People's Climate March London, Ontario - Sept. 21, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH, LONDON, ONTARIO, SEPT. 21, 1:30 PM - RIVERSIDE DR. AT THE JET D'EAU FOUNTAIN 

On Sunday, September 21, 2014, 1:30 pm at the Jet d'Eau Fountain at the Forks of the Thames, London will march in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of deeply concerned human beings around the planet to say NO to runaway climate change. The People's March in New York City expects over 100,000 people with 496 buses coming from nearly all 50 states and Canada. Those who cannot get to New York City are marching in their own cities. London will join 125 other cities in Canada, including Peterborough, Brampton, Barrie, Owen Sound, Oshawa, Belleville, Sudbury, Toronto, Burlington, Guelph, Stratford, Waterloo, Kitchener, Hamilton, St. Catherine, and Niagara on the Lake for this historic moment in history. 

Canadians who are angry with our government for escalating climate change and have a different vision for Canada are encouraged to speak to the crowd. The renown Line 9 Snake, which made its debut in Queens Park last spring to protest the National Energy Board approval of the reversal of the 40 year old Line 9, will be walked around downtown as marchers carry signs denouncing the continued use of fossil fuels. The march will end at the Peace Garden in time for the dedication ceremony of the new Peace Plaque. This is a fitting terminus for the People's Climate March, since escalating climate change is a serious threat to world peace. Rising sea levels, deserts where people once farmed, and lack of drinking water will all lead to wars over scarce resources. 

Anyone with a troubled conscience about Canada's contribution to climate change is invited to add their numbers to this historic event and join us at the Forks. 

Roberta Cory 
Chair, London Chapter, Council of Canadians 
519-601-2053 

LONDON CLIMATE MARCH!

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW YORK MARCH

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

1:30 PM AT FORKS OF THE THAMES

 (next to the bridge at the water cannon off Riverside Dr.)

 ANYONE CAN SPEAK (briefly)
 YOUR OWN WORDS OR QUOTES

BRING SIGNS

WALK THE LINE 9 SNAKE

PHOTOS OF OUR MARCH WILL BE SENT TO JOIN THOUSANDS OF OTHERS FROM CITIES AROUND THE WORLD

WE WILL END THE MARCH AT THE PEACE GARDEN FOR THE REDEDICATION OF THE PEACE PLAQUE at 2:45 pm 

Please go to watchdisruption.com. It is a 51 minute film that will help you understand the crucial fight against Climate change.

London Regional Social Forum, July 11-13, 2014

Final program:

 http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonRegionalSocialForum2014.pdf 

Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/events/464484100320894/

Kamilla Pietrzyk

The incredible program for the Forum begins Friday, July 11, 2014 at 6:00 pm with Musical Entertainment by Margo Does, activist/song-crafter, Indigenous Welcome by Gary Dickey, and Welcome by Lorraine McNeil and members of the organizing group. This welcome will be followed by the  Keynote Talk: "History and Impact of the Social Forum Movement" by Speakers Kamilla Pietrzyk and Ajamu Nangwaya. 

Ajamu Nangwaya

Then at 9:00 pm there will be rousing Musical Entertainment at East Village Coffee House, for which Tickets are available: $8 /sliding scale.

The spectacular program for Saturday July 12, 2014 promises to be a blockbuster, starting with a Panel Discussion at 10:00 a.m. on "Building Movement and Broad Resistance to the Right in Canada", With long-time activists and authors from across Canada: Tony Clarke, Carol Baker, Ken Lewenza Jr. and Matt Price with Murray Dobbin via Skype, followed by a Q and A session moderated by Patti Dalton. From 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm there will be a wide variety of workshops, including "The Fight to Protect our Groundwater", "Understanding and Resisting the Expansion of the Prison State", "Global-Local Solidarity with Palestine: Gaza's Ark and BDS", "Anarchist Perspectives", "Residential Schooling and the Indian Education Act: Why all the Hype?", "Peace Process in Colombia", "The Ontario Common Front", and "Grassroots Resistance to Line Nine". Following the workshops everyone is invited to join in on a walk led by the infamous giant LINE 9 SNAKE, and, if enough puppeteers are available, the giant Blue Water Serpent will come too. Both puppets are 30 feet long. Participants will decide on the details of the walk! 

Finally, Rabble.ca is holding a Book Launch at 7:00 pm for "The Best of Rabble 2014: The Year of Living Consciously"! Wow! Just wow!

Rain can have no effect on the program (all inside) on Sunday July 13, 2014, the grand finale, with eight more fabulous workshops starting at 10:00 a.m., including "Mayan Communities Fight Back Against Canadian Mining Companies: The case of the community of El Estor against Hudbay Minerals", "Exploring the Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson", "NGO-ization", "Women and Leadership in a Changing World", "Mesoamerica Resiste: a global struggle against capitalism", "Power to the 99% through Monetary Transformation", "Building Community: The Invisibles of Organizing", and "Alternative Media Panel Discussion".

Lunch will be provided by London's renowned Food Not Bombs group, and the Forum will be concluded with a Presentation at 4:00 p.m. on The People's Social Forum, Ottawa, Aug. 21-24, 2014 and a discussion of ideas for the PSF and the future of social forums in general and the London Regional Social Forum in particular. Once again we will be entertained by the biting guitar and wit of Margo Does as she sings us out following closing remarks by Meg Borthwick. What a day!

Council of Canadians, London Chapter updates, May, 2014/ Line 9 Pledge of Resistance

Dear Activists - 

Since we were not able to send the minutes of the April 14 meeting out until this late date (BUSY doing CoC work) here are the updates and CHANGES to the minutes:

 1) Earth Day in Ingersoll was wonderful - met George Henry, Chippewa of the Thames , and will work with him against Line 9 and to save the Thames River - Maude Barlow helped walk the Water Serpent - lots of us went. 

 2) Earth Day in London - Water Serpent taken around by Boys' and Girls' Club -Thank you Cathy Quinlan, Paula Papel, and Daisy Oliver. 

 3) Defend our Climate Day of Action - Two actions: Lead Now event in Victoria Park got a crowd, and 50 people from all over, Guelph, Kitchener, Toronto, Sarnia, and London went on the Toxic Tour in Sarnia, got educated (it is appalling - I will share more at a later date) and supported the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in solidarity. Line 9 Snake and Water Serpent marched in a stiff wind with 24 puppeteers. Important to continue to support them in anyway we can. Serious situation! 

 4) Tzeporah Berman spoke at the Central Library last night and energized the audience - a new crowd - lots of potential activists for the important anti-Line 9 campaign we are engaged in here in London. See Rising Tide Toronto message below. Google - Not Worth the Risk Report - read it - print out copies - share it with friends - PLEASE 

 5) New place for our meetings needed - Tolpuddle most likely not available - please look around for free, can hold 25, can show films, central and easy to get to with free parking. Write us back if you find somewhere. 

 6) June meeting date and place not found at this time. It will still be a potluck and George Crowell will speak about the Bank of Canada and how it will help solve some of Canada's problems. 

 7) Our Solidarity Film Coalition will be hosting Cinema Politica next fall. 

 8) SLAVERY was eliminated, WOMEN have the vote, the VIETNAM WAR ended, ENDANGERED SPECIES have been protected and populations are returning, the UN passed the RIGHT TO WATER resolution, LABOUR UNIONS created decent working conditions where there were none before, we have MEDICARE ………….all these happened through grassroots organizing, relentless resistance, patience, and networking. Today the issues are CLIMATE CHANGE and holding on to DEMOCRACY. 

 9) EACH OF US has a little time and some skills and experience. TOGETHER WE ARE A FORCE. WHAT WILL YOU DO? 

Roberta Cory, Chair 
Council of Canadians, London 

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

From: "Rising Tide Toronto via Leadnow.ca" 
Subject: Update: Line 9 Pledge of Resistance 
Date: 13 May, 2014 9:52:18 AM EDT 
Hi there! 
Rising Tide Toronto would like to send you a (delayed) thank you for being one of over 600 people to take our Line 9 Pledge of Resistance. It's powerful to think what over 600 of us can accomplish for our communities and our environment if we work together to stop this reckless project from being built. With construction along Line 9 rapidly moving forward, it is more important than ever for us to stand together to protect our communities, our environment and our future, and we need to be able to keep you updated on what's happening, and how people who've taken the Pledge of Resistance can take action. To make our ongoing organizing as easy as possible, the folks at Leadnow - whose awesome petition system we used for the pledge of resistance - have said we can keep you updated directly via our own Rising Tide Toronto mailing list, rather than Leadnow's system, as long as that's OK with you. Of course, we're deeply committed to respecting your privacy, and rest assured, Rising Tide Toronto will never spam you. All our emails are sent with the understanding that you, like all of us, likely have a busy schedule to manage. We only hope that RTT can help you to nonetheless stay up-to-date and involved on this important issue that affects all of us. This email is coming from Leadnow's petition system. If you would prefer not to get updates directly from Rising Tide Toronto in future, please just click the "opt out" link at the bottom of this message. (You can also opt out in the future at any time as well.) In Solidarity Always, Rising Tide Toronto 

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

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonCoCMeetingMinutes.pdf

Climate Day of Action, May 10, 2014: Sarnia, Here We Come!

Toxic Tour in Sarnia for the Climate Day of Action on May 10, 2014 looks like it's attracting large numbers of peeps from all over Ontario! The place to be! There should be plenty of puppeteers to operate both giant 30 foot long snake puppets, the Black Line 9 Snake (representing tar sands pipelines) and the Blue Water Snake (representing our precious fresh water, especially the Great Lakes and associated waterways and watersheds). Plans for the snakes include taking the Black Line 9 Snake from Sarnia to the terminus of Line 9 in Quebec and taking the Blue Water Snake from the headwaters of the Thames River to its mouth on Lake St. Clair. The Toxic Tour on May 10 would be the first time both snake puppets have appeared together! Hoping for nice weather, because they can't be used in the rain... If you need a ride to Sarnia from London call Roberta 5196012053.

Toxic Tour: On The Front Line

Saturday, May 10 at 12:00 noon
Maawn Doosh Gumig Community and Youth Centre 
1972 Virgil Avenue, Sarnia, Ontario 
519-491-2160 or 519-491-1374 

AGENDA: 

Meeting outside of Maawn Doosh Gumig at 12:00 noon for Opening Prayer and song. The walk will include prayers to the 4 directions. We plan to walk through Aamjiwnaang to honor our relations with the land, air and water along the St.Clair river, through Chemical Valley. Back through Aamjiwnaang and walking along Talfourd Creek and to end back at the community centre for dinner at 5:00 pm.


The London Chapter of the Council of Canadians will be participating in this action! We will have both the giant Black Line 9 Snake, to be operated by 11 volunteer puppeteers, and our usual yellow CoC banner with us. 

For rides from London call Roberta, 519-601-2053.

Monthly Meeting of the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians

TZEPORAH BERMAN 
("Canada's Queen of Green") 
"Hope and Engagement: 
Tackling Climate Change and Pipeline Politics" 
Monday, May 12 at 7:00pm - 9:00pm 
Stevenson and Hunt Room 
London Public Library 251 Dundas St., London, Ontario 

$5 suggested donation 

http://www.tzeporahberman.com/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzeporah_Berman 

Tzeporah Berman has been designing and winning environmental campaigns in Canada and internationally for 20 years. She currently works as a strategic advisor for dozens of environmental organizations, First Nations and philanthropic advisors on clean energy, oilsands and pipelines. She is the former co-director of Greenpeace International's Global Climate and Energy Program, Executive Director and Co-founder of PowerUp Canada and Co-founder and Campaign Director of ForestEthics. Tzeporah was one of the experts in Leonardo Di Caprio's environmental documentary 11th hour, was one of six Canadian nominees for the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has been profiled as one of 50 Visionaries Changing the World in Utne Reader and as "Canada's Queen of Green" in the cover story for Readers Digest. This year Tzeporah was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of British Columbia. Her first book, This Crazy Time: Living Our Environmental Challenge was recently published by Knopf Canada.

NEB approves Line 9 reversal to carry dilbit / no independent environmental assessment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Roberta Cory - 250-220-1763

March 6, 2014

The Council of Canadians London Chapter condemned the National Energy Board (NEB) today for approving Enbridge’s Line 9 proposal to ship diluted bitumen in their forty-year-old pipeline between Sarnia and Montreal and is urging Premier Kathleen Wynne to prevent the controversial project from going forward. 
  

“Pipeline safety expert Richard Kuprewicz testified to the NEB that Line 9 has a high risk of rupture if the project goes ahead” said chapter spokesperson Roberta Cory.  “Line 9 passes though hundreds of communities and rivers that flow right into the Great Lakes and Enbridge still hasn’t finished cleaning up after their last massive diluted bitumen spill in the Kalamazoo River four years ago. Line 9 crosses Hyde Park Rd., Richmond Rd. near Birr, Highbury Rd., and the Thames River at Plover Mills just north of Fanshawe Lake.  Are our first responders prepared for a massive chemical spill, are our hospitals prepared to take the injured, and have we budgeted for this type of emergency?"

  

“How can the NEB allow an accident prone company to pump some of the dirtiest oil on the planet through an ancient pipeline across the drinking water supply of millions of people?” ” said Rod Morley. “The NEB is clearly just a rubber stamp for big oil. Now it is the absolute duty of the province to protect our drinking water. Premier Wynne must step in to prevent a catastrophe.”

The Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens advocacy group with more than 60 chapters across the country and 11 chapters near Line 9 including London, Guelph, Brantford, Hamilton, Peel Region, York University, Toronto, Northumberland, Peterborough and the Kawarthas, Brockville and Montreal.
  

  For more information contact:
         Roberta Cory - (250-220-1763)

  Rod Morley - (519-872-0008)

  Geoff Crealock - (519-433-4284)

    http://risingtidetoronto.noblogs.org/files/2014/02/NEB_report_final.pdf

Birdbone Theatre's "Tar Sands Dragon Opera" coming to London Feb. 2nd!

Hosted by the London Chapter 
of the Council of Canadians 
on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2014 
6:00 - 9:00 pm 

EAST VILLAGE COFFEEHOUSE 
(English and Dundas) 

POTLUCK  
6:00 pm 
(Crockpots can be plugged in.) 

PERFORMANCE  
7:00 - 9:00 pm 

Message from Alison Gayle about the tour:
"WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We will be touring our Tar Sands Dragon Opera (and clown show) along Line 9 the month of February, and we are looking for folks who will host our show in their communities (schools, community halls, living rooms etc.) We would love to connect with as many of the folks involved in Line 9 organizing as possible. 
The Tar Sands Dragon Opera is a puppet tragi-comedy featuring the clown hysterics of a bewildered cardboard population struggling to come to terms with the murky convoluted thinkings on Tar Sands expansion and consequent Line 9 reversal. The show will also feature music and dancing by humans, to lighten the occasionally inky mood. The Tar Sands Dragon Opera is a media project. We will learn about the case against the reversal of Line 9 from the communities we perform for, and will allow this to inform our show as we go. We will also make short radio pieces along the way when appropriate. 
Alison Gayle, Birdbone Theatre"

www.birdbonetheatre.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/BirdboneTheatre 

Voluntary donations to support the tour will be accepted at the venue or online on the Theatre website.

Roberta Cory
Chair,  Council of Canadians London Chapter
519-601-2053

Locally Organized Organic Knowledge

http://www.lookitsaparty.ca/

10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday August 13, 2011
Queen's Park, Western Fairgrounds, London, Ontario
Dundas St. between Ontario and Egerton

The London Chapter of the Council of Canadians will have a table at this event.

Notice of our AGM; New members welcome!

Hello Everyone!

The end of June sees another calendar year tick by for the Council of Canadians. 26 years of advocating for the rights and needs of all Canadians!

Having worked on our Chapter History over the past year, we too passed a significant milestone of 11 years. We are still waiting for more feedback to complete our Chapter's history. If you have any key dates, event stories, people/places or photos we would appreciate hearing from you.

An upcoming important date to mark on your calendars is Monday November 14, 2011 when the London Chapter will be hosting our Annual General Meeting to celebrate the successes of the past 11 years. Our keynote speaker for our AGM is Glen Pearson, Executive Director of the London Food Bank widely known as the Liberal MP for London North Centre who gave Parliament a vibrant example of decency and honesty in politics.

Our London Chapter will be taking to the streets this summer in support of Car Free Weekends in Downtown London. Look for us under the blue canopy of our new London Chapter exhibit display tent.

June is "sign up a new member month" Please ask us for a Membership application form through email at: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca or sign up on the Council of Canadians web site: www.canadians.org Please make sure that you fill in the London Chapter as your home Chapter. We need your support to help give Canadians a voice on important issues.

Let's get all 1800 members that are affiliated with our London Chapter out to events in the coming year!

See you on Dundas Street this summer - starting June 18/19!!

Don McLeod

London Chapter

Council of Canadians

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/

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.

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