RIGHTS OF NATURE? WHAT ABOUT THE SUMMER 2011

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1 SUMMER 2011 The Council of Canadians WHAT ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF NATURE? ALSO INSIDE: CANADA VOTES: ELECTION REFLECTIONS CREATING A NEW NARRATIVE FOR THE GREAT LAKES CETA S HIGH TOLL ON HEALTH CARE 2010 ANNUAL REPORT The Council of Canadians

2 Editor: Jan Malek Copy Editor: Janet Shorten Design: Amy Thompson Cover photo: Gerry Kahrmann, Vancouver Sun/PNG (see details on page 18). Printing: Plantagenet Printing pg. 24 pg. 7 Contents Past issues of Canadian Perspectives are available at 3 Reflections on the 2011 Federal Election and moving forward 4 On the Road with Maude Barlow 5 Letters to the Editor 6 North American Perimeter Security: This time Harper will trade away your privacy and civil liberties for access to the U.S. market by Stuart Trew 7-8 Creating a New Narrative for the Great Lakes Radioactive shipments planned for Lakes Annual Report 14 Join the Citizens Agenda Fund: Our work is not possible without you Thousands Join Council s First Telephone Town Hall th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Ottawa Helps Build People Power 16 Moving from Recognition to Realization: Botswana court The Council of Canadians believes that political literacy is crucial to regaining control of our communities and our country. We encourage you to copy articles from Canadian Perspectives most conveniently fit on one or two pages. If you would like to reprint articles, or if you would like to distribute Canadian Perspectives in your community, please contact us at Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 pg. 17 pg. 19 upholds Kalahari Bushmen s right to water by Emma Lui and Anil Naidoo 17 Chapter Activist Profile Sheila Rogers, Lethbridge, Alberta 18 Chapter Action Updates CETA s High Toll on Health Care by Stuart Trew and Adrienne Silnicki No Fracking Way: Our water, health and air at risk by Andrea Harden-Donahue Building Community Action Against Fracking 23 Burnaby, B.C., Becomes Canada s First Blue Community In Memoriam When the Water Changed: How one family doctor is speaking out about the tar sands industry by Jan Malek 26 Chapter Contacts Membership Survey ISSN Publications Mail Agreement No Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Canadian Perspectives The Council of Canadians 170 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 700 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5 inquiries@canadians.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS Maude Barlow, Leticia Adair, Bob Ages, Morna Ballantyne, Pina Belperio, Roy Brady, Leo Broderick, Robert Chernomas, Andrea Furlong, Garry John, Anne Lévesque, Bill Moore-Kilgannon, John O Connor, Abdul Pirani, Martha Robbins, Steven Shrybman, Angela Vardy, Fred Wilson ADVISORY BOARD Duncan Cameron, John Gray, Farley Mowat, Eric Peterson, Abraham Rotstein, Mel Watkins, Lois Wilson EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Garry Neil STAFF Maryam Adrangi, Meena Agarwal, Mohamed Amano, Dave Bergeron, Hélène Bertrand, Mark Calzavara, Daniella Carpio, Dana Chapeskie, Kathie Cloutier, Roger Desjardins, Melissa Dick, John Findlay, Angela Giles, Harjap Grewal, Andrea Harden-Donahue, Scott Harris, Amyn Hyder Ali, Donna James, Karen Jordon, Meera Karunananthan, Jamian Logue, Emma Lui, Jan Malek, Jeannette Muhongayire, Anil Naidoo, Brent Patterson, Dylan Penner, Matthew Ramsden, Adrienne Silnicki, Carl Stewart, Brant Thompson, Stuart Trew, Alison Vervaeke, Ava Waxman, Pamela Woolridge The Council of Canadians

3 Reflections on the 2011 Federal Election and moving forward by Maude Barlow The 2011 federal election was historic in many ways and most of us are still trying to process the outcome. It is crucial that we pause to reflect on its meaning and think carefully about the next steps we must take. While it is true that the remarkable surge in support for the NDP means a more dependable progressive voice in the House of Commons than we have had for years, it is equally true that the most socially and economically right-wing government perhaps in Canadian history has just won a substantial majority in the House and along with their control of the Senate is now free to implement its agenda even if every member of every other party votes against it. The Harper Conservatives are now free to: cut corporate taxes and transfer payments; go after public services, public sector workers and public pensions; allow the growth of private health services to undermine medicare in the lead-up to the expiry of the Canada Health Accord in 2014; vigorously promote more unregulated free trade agreements like the Canada-European Union trade deal, which will drastically curtail the democratic rights of local governments to promote local economic development, local resource sovereignty and local food production; kill the Canadian Wheat Board; fast-track the security perimeter deal with the United States which will violate the civil liberties of Canadians and give away crucial pieces of our sovereignty; kill the long-gun registry; continue to decimate environmental regulations, underfund source water protection, and promote dirty energy projects such as the tar sands, fracking and Arctic oil and gas drilling while ignoring the rights of nature; spend our money on military equipment and prisons we don t need and don t want. This means that we, at the Council of Canadians, and civil society in general, have our work cut out for us as never before. However, there are important signs of hope. The Harper Conservatives do not have the support of the majority of Canadians. Almost 40 per cent of eligible Canadian voters did not cast a ballot in the election and of those who did, fully 60 per cent voted for parties other than the Conservatives. This means that close to three-quarters of Canadians who were eligible to vote did not cast a vote for the Harper agenda. As well, the presence of an opposition with a clear progressive agenda on trade, social and environmental justice, and public services will create the opportunity for unparalleled (until now) collaboration between Members of Parliament and progressive civil society. While we have had good working relationships with some Liberal MPs on some issues, it was incredibly frustrating to see the Liberals side with the Conservatives on signing trade deals with corrupt and criminal regimes in Peru and Colombia. Further, the election of the first Green Party member, Elizabeth May, will open the door for an environmental debate and dialogue that has been missing from the House of Commons. What is needed now is a coming together of progressive forces as never before in our country s history. Social and trade justice groups, First Nations people, labour unions, women, environmentalists, faith-based organizations, the cultural community, farmers, public health care coalitions, front-line public sector workers, and many others must come together to protect and promote the values that the majority of Canadians hold dear. And we must work with, and demand the active representation of, the opposition forces in the House of Commons. In particular, the NDP must oppose the Harper government agenda with the full weight of its new power and the Liberals must redeem themselves by working alongside the NDP in defending the interests of the people of Canada. As the old union saying goes, Don t mourn organize! Our task must now be to work hard over the next four years to keep the laws, rights and services that generations of Canadians have fought for from being dismantled; to fight the corporate-friendly, anti-environmental, security-obsessed agenda that will be presented; and to prepare the way for the kind of government in four years that does, in fact, express the will of the people one with an agenda of justice and respect, of care for the Earth, of the more equitable sharing of our incredible bounty. This will be hard work and will take a great deal of courage and commitment. But really, what more important thing do we have to do? Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 3

4 On the Road with Maude Barlow Maude Barlow was at the United Nations in April for a UN dialogue on Harmony with Nature. The discussion focused on whether nature and Mother Earth should have rights to protect it and all living things upon it. That same week, the Council of Canadians, with Global Exchange and Fundación Pachamama, launched an exciting new book titled The Rights of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Dear friends, It s been another intense winter and spring of activity! We had a strong presence in Cancun, Mexico, for the United Nations COP 16 gathering on climate change. It was the Council of Canadians that broke the story that Canada was leading the charge to break away from the second stage commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and, as a result of some very strong media back in Canada, we put the government entirely on the defensive from the beginning of the summit. Already, we are preparing for COP 17, which will take place in Durban, South Africa, and promises to be explosive if the governments of the Global North don t start working together for some real change. Here at home on the energy front, we are deeply engaged in the fight to stop the proliferation of fracking operations. Hydraulic fracturing commonly known as fracking is the search for unconventional sources of natural gas. Fracking uses and destroys massive amounts of water by lacing it with toxic chemicals and blasting it into shale and rock to release the trapped gas. We are also working with allies on the U.S. side of the border to stop the construction of new pipelines that will take raw bitumen from the tar sands of northern Alberta to refineries around the Great Lakes and Texas the latter traversing the states depending on the waters of the Ogallala Aquifer, which will be threatened by dirty oil spills. On the water front, fresh from supporting the local Tsilhqot in First Nations fight to save Fish Lake in British Columbia from becoming a tailings impoundment area, we found out that Taseko Ltd., a mining company, is at it again with a plan to destroy another lake in the area using Schedule 2, a legal loophole in the Fisheries Act. And so we will enter round two of this struggle to defend freshwater lakes and rivers from being used as dumpsites for toxic mining waste. We are moving ahead with our court challenge to stop the destruction of Sandy Pond in Newfoundland and Labrador, and fighting to have the amendment to the Fisheries Act that allows these travesties repealed. We are also deeply involved in the network to stop the shipment of radioactive generators across the Great Lakes and excited to launch our campaign to have the Great Lakes declared a Commons, a Public Trust and a Protected Bioregion. And we are fighting the spread of water markets in Alberta, as well as a proposed bottling operation that would negatively affect 40 streams in British Columbia, and water privatization in First Nations communities across the country. I have written a report on the meaning of the right to water and sanitation resolutions adopted by the United Nations this past summer that reflects on what our movements in Canada and around the world can now do to make them as real and meaningful as possible. We are ramping up our fight to defeat the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with a national tour along with the Canadian Union of Public Employees this spring, and have published a series of papers and legal opinions about the danger CETA poses to our environment, to municipal democracy and to a clean energy strategy. We are also deeply engaged in the opposition to the recent talks on setting up a single security perimeter around North America or, as one observer put it, an American security perimeter around Canada. We also continue to oppose the power that NAFTA gives to foreign corporations. Trade expert Steven Shrybman testified before a parliamentary committee that the Harper government s $130 million NAFTA settlement to AbitibiBowater, for the water rights the company left behind when it pulled out of its operation in Newfoundland and Labrador, privatizes Canada s water and sets a terrible precedent for the future. We were the first to publicly call on the Harper government to turn down a foreign take-over of Saskatchewan s PotashCorp, and the first to sound the alarm on the proposed take-over of the Toronto Stock Exchange by the London Stock Exchange. And we are thrilled to be entering the health care issue once again as the federal government gears up to review (and perhaps undermine) the Canada Health Act in Already the Canadian Council of Chief Executives is stating that Canada cannot afford to maintain current levels of health care, ignoring clear reports that health care costs have remained remarkably stable across the country for decades. We need to fight the death by a thousand cuts that the proliferation of private services is bringing to our precious health care system. We welcome Adrienne Silnicki, our new health care campaigner, to the fight to protect Canada s most cherished social program. As always, our members, activists and chapters are the backbone of our organization and I thank you all. Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians 4 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

5 Letters to the Editor About the Cover This image was taken at the South Fraser Protection Camp in British Columbia where several Council of Canadians chapters joined with other concerned groups and people to oppose the construction of a 40-kilometre, four-lane highway. Protestors planted trees in the area that has been clearcut and paved with gravel to highlight that nature should have rights to grow and flourish. The Council of Canadians has joined a global movement working towards rights for nature and the recognition of the unbreakable link between human rights and rights for the planet on which we all live and depend. SEND US YOUR LETTERS! If you have something to say about an article you have read in Canadian Perspectives, or an issue you think would interest our readers, please write to us. We reserve the right to edit your letter for clarity and length. Letters must include your full name, address and phone number. SEND YOUR LETTER TO: Canadian Perspectives The Council of Canadians 170 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 700 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5 inquiries@canadians.org, Attention: Editor, Canadian Perspectives Ben Powless of the Indigenous Environmental Network and Andrea Harden-Donahue, Council of Canadians Energy and Climate Justice Campaigner, take part in a visual action against Arctic offshore drilling outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. FIRST NATIONS NEED SAFE WATER After reading the letter Indigenous solidarity for the right to water and sanitation in the last issue of Canadian Perspectives, I am wondering why it has been so difficult to get potable water for First Nations families in Canada. Surely more can be done to ensure everyone in Canada has access to clean and safe drinking water? Thank you to the Council of Canadians for continuing to highlight this important issue. Mary Van Trigt Strathroy, Ontario WHERE CAN I GET MATERIALS? I heard Maude speak at the event Our Water is Not for Sale and what she had to say made a great impression on me. I never really thought about our prairie grain shipped out of here in miles and miles of rail cars, virtually carrying our precious water with it. To say nothing of the feedlot cows that leave here every day. I have also noted that the soil in my little garden is warmer these past three years, and does not retain the water it used to. The Council of Canadians is helping us stave off the marketing of our water that provincial and federal governments seem to be pushing. However, I do need all the material I can get to help inform and educate others that we have to deal with our looming water shortage now. Can you let me know where I can find information? Evelyn Schuler Medicine Hat, Alberta Editor s note: You can find regularly updated information, factsheets, reports and other resources you can use to take action in your community on our website at or by calling us at THANK YOU I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to the Council of Canadians for what you do to keep the voice of democracy heard above the noise of narrow-minded bullies who claim to be leaders. Your last issue of Canadian Perspectives was very encouraging, but also scary. People should be more informed about Canada s loss of parliamentary procedure and our loss of democracy. We need to stop this. I see the power of the Council of Canadians carried forward in actions and involvement at all levels of society. When we do our best individually, and work together believing in truth and justice, we generate reason for hope. Dr. Barbara Kingscote-Godkin Innisfail, Alberta Jamian Logue The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 5

6 Trade North American Perimeter Security: This time Harper will trade away your privacy and civil liberties for access to the U.S. market by Stuart Trew On February 4, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama jointly announced a new shared vision for securing the Canada-U.S. border. They created the Beyond the Border Working Group to come up with a plan to realize the goals of this new vision. THE GROUP S JOINT DECLARATION STATED: To preserve and extend the benefits our close relationship has helped bring to Canadians and Americans alike, we intend to pursue a perimeter approach to security, working together within, at, and away from the borders of our two countries to enhance our security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and services between our two countries. Clearly there is not much new in this plan. It is a regurgitation of the defunct North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), only without the third amigo previously played by Mexican President Felipe Calderón. There is little in the plan that will truly make Canadians economically secure or create new jobs. But there are many threats to our privacy, democratic sovereignty and economic options for the future. The Beyond the Border vision involves coming to a common understanding of the threat environment, then developing an integrated strategy for responding. In other words, a perceived internal threat to the United States will be treated as a real threat to Canada as well. The use of common technical standards for the collection, transmission, and matching of biometrics is envisioned to enable the sharing of information on travellers in real time. But questions have been raised about whether biometrics invade personal privacy, and there has never been true public debate about the use of biometrics in travel documents. There is much to be concerned about in the creation of an integrated Canada- United States entry-exit system, which could lead to a broad harmonization of immigration, visa and refugee policy across North America. The Harper government has already closed our border to people whose views it doesn t agree with, and attempted to criminalize entire groups of people who come to Canada looking for a better life. Harmonization will truly create, as Maude Barlow describes, a Fortress North America. A recently passed law exemplifies this point. Secure Flight legislation will allow Canadian airlines to send detailed information on all travellers directly to U.S. Homeland Security. Canada could have said no to the over-reaching rules that went into effect last year. We would have set an example for the world, and sent a message that we need moderation in security policy. Instead, the Harper government rushed the new rules into law before the election. Now U.S. security agents must green-light you for travel over U.S. airspace en route to non-u.s. destinations, and even on domestic Canadian flights. A perimeter security pact with the United States can only mean U.S. security agencies will be making more decisions about who should be allowed to travel to, from and perhaps within Canada. Finally, the perimeter security deal would lead to common Canada-United States privacy protection principles, which would require legislative changes in Canada. The plan also envisions more integrated cross-border law enforcement programs that increase the amount of information-sharing and the presence of U.S. security agents on Canadian soil. WHERE IS THE CONSULTATION? Now that Harper has a majority in the House of Commons, there is a good chance he will try to rush this vision through Parliament and into law. The federal government has wrapped up preliminary online-only consultations, but these were mainly for business groups to give advice on how to make the new border vision work. The Canadian half of the Beyond the Border working group is also consulting one-by-one with so-called stakeholders, including critics of the plan. However there hasn t been, and won t be, any meaningful opportunity for Canadians to give their opinion of the deal. Details of the perimeter security plan are expected to be ready by the end of the summer. With people s privacy and our country s democratic sovereignty at stake, we will need to push back against the Beyond the Border vision like we successfully did against the SPP. Majority government or not, we can and will win this new fight against the tired old idea of deep integration with the U.S. Stuart Trew is the Trade Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. 6 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

7 Creating a New Narrative for the Great Lakes Water Marius M. / stock.xchng The Great Lakes are bordered by many cities and are the drinking water source for more than 40 million people. Here, water in Lake Michigan has an eerie glow on the banks of Chicago, U.S. The Great Lakes of North America are in serious trouble. Multi-point pollution, climate change, over-extraction, invasive species and wetland loss are all taking their toll on the watershed that provides life and livelihood to more than 40 million people and thousands of species that live around it. Once thought to be immune from the water crisis that threatens other parts of the world, the Great Lakes are a source of increasing concern as residents watch their shorelines recede, their beaches close, and their fisheries decline. Added to this mounting ecological crisis are growing conflicts as some eye these precious waters for commercial bulk and bottled water export, mining, oil and gas exploration, private control of once public water services, and as an incentive to lure water-intensive industries to locate on them. There are many dedicated environmental and community organizations, as well as elected officials around the Lakes, working very hard to restore them, and some real progress has been made. There also exists already a rich history of Commons practices and laws, including the application of the Public Trust Doctrine to the Lakes by the U.S. courts, dating back to a shared vision of the First Nations peoples of the region. We need to build on this history. However, there are conflicting visions for the Great Lakes. For every victory to extend a Commons framework for the Lakes there is a corresponding setback of exploitation. While many advocate that the Great Lakes belong to the public and must be protected for future generations, others put economic issues above both the health of the Lakes and the lived Commons and common good of those who depend on them. Alexa Bradley, Great Lakes community activist, puts it this way: For some, the Great Lakes represent a massive resource grab that takes many forms: privatization, appropriation, the entitlement to use and misuse water, and the prioritization of market economics over ecological and justice considerations. By its nature this resource grab is anti-democratic and undercuts both environmental protection and the equitable sharing of water. This exploitation makes the case for not just better water policy, but for a different kind of governance. As well, many jurisdictions responsible for the Great Lakes govern with an uneven patchwork of rules, regulations and laws. Most have not mapped the groundwater feeding the Lakes and do not have extensive knowledge of the crises threatening them. All suffer from chronic underfunding, regulatory infractions, and inadequate enforcement of existing rules. It is easy to see why it seems that with every step that takes us forward, another takes us backward. WE NEED A NEW NARRATIVE FOR THE GREAT LAKES What would happen if the citizens living around the Great Lakes decided to collectively protect them based on some of the very principles and practices that informed the First Peoples of the region; namely, that the Great Lakes must be shared equitably by all who live around them and protected for seven generations into the future? What do we mean by a Commons? What is the Public Trust Doctrine? How could we protect a Bioregion? A COMMONS APPROACH The notion of the Commons is a very old one. A Commons narrative asserts that no one owns water. Rather it is a common heritage that belongs to the Earth, other species and future generations as well as our own. Because it is a flow resource necessary for life and ecosystem health, and because there is no substitute for it, water must be regarded as a public Commons and a public good and preserved as such for all time in law and in practice. Embracing the Commons helps us to restore to centre stage a whole range of social and ecological phenomena that market economics regards as externalities. A language of the Commons would restore more democratic control over the Great Lakes and establish their care and stewardship as the joint responsibility of citizens and their elected governments based on the notions of social equity, ecological survival and governance by the people most impacted. PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE The Public Trust Doctrine underpins in law the universal notion of the Commons that certain natural resources, particularly air, water and the oceans, are central to our very existence and considered to are the property of the public, which cannot be denied access. The trust resources must, therefore, be protected for the common good and not appropriated for private gain. Under the public trust, governments, as trustees, are obliged to protect these resources and exercise their fiduciary The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 7

8 responsibility to sustain them for the long-term use of the entire population, not just the privileged few who could buy inequitable access. The Public Trust Doctrine is an important tool in the movement to fuse solutions to both the ecological and human water crises. Under a public trust regime, all competing uses of Great Lakes water should have to pass a test, not just of fairness of access, but also that they will not draw down the future capacity of the watershed. Public trust offers a body of principles that combine public good, public control and public oversight with the long-term protection of the watershed. It also sets the stage for an agreed-upon hierarchy of use, whereby some uses of the water, such as the human right to water and water for ecosystem protection, will take precedence over others. A NEW WAY FORWARD There is much goodwill to move to a new level of consciousness to save the Great Lakes of North America. But to be successful, these and other activities must take place as part of a cohesive whole, backed by strong and meaning- ful laws. It is the long-term goal of the network proposing the Great Lakes Basin Commons to eventually see a full treaty between Canada and the United States that declares the Great Lakes to be a lived Commons, Public Trust and Protected Bioregion, one that is also adopted by the states, provinces and First Nations of the Basin. We also believe that a high-level summit will be necessary to ensure the full commitment and participation of all those levels of government needed to make this shared vision a reality. However, a treaty is not our starting point. Our starting point is in the cities, towns, villages, hamlets and farms that ring the Great Lakes, and with the people and communities that live on them and love them. Our organizational goal is to get communities around the Great Lakes, as well as the myriad of existing community and environmental groups, to become better linked to one another through the connecting narrative of a Commons discourse. We need to create a vocabulary to connect the many millions of people who are not experts on the details of the environmental threats to the Great Lakes, but who care about them and are ready to feel ownership of them. We need to strengthen peoples cultural and visceral connection to the Great Lakes and promote their right to care. And we need to build on the great work of countless national, state, provincial and community groups that have toiled for decades to protect the Lakes and let them know they are not alone. This article contains excerpts from the recently released paper Our Great Lakes Commons: A People s Plan to Protect the Great Lakes Forever. Written by Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow, the paper is intended to serve as a call to understanding and a call to action to designate the Great Lakes and their tributary waters as a lived Commons to be shared, protected, carefully managed and enjoyed by all who live around them. Visit to read the full report. RADIOACTIVE SHIPMENTS PLANNED FOR LAKES Sharen Skelly from Citizens against Radioactive Steam Generators in Owen Sound, Emma Lui, National Water Campaigner for the Council of Canadians, and David Walton, Grey-Bruce chapter activist, survey the location where radioactive steam generators will be shipped from. Bruce Power plans to ship 16 bus-size radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway to Sweden. The nuclear corporation has signed a contract with Swedish company Studsvik to transport and decontaminate the steam generators. Ninety per cent of the metal will be sold on consumer markets while 10 per cent of the most radioactive parts will return to Canada. Last April, Bruce Power applied for a licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for the shipments because each 1,600-tonne shipment exceeds the CNSC s Packaging and Transport of Nuclear Substances Regulations. The total radioactive level of the shipment also exceeds the limits set out in the International Atomic Energy Agency s Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material by 50 times. The CNSC approved the licence in February, setting a dangerous precedent for the Great Lakes. In total, Bruce Power has 64 steam generators to ship, so this is the first of several shipments. The Great Lakes holds nearly 20 per cent of the world s freshwater. They provide drinking water to 40 million people in Great Lakes Basin. This shipment puts Canada s dwindling water sources at risk. The Council of Canadians has joined First Nations, city mayors, U.S. senators, environmental groups and social justice organizations in Canada, the U.S. and Europe opposing these shipments. Bruce Power must still obtain permits from municipalities along the travel route, as well as the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Transport Canada and the U.S. Department of Transport. While recent reports indicate Bruce Power has withdrawn their U.S. application to ship the generators, the company is expected to submit a new proposal after meeting with First Nations. TAKE ACTION! Help us stop radioactive steam generator shipments through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway and protect our freshwater resources. Go to and send a letter today. 8 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

9 2010 Annual Report 2010 Annual Report NATIONAL CHAIRPERSON S REPORT The Council of Canadians has a strong history of speaking up for clean water, better trade deals, strengthened public health care and the environment. As the rippling impacts of the global economic crisis continue to hurt families, jobs and our sense of economic stability, and we see the effects of a growing environmental crisis caused by years of pollution that have led us to catastrophic climate change, water scarcity and threatened ecosystems, it is more important than ever that Canadians come together to act for social, economic and environmental justice here in Canada and around the world. The Council of Canadians, with the generous support of our members and donors, speaks out about these urgent issues. Together we offer a different, more positive vision of the kind of Canada, and the kind of world, we want. Still, governments are forging on with business as usual. Even though the failures of unregulated free trade and economic globalization have been exposed, and this flawed free market model has crumbled in the wake of the economic downturn, we still see governments putting corporate interests ahead of people and the environment. But there are other answers better answers to the crises we face. We can change patterns of over-consumption and fossil fuel reliance. We must grow more food locally, have better protections for our water and environment, and move to sustainable energy resources. We must move to a model that puts the Commons the land we live on, the air we breathe, and the water we need to live at the forefront. I continue to be inspired by the thousands of Council members and supporters I meet on this journey. For more than 25 years, the Council of Canadians has brought together Canadians who are concerned about a better future for our country. We must find hope and remain vigilant to protect our resources and public services from the threats of corporate power and privatization. Thank you for your generosity and commitment. I look to the coming year and many future years with renewed hope that our actions can truly make a difference and bring a fairer, more just world. Maude Barlow National Chairperson BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION The Council of Canadians work is built on a strong foundation of timely and strategic campaigns. Through our campaigns we continue to fight for the values, social programs and progressive policies that Canadians believe in. There are many people who help in these efforts, including our thousands of members and supporters across the country and around the world, our tireless chairperson, Maude Barlow, our national board of directors, our staff in Ottawa and in our regional offices across Canada, and our committed chapter activists who put these campaigns and progressive issues into action in more than 70 communities across Canada. Because we are a membershipbased organization, these efforts are almost entirely supported by generous contributions from like-minded people who support the citizen advocacy work of the Council of Canadians. Together, we give people a voice. Our independence as an organization is maintained by not accepting any money from corporations or governments. You can read more about our finances and expenditures at the end of this report. The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 9

10 2010 Annual Report Campaigns in Action We look back on 2010 as a year marked by many encouraging wins. Here are some of our campaign highlights. WATER Our water campaign calls for a National Water Policy that recognizes water as a human right and protects our rivers, lakes and groundwater from privatization, pollution and bulk exports. Canada needs a strong policy that ensures our water resources are not only properly mapped, but also publicly maintained and protected from trade agreements such as NAFTA and the proposed Canada European Union trade deal, which could open up Canada s water to private interests. At the local level we are turning communities blue with our Blue Communities Project. Working with allied groups, we are giving people the tools they need to encourage their local governments to support a Commons approach to water by recognizing water as a human right, promoting publicly financed water and wastewater facilities, and banning the purchase and sale of bottled water in public facilities. In 2010, we continued to convince people to ditch the bottle as part of our successful Unbottle It! campaign, providing resources and support to communities across the country that are lobbying for bottled water bans. To date, more than 60 communities have passed bans. We worked in coalition with other organizations to stop mining companies from turning Canadian lakes into toxic dumpsites by calling on the federal government to close a loophole in the Mining Act called Schedule 2. The loophole allows mining companies to permanently destroy freshwater lakes and rivers with their toxic waste. In 2010 we celebrated in support of the Tsilhqot in First Nations major victory when the federal government announced it would not allow the destruction of Fish Lake (Teztan Biny) in British Columbia under Schedule 2. But with other lakes still under threat, we are continuing the fight. To do this, we have helped launch a legal challenge to save Sandy Pond, a freshwater lake in Newfoundland and Labrador, from destruction, which we hope in turn will help save other lakes. On the global stage, the Council s Blue Planet Project continues to fight for water justice internationally. In July 2010 more than a decade of hard work and perseverance paid off when the overwhelming majority of United Nations member states recognized the human right to water and sanitation. (Canada, shockingly, abstained from this significant vote.) While securing these rights is a monumental step forward, we continue our work to ensure these rights become a reality for the millions around the world who presently don t have access to clean water and adequate sanitation. The Council s Blue Planet Project plays a key organizing role in the global water justice movement and informs, educates, motivates and inspires people and governments to secure water as a human right, a public trust and part of our shared Commons. We will also continue to put a spotlight on the Canadian government s shameful record on the issue, and lobby for action here in Canada where many communities, including First Nations, do not have access to the water resources they need to live. TRADE The Council of Canadians has a strong history of speaking out against trade deals that hurt people, the environment and social policies. We continue to fight for trade agreements that put people s rights before corporate profits. In 2010 we saw Buy American legislation and trade deals with Peru, Colombia and the European Union as just some examples of the Canadian government s recent free trade push. These deals threatened to abandon human rights and public services such as health care, open up our water resources to multinational water corporations, and lower the standards and regulations that keep our food and products safe. 10 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

11 2010 Annual Report At the national level, we continued to sound the alarm about NAFTA. We are calling on the federal government to reopen the agreement to remove Chapter 11 the investorstate dispute mechanism that allows corporations to sue the government for millions of dollars when policies aimed at protecting public and environmental interests interfere with their ability to make profits. Canada recently paid AbitibiBowater, a Canadian company that is registered in the U.S., $130 million after the company closed the doors on its pulp and paper mill in Newfoundland and Labrador. Following the closure, the provincial government expropriated AbitibiBowater assets and the company, in turn, filed suit under NAFTA s Chapter 11. The Harper government settled the dispute by agreeing to pay the company $130 million, the largest NAFTA settlement to date. Even more concerning is the fact that the agreement means Canada effectively put a price tag on public water rights. CONFRONTING THE GLOBAL TRADE AGENDA AND SHOUT- ING OUT FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE In June 2010 we took to the streets of Toronto to oppose the G8 and G20 meetings, which were taking place behind steel fences and concrete barricades. We joined with thousands of people on the streets of Toronto to protest the boondoggle summits that proved to be nothing more than an expensive photo opportunity for leaders of the world s richest countries, saying it was time to scrap the summits! and move the meetings to the more inclusive United Nations. Through 2010 our work to educate, inform and empower people to take action against the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) ramped up. We were featured in media nationally and internationally raising concerns about the deal opening up Canada s public water to European private water corporations, putting our public services like health care at risk, and taking away the ability of municipal and provincial governments to hire and buy locally. The Council of Canadians trade campaign is dedicated to the concept of trade justice a trade model designed by and for people, not corporations. We are working for trade policy reform in Canada that would require full transparency in trade negotiations; enforcement of environmental and human rights protections; strengthening of local and national environmental, economic and social policy; and full accountability of multinational corporations operating abroad. CLIMATE JUSTICE With growing concern about the grim realities of climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we continue to push governments for strong policies that protect our environment while focusing on renewable and sustainable energy solutions. Pressing for immediate government action on climate change is central to our efforts. We have joined the global call for a binding climate change deal with firm emission reduction targets. In November 2010 we brought the message of the urgent need for climate change action to Cancun, Mexico, for COP 16, the 16 th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Sadly, the Canadian government appears prepared to support oil and gas corporations and allow massive greenhouse gas emissions no matter what the social, environmental and health costs are to Canadians. In 2010 we focused efforts on the growing industry of hydro-fracking, a gas extraction process that uses massive amounts of water, chemicals and sand to release trapped underground gas reserves. Council of Canadians chapters are fighting and raising awareness about the impacts of fracking, which include contaminated groundwater and drinking water, health concerns, pollution and more. We also continued to raise awareness of the environmentally devastating tar sands, which fuel our oil-driven economy at the The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 11

12 2010 Annual Report expense of poisoning water, stripping the land, and ruining people s health. (Read more about this on pages ) HEALTH CARE With our campaign in support of public health care, we fight to ensure governments strengthen and enhance public health care and end the privatization assault that is now spreading across Canada. We have joined with provincial and national health care groups pushing for a stronger public health care system while fighting privatization proposals. Our chapters and members across the country continue their public education activities under the banner Profit Is Not the Cure. In 2010 our chapters were taking action across the country: in Calgary, Alberta, our chapter raised awareness about new provincial health legislation that will mean increased privatization; in Red Deer, our chapter pushed for public long-term health care services as a privately owned facility failed to provide quality care; in Ontario, our chapters continued to fight to save hospital services and get more municipal funding of health care services when provincial funding fell short. CHAPTERS IN ACTION Part of the Council s strength comes from our chapters. With concerned and active members in more than 70 communities across the country, our chapters provide a strong voice to local, regional and national issues. Through regular meetings, public events and actions, interactions with the media, and getting involved in issues in their communities, Council chapters act as the true government watchdog. Over the past year, our chapters have been instrumental in securing key wins. Whether it was obtaining bottled water bans in their communities, fighting health care privatization, challenging politicians on the secretive SPP agenda, raising awareness about the negative impacts of the 2010 Winter Olympics, or rallying in support of a Canadian Energy Strategy and a National Water Policy, our chapters gave true meaning to the phrase communities in action. Chapters helped organize regional tours to raise awareness about uranium mining and tar sands impacts, fought water and health care privatization, pressed the government for immediate action on climate change, rallied against the tar sands and its devastating environmental impacts, and worked in communities to raise public awareness about issues that affect us all. Chapter activists appeared almost daily in local and regional newspapers, and radio and television news reports, raising even more public awareness about our campaigns and issues of concern in their communities. RESOURCES Our work is made possible by the generosity of like-minded Canadians who believe social, economic and environmental justice is in everyone s best interest. With your membership and donations, we moved our campaigns forward in We garnered hundreds of media hits; organized major events here in Canada and around the world; held conferences and speaking tours; produced educational factsheets, brochures and reports; wrote blogs; updated our website regularly; and delivered hard-hitting and informative articles in our membership magazine, Canadian Perspectives. These remarkable achievements are made possible by our generous members financial contributions. More than $5.1 million was received from memberships and contributions this fiscal year, which represents 91 per cent of total revenue. We have provided a Summary Statement of Revenue and Expenditure that shows our sources of revenue and how we spent this funding. JOIN US There are many ways you can contribute to our work. By becoming a member of the Council of Canadians, joining our monthly giving plan, contributing to our Citizens Agenda Fund, or planning a legacy gift, your invaluable support gives our organization a voice on the social, economic and political issues that will help us build a strong, independent and diverse Canada. A most heartfelt thank you to all of our donors for supporting our work! 12 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

13 2010 Annual Report The Council of Canadians: Statement of Revenue and Expenditure For the year ended June 30, 2010 Revenue June 30, 2010 June 30, 2009 Memberships & contributions 91% 91% $5,141,523 $4,661,561 Program funding contributions 7% 7% 374, ,406 Interest & other 2% 2% 114,825 61,158 Total Revenue 100% 5,630,372 5,067,125 Expenditure Chapter funding 13% 13% 721, ,849 Campaigns & communications 25% 25% 1,393,454 1,061,696 Development 39% 39% 2,208,873 2,286,325 Meetings, conferences, newsletters 3% 3% 175, ,054 Admin & program support 20% 20% 1,149, ,790 Total Expenditure 100% 5,648,182 5,297,714 Excess of expenditure over revenue for the year ($17,810) ($230,589) REVENUE SOURCES Memberships & contributions 91% Program funding contributions 7% Interest & other 2% EXPENDITURES Chapter funding 13% Campaigns & communications 25% Development 39% Meetings, conferences, newsletters 3% Admin & program support 20% The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 13

14 Join the Citizens Agenda Fund: Our work is not possible without you People are the heart and soul of the Council of Canadians. As an independent, non-partisan citizens advocacy organization, the Council refuses all government and corporate funding in favour of the volunteer energy and generous support of everyday people from across the country. Quite simply, our work would not be possible without you. Progressive policies on clean water, climate and trade justice, and strengthened public health care will not come without a lot of work. Achieving such profound change demands years of active public engagement from informed and committed citizens. Sustaining this work over the long term requires considerable funding. The generosity of ordinary people ensures our research, public education activities and campaigns remain proudly independent. Our day-to-day fundraising activities are vital to keeping our current campaigns running, but little is left over to meet the needs of a crucial piece of our work: building for the long term. So in 1996, with the support of a small but passionate group of founding members, the Council of Canadians launched an ambitious new initiative called the Citizens Agenda Fund (CAF). Leadership-level donations from CAF members enable us to broaden our research capacity, develop far-reaching public education strategies, and expand our cross-canada network of local chapters. CAF initiatives such as these play a vital role in strengthening the effectiveness of the Council s current work. With all we have accomplished together, there is still much to do. If you haven t already done so, please consider joining the Citizens Agenda Fund. Anyone can become a CAF member with an annual gift of $500 or more, or $40 or more on our monthly-giving Canada Plan. For more information about becoming a CAF member, including membership benefits, please contact Hélène Bertrand, Major Gifts Officer, at , or by at hbertrand@ canadians.org. As we reflect on our successes through 2010, and look forward to even more positive social change in the future, we give special thanks and recognition to our CAF members. To see a list of our generous CAF supporters for 2010, please visit our website at Thousands Join Council s First Telephone Town Hall Jamian Logue, Director of Development, and Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, speak to members during the Council s first-ever telephone town hall. On Sunday, February 27, the Council of Canadians welcomed more than 20,000 members and supporters from communities across Canada to our first Telephone Town Hall with National Chairperson Maude Barlow. Town Hall participants joined in an interactive live conversation with Maude to share in stories about our wins over the last year, hear about exciting new Council campaigns, and talk about the way forward for social justice, fair trade, clean water and democracy in Canada. Our members were able to ask Maude questions about the current political moment, participate in live polling questions, and share their thoughts and comments with Council of Canadians staff. It is very important to us, as an organization, to keep our members informed how their generous support is making a difference, and to hear what they have to say, said Jamian Logue, the Council s Director of Development. Members are the heart and soul of the Council of Canadians. To bring so many people together across the country who share a common passion and purpose was inspiring. To hear an audio recording of the town hall, visit DON T MISS OUR NEXT TELE-TOWN HALL! Renew your membership today and make sure to provide your home phone number so you can be part of exciting upcoming town hall conversations with Maude. Call us at to sign up today. 14 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

15 25 th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Ottawa Helps Build People Power by Donna James It was standing room only on the opening night of our 25th Anniversary AGM, which took place in Ottawa last October. More than 500 people came to celebrate our 25-year history of Building People Power, and to talk about what we can all do to achieve trade, water and climate justice. Keynote speakers Maude Barlow, Dorval Brunelle and Steven Shrybman were joined by spoken word artists John Akpata, D-LightFull, and The Recipe, along with Latin musicians La Banda Sabrosa. Three youth activists also took to the stage that evening and spoke about their efforts to make positive change in the world. PANELS AND WORKSHOPS On Saturday delegates had a choice of five workshops, and three plenary panels: Youth Acting for Change, Water for People and Nature, and Real and False Solutions to the Climate Crisis. To reduce our carbon footprint, the climate panel hosted two speakers electronically one spoke by pre-recorded DVD, and the other addressed the Council of Canadians members and chapter activists take part in a workshop called Tweet This! at our Annual General Meeting in Ottawa last October. crowd by telephone accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. TREAT OR TRICK? A rally against CETA was held as trade negotiators were in Ottawa for the fifth round of Canada European Union (CETA) trade talks. The message was: Help us chase CETA out of town. Don t let Harper create a trade monster. JOIN US IN MONTRÉAL IN 2011 FOR A CONFERENCE WITH QUÉBEC ALLIES The Council of Canadians is holding a conference in Montréal October 21-22, 2011 in an effort to help foster alliances with people, organizations and allies in Québec. At a public forum Friday, October 21, and all day Saturday, October 22, we will bring together Council members and activists, as well as organizations and citizens from inside and outside Québec to organize around issues of common concern. The conference will be conducted in French and English with simultaneous translation. More information will be posted on our website this summer. Please note our organization s Annual Business Meeting (ABM) will take place on Sunday, October 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For conference registration and deadlines for the ABM please refer to the box below. Donna James is Executive Assistant to the Board of Directors and organizes the Council s Annual General Meetings and the 2011 conference in Montréal. Emily Sheff 2011 CONFERENCE IN MONTRÉAL CONFERENCE HOTEL RESERVATIONS Marriott Château Champlain 1 Place du Canada, Montréal, QC, H3B 4C9 To obtain the negotiated group rate of $149 per night + taxes you must book by September 20, 2011, by calling (local) or (tollfree). State the group name Council of Canadians. ADVANCE REGISTRATION: August 8 October 13, 2011 Registration information will be posted at beginning August 8. Advance registration closes at 5:00 p.m. October 13. RESOLUTIONS: AUGUST 22, 2011 Proposed resolutions must be received by August 22, After this date, only emergency resolutions on issues that could not have been foreseen by the deadline date will be considered. NOMINATIONS: SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 Advance nominations for the Board of Directors must be received by September 23, This allows time for the nominating committee to make recommendations to ensure a diverse Board. Nominations will be accepted at the AGM until 2:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, October 21. In addition to the regular slate of candidates, two chapter representatives to the Board from the Atlantic and Prairies regions will be nominated and elected in a process exclusive to chapters. These Board members will be confirmed by the membership at the AGM. ENSURE YOUR MEMBERSHIP IS UP TO DATE Being a Council member in good standing allows you to vote on resolutions and Board nominations at the AGM. To be a member in good standing you need to have donated $6 or more at least 30 days before the AGM business meeting (by September 23, 2011), and no more than 12 months before October 23, Please check the status of your membership, or consider making an additional donation to the Council to help us put on the best conference ever! Call us toll-free at The Council of Canadians Summer 2010 Canadian Perspectives 15

16 Moving from Recognition to Realization: Botswana court upholds Kalahari Bushmen s right to water by Emma Lui and Anil Naidoo On January 27, 2011, the Botswana Court of Appeal set an international precedent and upheld the Kalahari Bushmen s right to water by quashing a 2010 decision that denied the Bushmen access to a water borehole on their ancestral lands. This is a major win; it s the first test case of the UN resolutions on the right to water, said Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians Chairperson and former Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the UN General Assembly. The UN passed two resolutions last year recognizing the right to water and sanitation. After the court decision, a Bushman spokesperson said, We are very happy that our rights have finally been recognized. Like any human beings, we need water to live. The significance of this decision is profound. Just one week before the historic UN resolution recognized the human right to water, the high court in Botswana had denied the Bushmen access to water. The Bushmen appealed the ruling, putting the question before the court again. That decision, which cited the UN resolution, provides a clear before and after illustration. THE BUSHMEN S LONG- STANDING BATTLE The Kalahari Bushmen have been embroiled in a 30-year battle for their right to ancestral lands and the right to water. After diamonds were discovered in their lands in the late 1980s, the Bushmen were forcefully evicted from the area in 1997, 2002 and again in A court ruled that they were allowed to return in However, they were denied access to a borehole, their main source of water. The Bushmen resorted to using rainwater, melons and roots for drinking water. While the Bushmen were denied access to their water source, the government allowed Gem Diamonds to drill new boreholes for its mining project. The government also permitted Wilderness Safari to build a tourist camp complete with swimming pools on the Kalahari reserve. THE UN RESOLUTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO WATER On July 28, 2010, the UN General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the right to water and sanitation. One hundred and twenty-two countries voted in favour of the resolution, no country opposed, and 41 countries including Canada abstained. In September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) passed a resolution also recognizing the right to water and sanitation. This second resolution recognized the right to water as already entrenched in international law. Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, highlighted the significance of the HRC resolution, noting that this means that for the UN, the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties and is therefore legally binding. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CANADA? Canada has taken the long-standing position that the right to water does not exist. The Canadian government has falsely argued that if Canada recognizes the right to water, the United States could make claims to Canada s water. There is no evidence to support this claim. In fact, it seems there are other political considerations that have held Canada back from supporting the human right to water. A look at the lack of clean drinking water on First Nations reserves provides better insight into why the Canadian government denies that the right to water exists. As of December 31, 2010, there were 117 First Nations communities in Canada under boil-water advisories. In March 2010, 49 First Nations water systems were classified as high risk. However, since the HRC and the Independent Expert have clarified that the right to water exists and is now legally binding, Canada can no longer deny there is a right to water. The decision upholding the Kalahari Bushmen s right to water sets a powerful legal precedent affirming that water is a legally entrenched fundamental human right. The UN resolutions give hope to the 1.2 billion people who do not have access to clean water, and establish a legal precedent to work from. The world s response to these resolutions needs to be much more vigorous. The Council of Canadians will continue to fight to make the human right to water an undeniable realization for the world s most vulnerable people. Emma Lui is the National Water Campaigner and Anil Naidoo is the Blue Planet Project Organizer for the Council of Canadians. 16 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

17 Chapter Activist Profile Sheila Rogers, Lethbridge, Alberta Lethbridge is southern Alberta s largest city and has a population of almost 90,000. The Oldman River cuts through Lethbridge, and its river valley is one of the largest urban parks in North America. Located close to the Canadian Rockies, it is one of the windiest cities in the country and is home to Canada s largest windfarm, which will soon add to the large amount of wind power already generated in the area. Members of the Lethbridge, Alberta Council of Canadians chapter braved cold temperatures last December to rally support for a fair climate change deal at COP 16, UN climate change negotiations that were held in Cancun, Mexico. How did the Lethbridge chapter get started? Our chapter was founded in 2007 by a small group of people who were discussing the opportunities in Lethbridge that exist for socially and environmentally minded people to get involved in taking action for a better world. We talked about how much we admire Maude Barlow and the work of the Council of Canadians and lamented that there wasn t a chapter in Lethbridge. Together we decided to start the Lethbridge and District Chapter. Our first work centred on TILMA, the SPP and promoting renewable energy. Alberta, and especially southern Alberta, has a reputation for being politically conservative. How does the chapter go about organizing in that challenging political climate? Although this region is known for being conservative, there is a strong core group of citizens and community groups here that are committed to working to promote the public interest. Our strength is in partnering with like-minded groups on projects and campaigns in order to broaden the scope of our perspective and influence. When engaging in a project or campaign, we try to connect with groups and individuals that work on that particular issue in our community. A major issue right now for the chapter is the issue of fracking near Lethbridge. Can you describe the fight the chapter is involved in, and how you re organizing and mobilizing people on the issue? Our chapter was very concerned when we heard that the Chief and Council of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe), whose reserve is very close to Lethbridge, had signed contracts with Murphy Oil and Bowood Energy to use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas and oil from deep underground. We were worried about how this would affect our aquifers and the water quality of the Oldman River, where Lethbridge and surrounding communities get their drinking water. We were approached by some members of the Blood Tribe, who also had concerns, asking us to work with them to call for a ban on fracking until it could be proven safe. We ve since discovered that fracking is going on in other areas of southern Alberta, and that there is essentially no scientific research that looks into the safety of fracking. Our coalition is now involved with raising awareness about the dangers of fracking through public talks, screening films like Gasland and Burning Water, holding workshops and door-knocking. In March we also held a conference on fracking at the university. Our end goal is to ban this dangerous practice of energy extraction. We are building momentum through our coalition, building capacity and keeping this issue at the forefront in the media. Recent moratoriums on fracking in Québec and Arkansas are encouraging, and give us solid steps to build on. Why do you think fracking has become such a big issue in Lethbridge? Water is always an issue in southern Alberta since we are a semi-arid region. We are concerned about the effects of global warming on the glaciers that feed our rivers. We are especially concerned about fracking and the potential it has to contaminate our aquifers and rivers. People who rely on wells for their drinking water are worried about natural gas and other contaminants entering their wells, as has happened in Rosebud, Alberta, and other areas. The idea of protecting our water crosses political, socio-economic and cultural lines and is an issue that people from all walks of life can rally around. While working to protect the quality of our water is forefront for the time being, we will also be working to ensure that our water allocation system in Alberta remains public. Lethbridge, AB For more information about how to join a chapter in your area, visit our website at or call us at The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 17

18 Chapter Action Updates To illustrate the waste associated with bottled water, members of the University of Alberta chapter teamed up with Greenpeace Campus and Edmonton-based visual artist Dianne Connors to create a bottled waterfall as part of World Water Week in Edmonton in March. by Brent Patterson Scott Harris Chapters hold allcandidates debates The Kamloops, Comox Valley, Williams Lake, Surrey-Langley-White Rock, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Red Deer, Prince Albert, Peterborough, and Brockville chapters helped organize all-candidates debates this past election. The Conservative candidates in half of these debates failed to attend. In Calgary a house plant was put in the place of the absent Conservative candidate, while in Red Deer the local media noted that an election lawn sign was used to represent the absent Conservative. Peterborough soapbox campaign The Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter in Ontario conducted daily rallies, one issue per day, at their farmers market over a 17-day period during the election. Issues raised on the soapbox included health care, F-35 jets, the CBC, and our declining democracy. Stop the Pave! The Delta-Richmond, Surrey-White Rock-Langley, and Vancouver-Burnaby chapters have been active in the campaign against a $2-billion, 40-kilometre four-lane highway now under construction in British Columbia. The highway will be a source of greenhouse gas emissions, will endanger the Fraser River and wetlands, and will destroy farmland as well as an Indigenous site. To oppose it, the chapters took part in a South Fraser Protection Camp, which was set up following a march and the planting of seedlings in the path of the highway where construction work required clear-cutting a lush hillside of trees. (See image on the cover of Canadian Perspectives). Inverness petitions against fracking The Inverness County chapter collected 1,200 names on a petition against fracking the controversial gas extraction method that both uses large amounts of water and endangers groundwater and had their petition tabled in the Nova Scotia provincial legislature. This contributed to a provincial government decision to undertake a review, with some public input, of fracking in Nova Scotia. Campbell River opposes bottled water applications The Campbell River chapter, working with the Sechelt Nation, is raising concerns about applications for bottled water takings from more than 40 streams around four remote inlets, including Jervis Inlet, on British Columbia s central coast. If approved, this could drain about 112,000 litres a day from each stream. The chapter is demanding a full provincial environmental assessment and consideration of the applications as a group rather than individually. Ottawa defends Lansdowne Park The Ottawa chapter organized a public forum to defend Lansdowne Park, a 40-acre public space on the Rideau Canal that is under threat by private development. The city has entered into a public-private partnership with a sports and entertainment group to transform the park into a 350,000-square-foot commercial space with stores, restaurants and bars. At the forum, Maude Barlow said, The debate over Lansdowne Park is part of the struggle around the world to protect the commons against private interests. The commons includes public space and that which is part of our shared, common heritage and needed for life. Guelph fights Nestlé The Guelph chapter is working as part of the Wellington Water Watchers to stop Nestlé from gaining a 10-year permit to pump millions of water daily from their local aquifer in southern Ontario. Their campaign included a three-hour walk from downtown Guelph to the front gates of the Nestlé plant in the neighbouring community of Aberfoyle. Golden chapter takes names to the B.C. legislature The Golden chapter collected more than 500 signatures from people opposed to the Beaver River Hydro Project, a private river-diversion project on the Ventego and Cupola creeks to generate electricity for export. The petition presented to the British Columbia legislature expresses concern about the project s environmental impacts and calls for a moratorium and environmental assessment. Red Deer aquifer win The Red Deer chapter has been fighting against a proposed gravel pit on top of an alluvial aquifer in Alberta, arguing it will pollute local water sources. The chapter, working with others in the area, convinced the Red Deer County municipal planning commission to vote overwhelmingly against this project. Lethbridge works with Kainai Nation The Lethbridge chapter is working with members of the Kainai Nation who are calling for a moratorium against fracking on their reserve in southern Alberta. Bowood Energy and Murphy Oil have leased almost 130,000 acres of land there, and use fracking on at least 16 drill sites on the reserve. There is concern that the fracking operation could affect the Oldman Watershed from which Lethbridge and several other towns draw their drinking water. Brent Patterson is the Political Director for the Council of Canadians. 18 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

19 Emily Sheff Hundreds of people joined the protest against CETA last October as negotiators met for a fifth round of trade talks in Ottawa. Concerns have been expressed over the deal s sweeping impacts on local decision-making. CETA s High Toll on Health Care Free trade with the EU would make health care less affordable and increase the role of the private sector by Stuart Trew and Adrienne Silnicki The wheels are starting to fall off the CETA bus. By CETA, we mean the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Canada is pursuing with the European Union. Just a few months ago, not many Canadians had heard of the deal, but it s now ringing alarm bells for members of the public, some governments and even the private sector. Billed by the Harper government as Canada s most ambitious trade agreement to date, CETA is proving too costly for Canadians. Perhaps nowhere is this more obvious than with respect to public health care in Canada. While governments of both Canada and the EU claim they will protect public services in CETA, the truth is EU demands related to pharmaceutical regulations in the services chapter will put unnecessary strains on Canada s public health system. These are not just casual requests from the EU negotiators. They are make-or-break parts of the deal, which put pressure on the federal government to agree. But the real question remains about what if any benefit they provide for Canadians. I NEED A NEW DRUG (ONE I CAN AFFORD) On February 7, the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) released a report about the impacts CETA s proposed intellectual property (IP) chapter would have on Canada s legal and regulatory systems for pharmaceuticals. The report finds that EU proposals on patent term extension and data exclusivity will considerably lengthen the period of exclusivity for innovative drugs in Canada, so that Canada would have the most extensive structural protection of innovative drugs of any country in the world. Payers consumers, businesses, unions and government insurers would face substantially higher drug costs as exclusivity is extended on top-selling prescription drugs, with the annual increase in costs likely to be in the range of $2.8 billion per year. These increased costs come from delays these extra protections for Big Pharma would put on the introduction of cheaper generic drug versions in Canada. The EU wants Canada to completely overhaul its pharmaceutical approval process to increase patent terms from 20 to 25 years, and extend data exclusivity terms from The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 19

20 8 to 10 years. EU negotiators, at the request of the powerful brand-name pharma industry in Europe, also want a new right of appeal under the Patented Medicines regulations of Canada s Patent Act. There is no comparable right in the EU, and brand name as well as generic drug companies already have ample opportunity under Canada s system to appeal regulatory decisions. The report estimates these three new protections patent term extension, data exclusivity and right of appeal would delay the entry of comparable generic drugs into the Canadian market by, on average, 3.46 years, which translates into a $2.8 billion hike in the cost of private and public drug plans. Consumers and businesses that offer drug plans will be hit hard. But about half of that astronomical figure would be carried by provincial, publicly funded drug plans as the provinces and territories scramble to reduce the everrising price of drugs. The price of drugs continues to affect Canadians. According to Statistics Canada, 24 per cent of Canadians have no drug coverage at all and 8 per cent of Canadians claim that they did not fill a prescription in the last 12 months because they couldn t afford it. BIG PHARMA NOT INTO RESEARCH The intellectual property reforms proposed by the EU in CETA are financially unsustainable and unnecessary and should be rejected. They are based on heavy lobbying by the brand-name pharmaceutical industry to prolong monopoly patents and delay the availability of generic medicines. These companies, many of them branch plants of European and American multinationals, say that intellectual property protections are essential to supporting research and development (R&D) into new drugs. The reality is Canada s research-based brand-name drug companies do little research in Canada. These firms, which persistently rank high on lists of the most profitable global enterprises, rely heavily on tax subsidies, and spend three times as much on marketing as they do on innovative research and development. According to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, the brand name industry s R&D-to-sales ratio in Canada is a low 7.5 per cent. It is more than double that in the U.K. and France, where drug prices are 10 per cent lower than in Canada. The industry spends only 1.8 per cent of revenues on research that could lead to new drugs. So why is the Canadian public putting more subsidies into the pharmaceutical industry than they receive in benefits? Especially when it creates artificially high prescription drug prices that act as a barrier to essential medicine for millions of Canadians? The EU requests in CETA will thicken that barrier while draining provincial budgets and hurting the public. AT THE SERVICE OF PRIVATE INSURERS The health costs in CETA go beyond drugs. Trade deals are designed to protect and encourage the private delivery of services, including public services such as health care and water. Europe is home to many private health care providers and insurers that would benefit from any watering down of already weak protections in NAFTA for public health care. The link to NAFTA is that any new investment protections for these companies in Canada would automatically be extended to U.S. private health care firms as well. It would be a convenient way for the federal government to use trade commitments to force Canada s public health care system to private interests. NAFTA has two built-in safeguards designed to protect Canada s public health system. The first, an Annex 1 reservation, was included in NAFTA in 1996 at the strong insistence of the Canadian Health Coalition. The safeguard was meant to address concerns about a problematic but potentially much stronger Annex 2 reservation, which allows governments to develop new health measures (policies, programs) that would otherwise be NAFTA-inconsistent. The fear then, as it is now, was that Annex 2 would create too much uncertainty about what was covered. For example, it was unclear whether the creation of a national pharmacare plan could be challenged by private health insurers already providing drug plan services provincially. Scott Sinclair, Senior Trade Researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says provinces will be asked to list all their non-conforming health measures for CETA negotiations, creating a very real threat that health services and measures accidentally left off the list, as well as any new measure or policy adopted after any deal is signed, will be vulnerable to trade and investment challenges from the EU and its health firms. PROTECTING HEALTH CARE, PROTESTING CETA The Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care (2002) recognized the threat to health care from trade deals. It recommended that Canada negotiate a new, more effective exemption for health care in all future trade and investment agreements. Sinclair suggests this exemption could look a lot like the internationally coveted cultural exemption in Canadian bilateral trade agreements. A health exemption would stipulate that nothing in CETA shall be construed to apply to measures adopted or maintained by a party with respect to health care or public health insurance, says Sinclair. Public health care should not be undermined by services and investment provisions in CETA designed to privatize health and other social services. The provinces, territories and federal government need to completely reject the EU s intellectual property requests, which are guaranteed to increase drug costs and reduce the availability of generic drugs in Canada. Canadians cannot afford to pay more for drugs simply to satisfy the EU- and U.S.- based pharmaceutical lobbyists. Most importantly, we need to continue to urge provincial and territorial governments to step back from the CETA negotiations in order to publicly assess their impact. The rationale for CETA has been undermined by recent assessments of its consequences for health care. But only concerted public pressure on our local and national decision makers will guarantee a full public airing of what s on the table, what should be taken off, and whether or not we should be negotiating a free trade deal with the EU at all. Stuart Trew is the Trade Campaigner and Adrienne Silnicki is the Health Care Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. 20 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

21 No Fracking Way: Our water, health and air at risk by Andrea Harden-Donahue Picture yourself lighting your tap water on fire. Sound ridiculous? It s not. Burning water, caused by methane contamination, is one of the serious risks of a controversial drilling technique called fracking. These risks are being put in the spotlight as fracking operations expand across Canada and the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a process used to extract natural gas trapped deep inside rock. Huge amounts of water and sand fused with toxic chemicals are blasted from a wellbore into rock formations such as shale, coal beds and tight sands. This injection process creates cracks that allow pockets of natural gas to flow up the well. While fracking technology dates back about 60 years, its recent pairing with horizontal drilling, along with diminishing conventional natural gas production, is ushering in an unconventional natural gas boom. Fracking boom spreading across Canada Fracking is widespread in the U.S. While the production of shale gas is in its infancy in Canada, the industry has set its sights on a dramatic expansion and vast reserves have been identified. Fracking projects are furthest ahead in Western Canada, with drilling under way in the Horn River Basin shale in B.C. Coal bed methane fracking has been in Alberta for many years. There is massive shale exploration and development being planned in Québec and New Brunswick, where drilling is already under way in communities such as Penobsquis and Elgin. Exploration is also under way in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. Fracking greenwash: a false solution to the climate crisis Natural gas is often referred to as a necessary transition to renewable energy. While natural gas burns cleaner than oil and coal, new evidence suggests fracked gas may not be clean or green. In a study, Robert Howarth, a professor at Cornell University, found that when the full greenhouse gas emissions of fracked gas are considered, it looks far less green and is not significantly better than coal in terms of its consequences for climate change. This is in large part because of the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Briefing notes prepared for Canada s Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis, acquired by the Council of Canadians using a Freedom of Information Request, state clearly that shale gas development could contribute significantly to Canada s greenhouse gas emissions, particularly if the Horn River Basin shale in B.C. is developed. Fracking is a false climate solution. Not only are emissions a concern at a time of climate crisis, fracking also poses serious risks to people s health and to our water. Fracking depletes water resources Fracking operations require huge amounts of water. This water can come from municipal sources, surface or groundwater, and often needs to be trucked in from elsewhere. Between 2 and 9 million gallons of water are required for a single fracking job. Information requests filed for a Munk School of Global Affairs report, Fracture Members of the Council of Canadians North Shore chapter participate in a rally outside of the Minister of Natural Resources constituency office. The rally helped raise awareness about the health and environmental concerns associated with fracking. Lines: Will Canada s Water Be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas?, reveal that water permits for the fracking industry would require 274,956 cubic metres total daily withdrawals in northeastern B.C. The business and domestic water consumption of Greater Victoria, home to nearly 336,000 residents, is around 134,000 cubic metres daily. Fracking poses serious health risks The specific combination and quantities of chemicals used by fracking companies are considered proprietary trade secrets, meaning their contents are not shared publicly. This makes it difficult to fully understand the connections between fracking projects and potential health concerns. Dr. Theo Colborn, with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange Inc., has been collecting data on the chemicals used by the industry in the U.S. over the past five years. Ninety-four per cent of the fracking chemicals in her database are associated with skin, eye and respiratory harm, 93 per cent with harm to the gastrointestinal system, and 83 per cent with brain and nervous system effects. Colborn s research includes analyses of chemicals found in waste pits and used during the drilling process. People can be exposed to these chemicals in a variety of ways. There are risks of spilling when the chemicals are transported through communities, workers can be exposed during drilling, and people can come in contact with contaminated water. The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 21 Hillary Bain Lindsay

22 Public concerns about exposure are growing. In Dish, Texas, Mayor Calvin Tillman gave up office and left town after nearby fracked wells were suspected to be causing unexplained nosebleeds and other symptoms in local residents, including the Mayor s children. The story garnered national media attention. Fracking contaminates groundwater and drinking water Fracking can contaminate groundwater and drinking water in a number of ways. The process of fracturing the rocks can widen existing cracks, including vertical cracks that can become a pathway for fluids or gases from fracking and from other geological layers to flow into groundwater sources. Improperly constructed wells also pose contamination risks. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of reports of drinking water sources contaminated with methane near fracking projects in the U.S. Landowners in Rosebud, Alberta, the focus of CBC documentary Burning Water, have documented stories of being able to light tap water on fire, developing skin burns and rashes from showers, and pets refusing to drink water as a result of water contamination after Encana began fracking operations in the area. If methane can move through rocks to contaminate local wells, it is likely that toxic fracking water can as well. According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, per cent of injected fluids can remain trapped in the rock formations for decades. This means the extent of water contamination is difficult to measure and may not reveal itself until decades later. The rest of the fracking water, known as wastewater flowback, goes back up the well and is often stored in large pits. Improperly contained wastewater poses serious risks of water contamination. Air emissions from stored wastewater have also raised health concerns in the U.S. Sometimes this water is treated at municipal water treatment facilities. The water is then discharged into waterways, putting drinking water supplies at risk. In Canada many of the chemicals associated with fracking fluid are not listed in the federal drinking water guidelines used by municipalities. Their presence in drinking water will therefore not be measured, tested or reported. No fracking way! Any energy resource that sacrifices water protection and threatens people s health and environmental safety in such significant ways should be stopped. Opposition is already spreading across Canada. The Québec government was recently forced to put a temporary hold on new fracking projects. The Council of Canadians opposes fracking in Canada. We will be producing more education materials on the risks of fracking, launching an interactive online map of the industry, and stepping up our support for local opposition campaigns in the coming months. Together we will say, No fracking way! Andrea Harden-Donahue is the Energy and Climate Justice Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. Building community action against fracking Thom Oommen is with the Inverness County chapter in Nova Scotia. The chapter has an active campaign against fracking. PetroWorth, an oil and gas company, has secured fracking exploration and development rights to 383,000 acres near Lake Ainslie in Cape Breton. We spoke with Oommen recently about the chapter s local campaign. How did you find out about the fracking project in Inverness? We saw a statement on PetroWorth s website stating that hydraulic fracturing will make onshore eastern Canada the new frontier for oil and gas exploration. We found out that PetroWorth, which has had an agreement with the province for ages, was going to start seismic testing in our area. We gathered information and came to the conclusion that fracking is a risky deal for Inverness County, so we decided we wanted to take action on this. We have worked hard to provide information to our community on the risks of fracking, have participated in a government process, and have increased pressure at the municipal and provincial levels for a ban on fracking. What are some highlights of your campaign against fracking in Inverness? We are a small rural area. Pulling out 150 people to a PetroWorth open house, and consistent attendance at meetings, are highlights. We are hosting screenings of Gasland, an influential documentary on the risks of fracking, across the province. We keep getting more and more requests as the province keeps opening up new areas for oil and gas exploration. We also gave a great presentation to our municipal council proposing a resolution against fracking. Our resolution passed, which made us very happy. Our MLA formally submitted a petition with 1,000 signatures to the provincial legislature calling for a provincial ban on fracking. Any advice to others across the country who oppose fracking? The key is to get out in front, before the development happens. Don t wait until companies are in production be proactive, not reactive. In Nova Scotia, we only had one well fracked near Windsor, so we can still stop this. In your experience, what message resonated with people in your community and galvanized their opposition to fracking? The message about the risks fracking poses to water resonates in our community. Fracking poses a risk to Lake Ainslie, the largest freshwater lake in Nova Scotia, and to our groundwater. People here have a direct link to water. We live off our wells, kids drink the water, we swim in the lake, we fish there. We can t risk that. 22 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians

23 Burnaby, B.C., Becomes Canada s First Blue Community The Council of Canadians and CUPE were on hand to help celebrate as Burnaby, British Columbia, became Canada s first Blue Community on the eve of World Water Day. (Left-right) Council of Canadians chapter activist Elsie Dean, Burnaby Mayor Derrick Corrigan, chapter activist Elizabeth Briemberg, and CUPE-BC researcher Robin Roff pose for a picture with the certificate that proclaims Burnaby s title as Canada s first Blue Community. Launched in 2009, the Blue Communities Project is a joint national effort between the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, as well as Eau Secours in Québec. It is based on the premise that water is a commons or public resource that should be managed and distributed according to environmental and social justice principles. Municipalities are on the frontlines of the Canadian water crisis. They are responsible for the treatment and distribution of water at a time of increased water shortages and water contamination. They must maintain extremely high drinking water standards even though the federal government fails to provide adequate funding for much-needed infrastructure upgrades and maintenance. Municipalities currently face a $31 billion deficit in water infrastructure funding, and one-quarter of our municipalities have faced water shortages in recent years. The Blue Communities Project is about giving municipalities and community activists the tools and resources to protect water resources and promote publicly owned and operated water services by adopting a water commons framework. A municipality can become a Blue Community by recognizing water as a human right, promoting publicly financed, owned and operated water and wastewater services, and banning the sale of bottled water in public facilities and at municipal events. Burnaby, located just east of Vancouver in British Columbia, has now adopted municipal resolutions confirming these principles. This is a real victory for water in Burnaby, and is a result of many dedicated people getting organized for water justice in their community, said Harjap Grewal, B.C.-Yukon Regional Organizer for the Council of Canadians. The certificate presented to the City of Burnaby, signed by Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow and CUPE President Paul Moist, notes that a Blue Community is one that treats water as belonging to no one, and the responsibility of all. Because water is central to human activity, it must be governed by principles that allow for reasonable use, equal distribution and responsible treatment in order to preserve water for nature and future generations. Congratulations to local chapter activists and to Burnaby, B.C. residents for this important recognition! In Memoriam Dorothy Corney, an early member of the Red Deer chapter of the Council of Canadians, died on February 5 at the age of 87. The Red Deer Advocate reported, She was a lifelong friend of Tommy Douglas, personal secretary to former Manitoba Premier Ed Schreyer and a thorn in the side of anyone who would tread on the rights of others. In the late 1980s she led the campaign to have Red Deer declared a nuclear-free zone, gathering enough signatures on a petition to force a plebiscite during municipal elections, where the overwhelming majority of voters cast a ballot in favour of the declaration. Dorothy spent years working for the issues that were important to the Council of Canadians. She was on the phone regularly informing people of Council of Canadian activities, encouraging people to attend Council events and to be involved in issues important to Canadians. In addition to her activism, Dorothy was generous in her support of the Council of Canadians and had been a member of the Council s Citizens Agenda Fund. We extend our condolences to her family and friends. The Council of Canadians Summer 2011 Canadian Perspectives 23

24 When the Water Changed: How one family doctor is speaking out about the tar sands industry Dr. John O Connor continues to be an advocate for people in Fort Chipewyan (pictured in background) who have faced unusually high rates of cancer and other illnesses in recent years. Many people believe these health concerns are related to nearby tar sands operations. Ryan Jackson by Jan Malek Dr. John O Connor comes across as a mild, jovial man. He speaks fondly of his home on the South Shore of Nova Scotia and chuckles softly when boasting about his banjo and harmonica-playing skills. His lilting Irish brogue gives his voice a pleasant, soothing quality, which must come in handy when he speaks to his patients about matters concerning their health. In the early 90s when the Alberta government began putting restrictions on foreign graduates, Dr. O Connor and his family decided to expand their opportunities. The family moved to Fort McMurray, and Dr. O Connor set up a practice in the burgeoning town. Home to many First Nations families as well as migrant workers many of them working in the rapidly expanding oil operations Fort McMurray was where the O Connors found a new way of life. It was my first experience with First Nations and Aboriginal culture. I really found that I enjoyed the people and learning about their traditions, recalls Dr. O Connor. Soon after that he was invited to practise in Janvier, southeast of Fort McMurray, followed by Fort McKay, just north of the city, and then, in 2000, in Fort Chipewyan, the most remote of the Aboriginal communities outlying Fort McMurray. Both John and his wife Charlene, who is a nurse whom he fondly refers to as the other half of the tag-team, continue to actively practise in the area. Nestled in the banks of the Athabasca, Fort Chipewyan is home to just over 1,000 people. It is accessible by river (the Athabasca) and plane, and by winter road during two months of the year. It is a community that has deep ancestral roots families have been hunting, fishing and gathering their own food there for generations. Fort Chip, as it is known, is the oldest settlement in Alberta. It is also directly downstream from the world s largest and most environmentally toxic industrial project: the tar sands. As Dr. O Connor spent more time there he says he got to know the people. His relationships with his patients grew stronger as he cared for their health, and in turn, he says, they trusted him. To this day he considers himself part of an extended family in the Fort Chip community. It didn t take long before Dr. O Connor was hearing about water and environmental changes from his patients, and their particular concerns regarding their health, especially related to cancer. 24 Canadian Perspectives Summer 2011 The Council of Canadians