Skip to content

Halton chapter sponsors talk by Avi Lewis in Oakville

The Council of Canadians Halton chapter sponsored a talk by Avi Lewis in Oakville last night organized by Advancement of Women Halton.


The promotion for the community dialogue had highlighted, “Do you want a strong and prosperous Canada based on caring for the Earth and one another? Are you ready to work together to help create this? Advancement of Women Halton (AWH) invites you to join an evening featuring: Avi Lewis.”


Lewis made the 2015 film This Changes Everything based on Naomi Klein’s book of the same name and is one of the founders of the Leap Manifesto.


The Council of Canadians endorses the 15 demands of that manifesto including:


  • The leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land, starting by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

  • The latest research shows we could get 100% of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100% clean economy. We demand that this shift begin now.

  • No new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future.

  • We call for an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations and stop damaging extractive projects.

When the 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 Lewis’ film to an audience totalling 4,240 people. Lewis was also a keynote speaker at our Groundswell 2016 conference in St. John’s this past October.


To sign the Leap Manifesto, please click here.


#LeapManifesto