In the film Bottled Life: The Truth about Nestlé’s Business with Water, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow says, “They’re after profit. They’re predators. Water hunters looking for the last pure water in the world.”
Nineteen Council of Canadians chapters are mobilizing for actions around World Water Day, which is on March 22.
So far, those chapters are:
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Atlantic – Saint John, South Shore, Kent County -
Ontario-Quebec – Sudbury, Montreal, Centre Wellington, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Qunite, Thunder Bay, Peterborough -
Prairies – Brandon, Medicine Hat, Prince Albert, Regina -
Pacific – Mid-Island, Cowichan Valley, Chilliwack, Powell River
While some chapters are still developing their plans, four chapters will be screening Bottled Life, three chapters will be tabling at various locations, two chapters will be screening Tapped, and two chapters will be presenting to their city council on becoming a blue community.
For chapters still considering what they might do on World Water Day, Council of Canadians water campaigner Emma Lui has suggested these activities:
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Organize a film screening of (bottled) water films. We have screening rights for Bottled Life and Water on the Table at no cost to chapters. -
Meet your MPP or MLA to call for a provincial ban on bottled water takings. -
Gather pledges for the Nestle and bottled water boycott at local grocery stores, farmer’s markets and busy intersections. -
Conduct a Tap Water vs. Bottled Water taste test. (maybe alongside gathering pledges for the Nestle boycott). -
Help circulate our thunderclap/social media campaign to have a message to Ontario Premier Wynne blasted out on Bottled Water Free Day calling for a phase out of Nestle and all bottled water takings.
Also happening on World Water Day this year:
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Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will be releasing her new 34-page report Water for Sale: How free trade and investment agreements threaten environmental protection of water and promote the commodification of the world’s water. -
Barlow will also be speaking at a Water Justice conference in New York City (portions of which will be live streamed). -
Ottawa-based Council of Canadians campaigner Daniel Cayley-Daoust will be on a human rights delegation to Barriere Lake in Quebec where Algonquins are fighting a mining company in defence of their drinking water. -
The Peel Watershed case (in which First Nations and conservation groups are seeking to protect a vast watershed in northern Yukon from mining) will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
#WorldWaterDay