The Council of Canadians Cowichan Valley chapter hosted a public talk yesterday called ‘Making The Leap: A Public Discussion on the Leap Manifesto’.
The outreach for the event noted, “Join us Sunday afternoon from 1:30 – 3:30 at Duncan United Church for a conversation hosted by the Council of Canadians on how we make ‘The Leap’ to a more just and climate resilient community and world.”
Chapter activist Donna Cameron tells us, “We had three speakers, Anna Rasmussen, Howard Breen and Rob Douglas. Anna gave an overview of the Manifesto, Howard spoke of the dire need to change direction away from fossil fuels and Rob spoke of the opportunities for workers to make the change from current fossil fuel jobs to green energy jobs.”
She notes that Douglas also recommended resources like Iron and Earth, an initiative of Canadian tar sands workers calling for training in renewable energy, and Blue Green Canada, an alliance between Canadian labour unions, environmental and civil society organizations to advocate for working people and the environment.
Cameron adds, “After the speakers we had a lively discussion with the audience. About 80 people came to the event and most stayed right until the end, which we took as a good sign!”
When the Leap Manifesto was launched in September 2015, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented, “At the grassroots level we have in our organization local activist chapters and they are hungry for this kind of vision and direction.”
Between October 2015 and January 2016, twenty-seven Council of Canadians chapters screened Avi Lewis’ film This Changes Everything to an audience totalling 4,240 people and promoted the Leap Manifesto.
Lewis was also a keynote speaker at our Groundswell 2016 conference in St. John’s this past October.
To add your name to the Leap Manifesto, please click here.
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