The Council of Canadians Montreal chapter helped form a ‘Leap community chapter in Montreal’ at a meeting yesterday. Several chapter activists were present at the inaugural meeting that brought together 22 people.
The outreach for the meeting highlighted:
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Leap groups are engaged in a wide array of work, from hosting educational events, to drafting localized versions of the Manifesto to encouraging action in their communities, to organizing fundraisers for frontline Indigenous communities. -
It’s really up to us to decide what work we want to do! We know best what it is that our community needs. -
We share a commitment to the principles of the Leap Manifesto, and a commitment to intersectional work that breaks down traditional silos between groups fighting for social and environmental justice.
The initial priorities for Leap Montreal include:
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Calling on federal NDP leadership candidates at a debate on May 14 in Montreal to endorse the Leap manifesto. -
Helping to launch Naomi Klein’s new book No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need that will be released on June 13. -
Participating in the ‘Unsettling Canada 150: a national wake up call’ day of action on July 1 that calls for the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. -
Informing scientists attending the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting on September 3-9 in Montreal about the Leap manifesto. -
Initiating a letter writing campaign to oppose the Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) public-private partnership driver-less commuter train project that could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions. -
Inviting representatives of Québec Solidaire, the Parti vert du Québec, and NDP Québec to discuss and debate their environmental policies and applying the Leap manifesto as a framework for those discussions. -
Attempting to bring the Leap manifesto into high schools, colleges and universities.
The 15 demands outlined in the Leap Manifesto can be read here.
The Council of Canadians formally endorsed all these demands when the manifesto was launched in September 2015. At that time, 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.”
Council of Canadians chapters in Peterborough-Kawarthas and Thunder Bay are also involved in localized Leap initiatives.
