20Resolution.pdf

The bottled water item is slated to be on the agenda at 4:15 with Nestle presenting as a delegation. Anyone can attend these meetings and it would be showing the new C&N Committee that there is interest in the community about this topic if you were able to attend. You won't be allowed to speak.

http://council.london.ca/meetings/CNC%20Agendas/2011-02-15%20Agenda/Community%20and%20Neighnourhoods%20Committee%20Agenda.pdf

http://council.london.ca/meetings/CNC%20Agendas/2011-02-15%20Agenda/Item%2016.pdf

To learn more about water issues go to http://www.canadians.org/water/index.html
or to http://www.insidethebottle.org/

Please forward this e-mail to your own list of contacts.

Maryanne

Alone we are one drop....together we are a mighty river that can carve a new course to the future.

Welcome to the blog site of the London Chapter!

This blog site, formerly the blog site of the Victoria Chapter of the Council of Canadians, is now the blog site of the London Chapter. Previous blogs from the Victoria Chapter have been left in place as a courtesy.

Moving post

No, I'm not going to make you cry, but we have a new fledgling website which is ready to grow a bit, please check back to http://www.victoriacouncilofcanadians.ca.

Thanks, and peace.

Join us for a people's assembly for climate justice

Tired of the political system failing you repeatedly on climate change?

Done with Canada’s intransigence on climate change?

Upset with having your voice ignored while the voices of polluters destroying our planet get magnified?

Had it with yet another round of Climate Talks, this time in Cancun, lots of talk, hot air and no action?

Do you reduce, reuse, recycle, ride the bus, ride your bike, do you consider yourself part of the solution? Where do you think you can contribute next?

Are you eager to talk to like minded people about grassroots ground up action on climate change?

An event co-organized by the Council of Canadians, Victoria Chapter, KAIROS, (and more)

December 8th, Evening, 6:30 PM

First Metropolitan United Church, 932 Balmoral Road, Victoria BC, Coast Salish Territory

Join us for a world café style set of citizen discussions on climate change. Connect with your fellow citizens, get engaged in grassroots discussions, and talk about how to create change despite government, media and societal barriers. For more information, stay tuned to this blog, or use any of the following options! Hope to see you there.

info@victoriacouncilofcanadians.ca http://victoriacouncilofcanadians.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/cocvic http://www.canadians.org/assemblies

Picnic for Public Education

Come and join us in support of a dialogue toward excellence in education

Thursday, August 12 - 12:30 - 2:30 pm Legislature Lawn, Victoria BC Coast Salish Territory

Welcome guest speaker Tulani Ackerman as she completes her cycling trip from Prince Rupert to Victoria in effort to encourage all people in BC to become involved in our public education dialogue.

Sponsored by StEps for Students
and co-sponsored by VPEC (Victoria Public Education Coalition)

Bring your own picnic.

Water Watch Coalition CALL TO ACTION

YOUR ACTION WILL HELP

The Provincial Government has said it will fund one-third of the cost of the CRD's sewage treatment system. They have given every indication that they will want more than one-third of the say in how the project is procured and governed.

1) The Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee is meeting this Wednesday, July 28th, in the Board Room at 625 Fisgard Street, 6th Floor, at 10:30 a.m. You could learn a lot about these issues at this meeting which you are free to attend. We urge you to promote the "Committee" model of governance as described in the report below:
http://www.crd.bc.ca/reports/corearealiquidwastem_/2010_/07july28_/2010july14agendaitem/2010July14AgendaItem06EWW10-55ProjectGovernanceModelCAWTP.pdf
The issues of governance and procurement are not necessarily separate. Please write to your Municipal representative on CALWMC (some addresses are listed below) stating your preference for the Committee model of governance and the Public model of procurement.

2) You now have opportunity to greet the new Minister of Community and Rural Development through whose Ministry provincial funding will be channeled. Please refer to the attached brochure to see how you can get in touch with Minister Ben Stewart to let him know your feelings on this.

denise.blackwell@shaw.ca
council@saanich.ca
jbrownof@telus.net
vicderman@shaw.ca
barb.desjardins@esquimalt.ca
mayor@victoria.ca
ghill@viewroyal.ca
plucas@victoria.ca
mayor@colwood.ca
gyoung@victoria.ca

Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition

Lantern Ceremony

Friday, August 6th 7:30 pm
Hiroshima-Nagasaki remembered:

The annual lantern ceremony, marking the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan
Craigflower Park / Kosapsom
at Admiral’s Road and Gorge Road West, Saanich

Lantern making starts at 7:30 pm, with words and songs of peace at 8:00 pm, followed by floating the lanterns in the Gorge.

All welcome.
Free – (Bring a blanket &/or chair to sit on.)

Sponsored by the Victoria Raging Grannies, Victoria Peace Coalition, Physicians for Global Survival, Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society. Council of Canadians Victoria chapter

Call Rosa 250-665-7788

Issues of the Council of Canadians

The document with this title, a link to which is given in the right hand column of this blog, will eventually need to be revised as the Council of Canadians changes direction with changing times. For now, it needs to be mentioned that two issues currently of great importance in the work of the Council of Canadians, particularly in Western Canada, are the tar sands and run-of-the-river projects. The tar sands development in Alberta and Saskatchewan is one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history. It ties in with almost every active issue of the CoC. Run of the river hydro projects, prominent in BC, tie in mainly with trade, energy and water.

Climate Change & G8/G20: Not Business as Usual

Monday, June 14, 2010
7:00pm - 9:30pm. Displays open at 6:30.
St. John the Divine Anglican Church, 1611 Quadra St. Victoria BC

Speakers: Francois Pihaatae (Pacific Conference of Churches),
Tria Donaldson (youth representative to Copenhagen climate meetings),
Harjap Grewal (Council of Canadians), local Indigenous leadership

"By now, you may have read about ‘Climate Justice: Take Action for People and the Planet,’ a new development in the energy campaign. Myself, along with Maude Barlow and other Council political staff, were present at the UN Copenhagen climate negotiations last December and just last month at the climate conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia. These high-level climate talks have been key to advancing our climate justice work, including: building the international campaign against the tar sands, call the Canadian government accountable for failing to take meaningful action on climate change and ensuring energy security for Canadians, and contributing to real solutions to the climate crisis grounded in the principles of social justice and ecological sustainability.

We are continuing to work with our chapters in Canada on these issues, including with this important and timely tour. The event is free and open to all – so bring along a friend and feel free to forward this invitation broadly!"

If you can’t attend, take this opportunity to send the Harper government a message that climate action is needed by using our joint action alert with the Indigenous Environmental Network, Harper’s emission reduction is off target!, at: http://canadians.org/action/2010/emission-target-Jan-09.html
Contact: Susan Draper, graceful@shaw.ca, 250-370-0121
Sponsored by the Council of Canadians, KAIROS (Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives) and the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) on a cross-Canada tour for climate justice: Climate Change and the G8/G20: Not Business as Usual.

Next Monthly Board Meeting

Board Meeting: Wed. July 7, 2010, 7-9 pm Commons Room, 1246 Fairfield Rd.
***NOTE UNUSUAL LOCATION***
All members of the Council of Canadians are welcome, as long as they are invited or approved ahead of time as attendees by the board. If you are not a board member, and you wish to attend, and/or if you have items you would like to have added to the agenda, please contact us at least a week in advance of the meeting.

Salmon Protest & March of May 8, 2010

The migration event to Victoria was grassroots awesome. Thousands walked. And walking --they talked in ever changing kaleidoscopic migrating citizen knots pooling in back-eddies to surge across intersections 400 a time --unmarshalled.

Schools of bright painted cardboard salmon on sticks jumping and twirling over the throng seething --dancing with salmon, the drumbeat, the music enjoining onlookers to feel the wild salmon imperative -our migration. Pied-pipered we follow not a street, not a direction but a calling, a need, a compelling attraction towards vitality, towards renewal.

Through the canyon of downtown buildings, we feel a quickening intensify. The salmon inside me feels --destination, attracting, animating, joyfully moving me us blurring and like magnetized marionettes pulled towards not place, but purpose and exhilaration.

Gathering in number, cascading, almost mindful bits of reminiscence, a place resolves itself to become a purpose and then to breathe-in, inspiration to become motivation to see and then to shout we are here --arrived to feed and nurture this place, so that it will remember us too as we remember it.

We have a sense of useful selfless joy being in and with our noble kind. I, we are not supplicants at the legislature. We are mobile thoughtful food sharing its values and inspiration with all who eat of us. Are we not wild salmon migrating now? Are we not returning to our waters our land and our fellow beings with sustenance?

More than four thousand* of us became the wisdom and voice, of wild salmon yesterday. If you hear this voice then you are too.

Upstream,

Michael Major

-----------------------------------

*Security at the Legislature estimated more than 5000.

Historical Background for the AGM on May 17, 2010

As we head toward our panel discussion on “the poverty industry” at our AGM on May 17, we would do well to recall that the Council of Canadians was founded 25 years ago to counter the free trade, deep integration policies of the Reagan and Mulroney administrations.

The crushing poverty and homelessness that we have today are the direct result of the rise of globalization and its underlying economic philosophy of "neoliberal" “trickle down” wealth. The idea is that by the rich accumulating huge fortunes from exploitation of those who are now referred to as the “working poor”, smaller amounts of this money will eventually infuse all of society with a healthy glow. This fundamentally flawed foundation of “neo-conservatism”, which has been parodied as “tinkle down economics”, simply results in an acceleration of what has always been true in capitalist economies: the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

This situation has now become so entrenched that even more progressive governments such as the Obama administration in the U.S. cannot escape its grasp, even though Obama campaigned on the promise of a “renegotiation” of NAFTA.

The Council of Canadians will not rest until the wrongs of free trade and its resulting increase in poverty have been righted.

Robert Cory

Next Monthly Board Meeting

Board Meeting: Tues. June 1, 2010, 7-9 pm Commons Room, 1246 Fairfield Rd.
***NOTE UNUSUAL LOCATION***
All members of the Council of Canadians are welcome, as long as they are invited or approved ahead of time as attendees by the board. If you are not a board member, and you wish to attend, and/or if you have items you would like to have added to the agenda, please contact us at least a week in advance of the meeting.

Call for New Board Members

If you would like to become more active in the Council of Canadians in the Victoria area, we have openings on the Board of Directors. Let us know if you would like to put your name forward for possible nomination to the Board. The new board will be elected at the AGM on May 17. Contact us at:
info(at)victoriacouncilofcanadians(dot)ca

Annual General Meeting/Potluck/Panel Discussion

Victoria Chapter, Council of Canadians

Annual General Meeting

Monday, May 17, 2010

BCGEU Bldg., 2994 Douglas St.

5:45 p.m. Potluck Supper
7:15 p.m. Panel Discussion
8:30-9:30 p.m. AGM

Free admission; open to the public; new members welcome

Panel discussion:

Jody Paterson, Moderator
Exposing the Poverty Industry
Are social services helpful? Solutions will be discussed.
Panelists:
Kym Hines, former frontline worker
Carol Romanow, differently abled frontline worker
Lise Wrigley, former frontline worker, active member, Committee to End Homelessness in Victoria

info(at)victoriacouncilofcanadians(dot)ca

Board Member, Roberta Cory: Vic West Art Quest

Roberta Cory is resigning from the Board of Directors of the Victoria Chapter after 4 years as the Membership Chair. She founded the Vic West Art Quest in 2007 and will now be spending more time working on her art. Her invitation to this year's Art Quest is provided below:

Vic West artists are excited about their upcoming third annual artist’s studio tour, which is timed to coincide with the Vic West Fest! This year we have 17 artists participating.

Vic West Art Quest

Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9, 2010
1:00 to 5:00 p.m. each day

Reception

Friday, May 7, 2010
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Spiral Café and Hemp & Co.
418/422 Craigflower Rd.

We have two group shows this year. Hemp & Co. is currently showing our work for the months of April and May, and the Spiral Café will show our work for the month of May.

All artist’s studios will have extra maps of the Quest for those who have not picked one up at one of many locations throughout Victoria. For additional information go to our website at http://vicwestartquest.com/

Roberta Cory
Vic West Art Quest


Roberta Cory
"Oak Bay Beach Hotel #6"
39"h 23"w 4"d
2010

Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition meeting

GVWWC GENERAL MEETING

Thursday, May 6, 2010
7:30 to 9:30 pm
James Bay New Horizons
234 Menzies Street

Guest Speaker:
CRD Board Member, Philippe Lucas

GET THE LATEST SCOOP !
Find out what you can do to ensure that CRD sewage treatment is managed & operated on a not-for-profit basis & that sewage treatment is delivered as a PUBLIC SERVICE !

(Coffee, tea, and cookies available.)

Your core committee has been extremely busy on the privatization issue of late and, thanks to general membership support and community concern expressed in 4,081 petition signatures, has brought this issue to the forefront and won significant political gains on procurement of the proposed CRD sewage treatment facility.

We need help. There are many water-related issues that need addressing, and fresh faces on the core committee would be an excellent means of dealing with them. We invite your participation in this meeting, your questions for Councillor Lucas, and your extended involvement in GVWWC programming and pursuits.

29th Annual Earth Walk

Saturday, April 24, 2010
Peace, Earth & Justice
Meet at the Legislature at 12 noon.
Begin walking to Centennial Square at 12:30 pm, arriving at about 1:15 pm for a concert, speeches and environmental fair.
Speakers include Vicky Husband and Ross Crockford.
The mc will be Colleen Eccleston.
Music by Oliver Swain and Friends and the Ecclestons.
Lots of organizations will have information tables.
Information: SteveFilipovic@hotmail.com
www.EarthWalkVictoria.ca

MEGA-YACHT PROTEST

RT @Denise Savoie: Victoria paddlers and residents came out in force today to protest mega-yacht marina proposal - http://denisesavoie.ndp.ca/node/1163

There were something on the order of 200 protesters on land and 100 boats on the water! Very effective protest against corporate (developer) arrogance and disdain for democracy, destruction of a spectacularly beautiful harbour by the installation of a parking lot for the rich and their huge yachts blocking the view enjoyed by residents and tourists alike, the loss of recreational freedom of kayakers and other boaters to use the harbour, the loss of safety engendered by a far too congested harbour, and the environmental pollution of an already stressed waterway, to say nothing of the unconscionable use of fossil fuels to power gigantic toys for ridiculously wealthy overgrown boys! And all subsidized by the Campbell and Harper governments (our money), which are in power partly as a result of political donations from developers!