Barlow presents blue community certificate in Bayfield this afternoon. Photo by Andrew Davis.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow was in Bayfield, Ontario today to present a blue community certificate and to give a talk at the “Celebration of Water Weekend” gathering there.
The small community, which is located within the town of Bluewater, Ontario, is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Huron about 220 kilometres west of Toronto.
On October 24, 2014, the Village of Bayfield passed a blue communities resolution that states:
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Bayfield recognizes water as a human right; -
Bottled water will not be provided at meetings of the organizations listed below where access to public drinking water is available; -
Bottled water will not be available in public buildings where public drinking water is available; -
Access to safe publicly supplied and managed drinking water will be protected.
The Bayfield: A Blue Community website highlights, “In September 2013, Maude Barlow, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, spoke at a water festival in Bayfield. Inspired by her presentation, fifteen community leaders organized the Bayfield Blue Community Project. It is estimated that 60 – 70% of the community of approximately 1500 is reached through some 25 organizations that have committed to participate in this project.”
In one example, the Bayfield Ratepayers Associated voted to become a blue community that August. Their resolution stated:
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the BRA views access to clean water as a human right; -
the BRA will serve only municipal water at its meetings and sponsored events unless same is not readily available; and -
they encourage members to use refillable water containers.
Blackburn News has reported, “TEDx Chatham-Kent speaker Jennifer Pate … says it doesn’t take a large community to make change happen, pointing to the small town of Bayfield, Ontario as a prime example.” Pate spoke alongside Barlow at Bayfield Town Hall at 4 pm this afternoon.
The Blue Community Bayfield Facebook page is here, their website is here, and you can follow them on Twitter at @bayfieldblue.
For information on how you can help make your community a blue community, please click here.
Photo: Barlow presents blue community certificate in Bayfield this afternoon. Photo by Andrew Davis.
