Peterborough chapter activist Roy Brady.
The Council of Canadians Peterborough chapter is organizing locally around the Leap Manifesto.
Peterborough chapter activist Roy Brady tells us, “Our chapter is one of the three main organizers of our Local Leap, along with For Our Grandchildren and Peterborough Greenspace.” Two days after the Council of Canadians chapter co-sponsored a screening of the film ‘This Changes Everything’ at the 11th annual ReFrame International Film Festival, they were at the ‘Citizen’s Climate Forum – localizing the Leap Manifesto’ gathering which attracted more than 175 people.
The Peterborough Examiner reports, “A local environmental group put a call out to the community for action Sunday [January 31] during a screening of a film at the Reframe Film Festival about climate change. [Co-organizer Guy] Hanchet, chairman of the local For Our Grandchildren chapter, announced the meeting before This Changes Everything started screening at Showplace. …A short clip put together by For Our Grandchildren about the group’s plan of action was shown prior to the film. It talked about the method the local organization is adopting, Leap Manifesto, to create change locally.”
That article adds, “Participants also broke out into groups to to discuss and commit to the local actions suggested by the Leap Manifesto.”
Then on March 17, the Peterborough Examiner reported, “The second part of a Citizens Climate Action Forum is happening Saturday [March 19] at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. The Leap Manifesto Peterborough group is holding a public meeting at 3:30 p.m. to pick up where it left off after last month’s initial gathering. The event is hosted by the local chapters of For Our Grandchildren Peterborough and Council of Canadians as well as the Peterborough Greenspace Coalition. During the meeting, participants will break into groups to discuss a wide range of topics such as indigenous rights, democratic reform, corporate trade, and agriculture.”
That article adds, “Ideas gathered at February’s function will be refined within the groups to focus on actions at personal, community and political levels. …After that, groups will work backwards to what needs to be done today to achieve those goals.” Larger meetings are expected to take place every few months, while the smaller issue-focused groups will meet more frequently.
After that March 19 meeting took place, the Peterborough Examiner reported, “About 60 people participated in Saturday’s event, with small groups formed to discuss different topics. …Wendy Hicks joined the corporate trade and divestment group.” That’s the group that Brady is participating in too. The Leap Manifesto says, “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.” Other issue-focused groups include the housing group and the green economy group.
At the Sept. 18, 2015 media conference in Toronto that launched the Leap Manifesto, a reporter asked, “How do you plan to use and move forward this manifesto?” Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow responded, “At the grassroots level we have in our organization local activist chapters and they are hungry for this kind of vision and direction. …I think we’ll see it outward [around the world] but I think it will also be dramatically welcomed by grassroots communities around this country.”
Since then, more than 4,290 people have gone to Council of Canadians chapter-organized screenings of ‘This Changes Everything’ across the country, which have often included discussions on the Leap Manifesto.
The Council of Canadians endorses the Leap Manifesto and its 15 demands which can be found here.
