Water Campaigns
The Toronto Chapter continues to
The Great Lakes Commons
Our chapter continues to recognize that the environmental health of the Great Lakes are being threatened by water overuse and contamination. We are showing Toronto water management how current methods for handling waste-water can be improved by using low impact techniques proven in other cities. We are also promoting the proposal that overall management of The Great Lakes must be changed to put the management of this greatest of the world's water resources back into the hands of the local communities that live in the region. We are working to turn the lakes into a multinational "commons" protected for future generations.
More Info: www.greatlakescommons.org/
More Info: www.greatlakescommons.org/
Waste Water
Our chapter's waste-water campaign advocated low impact approaches to development, amply successful in other cities and the elimination of by-passes and overflows of sanitary sewage. We need to discontinue the addition of fluoride in drinking water and implement water conservation policies. The overall management of the Great lakes, the world's most extensive storage of fresh water, needs to allow full participation by communities in the region.
Drinking Water
We are proud to have launched UnFluoridate It! to work in conjunction with the national organization's Unbottle It! campaign. We continue to strive to remove fluoride from the GTA's drinking water, while offering support to other communities battling the addition of this toxic waste to our drinking water.
Since 1990, many Canadian cities have successfully banned fluoride from their drinking water, including (from most recent to earliest):
Windsor, La Salle, Tecumseh, Kirland Lake, Orillia, Rosetown, Okotoks, amhertsburg, Moncton, Dieppe, Lake Cowichan, Williams Lake, Lakeshore, Slave Lake, Meadow Lake, Calgary, Vercheres, Athabasca, Waterloo, St.Jacobs, Elmira, Gatineau, Thunderbay, Cranberry Portage, Drayton Valley, Quebec City, Welland, Pellham, Golden, Burns Lake, Dutton-Dunwich, West Elgin, Cobalt, Kamloops, Squamish, White Horse, Kitmat, Kelowna, Campbell River, Comox/Courtenay.
Since 1990, many Canadian cities have successfully banned fluoride from their drinking water, including (from most recent to earliest):
Windsor, La Salle, Tecumseh, Kirland Lake, Orillia, Rosetown, Okotoks, amhertsburg, Moncton, Dieppe, Lake Cowichan, Williams Lake, Lakeshore, Slave Lake, Meadow Lake, Calgary, Vercheres, Athabasca, Waterloo, St.Jacobs, Elmira, Gatineau, Thunderbay, Cranberry Portage, Drayton Valley, Quebec City, Welland, Pellham, Golden, Burns Lake, Dutton-Dunwich, West Elgin, Cobalt, Kamloops, Squamish, White Horse, Kitmat, Kelowna, Campbell River, Comox/Courtenay.
NEWS:
World Water Day 2017
World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about taking action to tackle the water crisis. Today, there are over 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water.
This year's theme is Wastewater. Globally, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.
> Read more: worldwaterday.org and wastewater
> Take action for water on World Water Day!: Council of Canadians
Media Release: 1 in 4 people in First Nations reserves may lack clean water, says Council of Canadians (March 20 2017)
The Council of Canadians says new analysis of Health Canada and B.C.’s First Nations Health Authority data shows that up to one in four people may not have clean water on First Nation reserves.
“It is truly appalling that families in First Nations have gone without clean drinking water for so long – many for five years or more,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “There hasn’t been measurable change in years; the number of drinking water advisories remains at roughly the same level as in 2010.”
> Read more: Council of Canadians
Alberta Budget 2017: $100M committed for clean drinking water on First Nations (March 17 2017)
The Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations is pleased with the Alberta government’s commitment to ensure all First Nations across the province have access to safe drinking water.
“I’m very, very encouraged. I think it’s a very important step in terms of providing access to clean water,” Willie Littlechild said Thursday.
“We shouldn’t have had to wait this long to have access to clean water.”
> Read more: Global News
Editorial: Canada must work with states to protect Great Lakes (March 6 2017)
Trump’s proposed budget calls for a cut of 97 per cent to an initiative that protects water quality in the Great Lakes. Politicians on both sides of the border must work together to make sure it isn’t approved by Congress.
> Read more: Toronto Star
For the Earth and Water Walk 2017
The 2017 Water Walk with Grandmother Josephine Mandamin starts April 20. Every year since 2003, two Anishinawbe Grandmothers, and a group of Anishinawbe Women and Men have taken action regarding the water issue by walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes.
> More info: Mother Earth Water Walk
> Facebook
> Support the 2017 Water Walk Auction
Petition: Protect Every Lake and Every River
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has begun a major review of our water laws.
Four years ago, the Harper government removed protections from 99% of the lakes and rivers in Canada under the Navigable Waters Protection Act and gutted other important environmental and water laws. This paved the way for industrial projects that could threaten water, leaving it vulnerable to dams, mining, pipelines, logging, fish farms, liquefied fracked gas terminals and more.
> Sign the petition: Council of Canadians
Nestlé and bottled water have to go!
On January 18, the Ontario government announced it would raise the fees that bottled water companies like Nestlé pay to pump out millions of litres of groundwater every day.
The new fee?
One-twentieth of a penny per litre!
This new fee is clearly not going to protect vulnerable groundwater sources from being exploited and wasted as single use, disposable bottled water.
> Read more: Council of Canadians
> Sign: Boycott Nestle pledge
New Zealand river first in the world to be given legal human status (March 15 2017)
A river in New Zealand has become the first in the world to be granted the same legal rights as a person.
The New Zealand parliament passed the bill recognising the Whanganui River, in North Island, as a living entity.
Long revered by New Zealand's Maori people, the river's interests will now be represented by two people.
The Maori had been fighting for over 160 years to get this recognition for their river, a minister said.
> Read more: BBC
Fourth mass bleaching event strikes Great Barrier Reef (March 16 2017)
The Great Barrier Reef is suffering through yet another mass coral bleaching, NASA logs February 2017 as the 2nd warmest February on record, and sea ice at both poles suffers through historic lows.
> Read more: The Weather Network
Earth's oceans are warming 13% faster than thought, and accelerating (March 10 2017)
Our new study improves estimates of the rate of ocean warming - a critical component of climate change
> Read more: The Guardian
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercury-blighted community of Grassy Narrows takes its case to the UN (Feb 27)
Delegation of indigenous Canadians presenting its case in Geneva for safe drinking water for community first poisoned in the 1960s.
> Read more at The Star
Birch Bark Canoe Building Project
Hi, my name is Sylvia Plain, I am the founder of the Great Lakes Canoe Journey, a project that envisions bringing together the citizens of the Great Lakes Basin on an annual basis by way of canoes to celebrate our relationship to the waterways, to each other, and to learn about Anishinaabe canoe culture and canoe building.
It is now 2016 and the Great Lakes Canoe Journey is reaching out to ask for your assistance to help us raise funds to build a birch bark canoe, to be able to employ youth to learn how to build a birch bark canoe and to organize a canoe journey this upcoming summer.
> Read more & support the Birch Bark Canoe Building Project
Damaged Peru pipeline leaks 3,000 barrels of oil into Amazon region (Feb 23)
Jungle covered in black sludge after a landslide caused the country’s main oil pipeline to rupture, polluting rivers relied on by eight native communities.
> Read more at The Guardian
Canadian Mining Company Spills Cyanide in 5 Argentine Rivers (Feb 23)
The Argentine Federal Police found Tuesday that Canadian mining company Barrick Gold had contaminated five rivers in the western province of San Juan, Argentina, when a cyanide spill occurred in September at its Veladero mine, located some 1,150 kilometers east (700 miles) of Buenos Aires.
> Read more at teleSUR
Five of the best water-smart cities in the developing world (Feb 29)
With the majority of the world’s population now living in cities, solving water problems specific to metropolitan areas is crucial. Whether there’s too much water or not enough, whether it’s too polluted or too salty, these issues can be solved with thought, ingenuity, money and organisation.
> Read more at The Guardian
First Nations highlight the right to water and sanitation at United Nations hearings in Geneva (Feb 23)
First Nations are raising their demand for the right to water and sanitation at the United Nations.
Yesterday, CBC reported, "The lack of safe drinking water in three northwestern Ontario First Nations is on the agenda Monday [Feb. 22] at the United Nations Committee meeting on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Shoal Lake 40, Neskantaga and Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek) First Nations were all planning to make presentations to the committee in Geneva, Switzerland. None of the First Nations have tap water that is safe to drink." Fawn Wapioke, Chief of Iskatewizaagegan (Shoal Lake 39) and member of the Grassroots Indigenous Water Defence, is also a part of this delegation.
> Read more at the Council of Canadians
Four billion people face severe water scarcity, new research finds (Feb 12)
At least two-thirds of the global population, over 4 billion people, live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year, according to a major new analysis.
The revelation shows water shortages, one of the most dangerous challenges the world faces, is far worse previously than thought.
> Read more at The Guardian
River Run 2016: Healthy river, healthy people.
In Spring of 2016 Grassy Narrows people will travel 1,700 km to Toronto to call on Premier Wynne to finally clean up the 9,000 kg of mercury that were dumped in our river in the 1960’s. Join us as we demand justice for our people and protection for the waters and forests that give life.
Here are 5 things you can do now to support us:
As Rivers Run Black in Peru, Indigenous Tribes Left Cleaning Big Oil's Disaster(Feb 23)
A disastrous spate of oil spills in the Peruvian Amazon have gone from bad to worse in recent days, leaving Indigenous tribes frantically trying to clean up the mess left by the nation's state-owned oil company.
> Read more at Common Dreams
Video: "No Social License" (Feb 11)
> Watch the newest video from Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump
EPA Again Postpones Enbridge Fine for 2010 Kalamazoo River Spill (Feb 19)
Negotiations between Enbridge Inc. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been extended again over a fine that could exceed $100 million for violations under the Clean Water Act in the pipeline operator’s 2010 Kalamazoo River disaster.
> Read more at Inside Climate News
Race Best Predicts Whether You Live Near Pollution (Feb 18)
When asked directly whether environmental racism was at play in Flint’s water crisis, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder replied last month, “Absolutely not.” But the city’s money-saving shortcuts have now poisoned, with their own tap water, up to 8,000 children as well as many other residents, most of them black.
“Environmental racism” describes the fact that people of color and low-income people are most likely to be situated near sources of contamination and away from clean water, air, and soil. A city like Flint, where more than half of the population is black in a state that’s nearly 80 percent white, and where the poverty rate is above 40 percent, is a textbook case, whatever Governor Snyder says.
> Read more at The Nation
World Water Day 2017
World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about taking action to tackle the water crisis. Today, there are over 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water.
This year's theme is Wastewater. Globally, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.
> Read more: worldwaterday.org and wastewater
> Take action for water on World Water Day!: Council of Canadians
Media Release: 1 in 4 people in First Nations reserves may lack clean water, says Council of Canadians (March 20 2017)
The Council of Canadians says new analysis of Health Canada and B.C.’s First Nations Health Authority data shows that up to one in four people may not have clean water on First Nation reserves.
“It is truly appalling that families in First Nations have gone without clean drinking water for so long – many for five years or more,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “There hasn’t been measurable change in years; the number of drinking water advisories remains at roughly the same level as in 2010.”
> Read more: Council of Canadians
Alberta Budget 2017: $100M committed for clean drinking water on First Nations (March 17 2017)
The Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations is pleased with the Alberta government’s commitment to ensure all First Nations across the province have access to safe drinking water.
“I’m very, very encouraged. I think it’s a very important step in terms of providing access to clean water,” Willie Littlechild said Thursday.
“We shouldn’t have had to wait this long to have access to clean water.”
> Read more: Global News
Editorial: Canada must work with states to protect Great Lakes (March 6 2017)
Trump’s proposed budget calls for a cut of 97 per cent to an initiative that protects water quality in the Great Lakes. Politicians on both sides of the border must work together to make sure it isn’t approved by Congress.
> Read more: Toronto Star
For the Earth and Water Walk 2017
The 2017 Water Walk with Grandmother Josephine Mandamin starts April 20. Every year since 2003, two Anishinawbe Grandmothers, and a group of Anishinawbe Women and Men have taken action regarding the water issue by walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes.
> More info: Mother Earth Water Walk
> Support the 2017 Water Walk Auction
Petition: Protect Every Lake and Every River
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has begun a major review of our water laws.
Four years ago, the Harper government removed protections from 99% of the lakes and rivers in Canada under the Navigable Waters Protection Act and gutted other important environmental and water laws. This paved the way for industrial projects that could threaten water, leaving it vulnerable to dams, mining, pipelines, logging, fish farms, liquefied fracked gas terminals and more.
> Sign the petition: Council of Canadians
Nestlé and bottled water have to go!
On January 18, the Ontario government announced it would raise the fees that bottled water companies like Nestlé pay to pump out millions of litres of groundwater every day.
The new fee?
One-twentieth of a penny per litre!
This new fee is clearly not going to protect vulnerable groundwater sources from being exploited and wasted as single use, disposable bottled water.
> Read more: Council of Canadians
> Sign: Boycott Nestle pledge
New Zealand river first in the world to be given legal human status (March 15 2017)
A river in New Zealand has become the first in the world to be granted the same legal rights as a person.
The New Zealand parliament passed the bill recognising the Whanganui River, in North Island, as a living entity.
Long revered by New Zealand's Maori people, the river's interests will now be represented by two people.
The Maori had been fighting for over 160 years to get this recognition for their river, a minister said.
> Read more: BBC
Fourth mass bleaching event strikes Great Barrier Reef (March 16 2017)
The Great Barrier Reef is suffering through yet another mass coral bleaching, NASA logs February 2017 as the 2nd warmest February on record, and sea ice at both poles suffers through historic lows.
> Read more: The Weather Network
Earth's oceans are warming 13% faster than thought, and accelerating (March 10 2017)
Our new study improves estimates of the rate of ocean warming - a critical component of climate change
> Read more: The Guardian
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercury-blighted community of Grassy Narrows takes its case to the UN (Feb 27)
Delegation of indigenous Canadians presenting its case in Geneva for safe drinking water for community first poisoned in the 1960s.
> Read more at The Star
Birch Bark Canoe Building Project
Hi, my name is Sylvia Plain, I am the founder of the Great Lakes Canoe Journey, a project that envisions bringing together the citizens of the Great Lakes Basin on an annual basis by way of canoes to celebrate our relationship to the waterways, to each other, and to learn about Anishinaabe canoe culture and canoe building.
It is now 2016 and the Great Lakes Canoe Journey is reaching out to ask for your assistance to help us raise funds to build a birch bark canoe, to be able to employ youth to learn how to build a birch bark canoe and to organize a canoe journey this upcoming summer.
> Read more & support the Birch Bark Canoe Building Project
Damaged Peru pipeline leaks 3,000 barrels of oil into Amazon region (Feb 23)
Jungle covered in black sludge after a landslide caused the country’s main oil pipeline to rupture, polluting rivers relied on by eight native communities.
> Read more at The Guardian
Canadian Mining Company Spills Cyanide in 5 Argentine Rivers (Feb 23)
The Argentine Federal Police found Tuesday that Canadian mining company Barrick Gold had contaminated five rivers in the western province of San Juan, Argentina, when a cyanide spill occurred in September at its Veladero mine, located some 1,150 kilometers east (700 miles) of Buenos Aires.
> Read more at teleSUR
Five of the best water-smart cities in the developing world (Feb 29)
With the majority of the world’s population now living in cities, solving water problems specific to metropolitan areas is crucial. Whether there’s too much water or not enough, whether it’s too polluted or too salty, these issues can be solved with thought, ingenuity, money and organisation.
> Read more at The Guardian
First Nations highlight the right to water and sanitation at United Nations hearings in Geneva (Feb 23)
First Nations are raising their demand for the right to water and sanitation at the United Nations.
Yesterday, CBC reported, "The lack of safe drinking water in three northwestern Ontario First Nations is on the agenda Monday [Feb. 22] at the United Nations Committee meeting on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Shoal Lake 40, Neskantaga and Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek) First Nations were all planning to make presentations to the committee in Geneva, Switzerland. None of the First Nations have tap water that is safe to drink." Fawn Wapioke, Chief of Iskatewizaagegan (Shoal Lake 39) and member of the Grassroots Indigenous Water Defence, is also a part of this delegation.
> Read more at the Council of Canadians
Four billion people face severe water scarcity, new research finds (Feb 12)
At least two-thirds of the global population, over 4 billion people, live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year, according to a major new analysis.
The revelation shows water shortages, one of the most dangerous challenges the world faces, is far worse previously than thought.
> Read more at The Guardian
River Run 2016: Healthy river, healthy people.
In Spring of 2016 Grassy Narrows people will travel 1,700 km to Toronto to call on Premier Wynne to finally clean up the 9,000 kg of mercury that were dumped in our river in the 1960’s. Join us as we demand justice for our people and protection for the waters and forests that give life.
Here are 5 things you can do now to support us:
- Donate generously so that our grassroots people can travel to Toronto to make our voices heard.
- Share this page using the facebook, twitter, and email icons.
- Join our email list so that you can get updates as we plan our events.
- Watch these videos to learn more about the issues: a) River Run 2010, b) CBC The National, c) Grassy Narrows Dummers
- Read news articles about the previous River Runs.. a) 2014, b) 2012, c) 2010
As Rivers Run Black in Peru, Indigenous Tribes Left Cleaning Big Oil's Disaster(Feb 23)
A disastrous spate of oil spills in the Peruvian Amazon have gone from bad to worse in recent days, leaving Indigenous tribes frantically trying to clean up the mess left by the nation's state-owned oil company.
> Read more at Common Dreams
Video: "No Social License" (Feb 11)
> Watch the newest video from Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump
EPA Again Postpones Enbridge Fine for 2010 Kalamazoo River Spill (Feb 19)
Negotiations between Enbridge Inc. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been extended again over a fine that could exceed $100 million for violations under the Clean Water Act in the pipeline operator’s 2010 Kalamazoo River disaster.
> Read more at Inside Climate News
Race Best Predicts Whether You Live Near Pollution (Feb 18)
When asked directly whether environmental racism was at play in Flint’s water crisis, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder replied last month, “Absolutely not.” But the city’s money-saving shortcuts have now poisoned, with their own tap water, up to 8,000 children as well as many other residents, most of them black.
“Environmental racism” describes the fact that people of color and low-income people are most likely to be situated near sources of contamination and away from clean water, air, and soil. A city like Flint, where more than half of the population is black in a state that’s nearly 80 percent white, and where the poverty rate is above 40 percent, is a textbook case, whatever Governor Snyder says.
> Read more at The Nation