Campbell River and Cowichan Valley chapters call on their MP to #Pledge2Protect their local waterways.
Twenty-four Council of Canadians chapters will be taking action to mark World Water Day on March 22.
The chapters participating in the day are: Campbell River, Comox Valley, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Chilliwack, Cowichan Valley, Kamloops (in the British Columbia-Yukon region), Red Deer, Prince Albert, Regina, Northwest Territories, Edmonton, Winnipeg (in the Prairies-NWT region), Thunder Bay, London, Guelph, Mississauga, South Niagara, Ottawa, Sudbury, Hamilton (in the Ontario-Quebec region), and Saint John, South Shore (in the Atlantic region).
This year our central action is intended to draw attention to the Harper government removing critical environmental protections from waterways across this country. Maude Barlow comments, “In 2012, the Harper government killed the Navigable Waters Protection Act with C-45, stripping protections from 99 per cent of lakes and rivers. Major pipelines and inter-provincial power lines now have the green light to cross over and under more than 31,000 lakes and 2.25 million rivers without federal scrutiny.” To highlight this, we are asking you to gather a group of people together and tweet a photo calling on your Member of Parliament to reinstate protection for your local waterway using the hashtag #Pledge2Protect.
Along with tweeting their photos, chapters will also be screening documentaries like White Water Black Gold, Troubled Waters, Red Run, Tapped, Bottled Life: The Truth about Nestle’s Business with Water, Gently Whispering the Circle Back, Last Call at the Oasis, Waterlife, and Water on the Table; holding public forums, writing letters to the editor, and organizing workshops, nature walks, information tables and demonstrations. Details on all of these events, can be found here.
Chapter actions for World Water Day have also been noted in the news, including:
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White Water, Black Gold featured on March 23 in Campbell River (Courier-Islander) -
Film screening to promote World Waters Day (Campbell River Mirror) -
Waterlife: documentary marks World Water Day, March 22 (Niagara this Week) -
Rally around fresh water in Chilliwack to highlight threats (Chilliwack Progress) -
Plant safeguards not enough (Chilliwack Progress) -
Comox Valley Watershed celebrates World Water Day (Comox Valley Record)
For more about how you can participate in World Water Day this Sunday, please click here.
Further reading
Montreal chapter to mark World Water Day in Trois-Rivières (March 2015 blog)
Chilliwack chapter to protest proposed hazardous waste site on World Water Day (March 2015 blog)
