The Council of Canadians

Becoming a Blue Community! 

The video we just posted on the homepage of  our website promotes becoming a Blue Community. Sisters of St. Joseph across Canada have recently signed on to becoming a “Blue Community”.  What does this mean?  We are joining with The Council of Canadians under the leadership of Maude Barlow, along with CUPE (Canadians Union of Public Employees) and the Blue Planet Project acknowledging that water is a human right for all. This may see obvious to some, but we want to make that statement as real and practical as possible.  It is a way of seeing that everything is interdependent. We call this integral ecology. Specifically, it means seeing water as a human right for all. 

Some practical ways this is applied means that we will not use bottled water in our communities and at our events. We will also work to ensure that water does not get sold to multinational corporations and remains a publicly owned commodity belonging to all citizens in our country. We also support all efforts to bring clean potable water to all indigenous communities across Canada.

Water is a right, a political issue, an economic issue, a spiritual issue. More and more we see that it is also a global issue affecting communities around the world. We join this movement because we want to say we stand with those who see that water, as a source of life, is interconnected and related to all life on our Blue Planet. We think we are in good company. 

Joan Atkinson, CSJ

London Water Rights Festival

Coming to Museum London on April 4-6, an opportunity for water-lovers to come together to consider the impact of our water use on the next generation. Learn about challenges such as transnational corporate influence on water bodies, the Harper government's 2012 elimination of 99% of rules protecting Canadian rivers and lakes, and effects of climate change, as well as successful community activities to protect water.

Meet special guest, Ashinaabe elder, Josephine Mandamin, who ten years ago began her journey each spring walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes to remind us about the need to care for this sacred element. Josephine, also known as Water Walker, will be present each of the days. On Saturday, Mike Nagy president of Water Watchers will speak about Nestle’s involvement in the Guelph area watershed. 

The films include:

  • Blue Gold (struggle for water rights);
  • Waterlife, (threats to the Great Lakes);
  • Bottled Life (Nestle's global business);
  • Sacred Spirit of Water (First Nations' relation to water, the rise of "Idle No More").

Please refer to the POSTER for more specifics.

Hope to see you there!

Paula Marcotte (Guest Blogger)