The Council of Canadians Saskatoon chapter hosted Maude Barlow for a public event on Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis.
Barlow tells us, “I spoke at the chapter event at The Stand – Community Organizing Centre, where we had about 35 people all very keen on the issue.”
As noted on their website, “The Stand is a place to support collective efforts advocating for social, environmental, and economic justice in Saskatoon/Treaty 6 Territory.” The Stand and our friends at the Turning the Tide bookstore share the same space at 615 Main Street East in Saskatoon.
In Boiling Point, Barlow writes, “The water crisis is at our door here in Canada. All the issues we thought so far away are upon us now. It is time to abandon our false beliefs that Canada has unlimited supplies of water, that Canadians have taken care of this water heritage and one another or that we still have lots of time to do so. We need a strong, national plan of action based on a new water ethic that puts water protection and water justice at the heart of all our policies and laws.”
The book also includes these moving words: “Each and everyone of us has a personal responsibility to take action, to collectively confront the very power structures that have prevented the change needed to protect and honour the great water heritage of this land. Future generations have the same right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Much rests with what we do now.”
To date, Barlow has taken the book tour to Ottawa (September 20), Kingston (September 21), Guelph (September 22), Toronto (September 23), Vancouver (September 29), Calgary (September 30), Belleville (October 3), St. John’s (October 14), and now Saskatoon (October 18).
The book tour now goes to Peterborough (November 1), Windsor (November 2), Barrie (November 7), London (November 9), Halifax (November 10), Renfrew (November 17), Chilliwack (November 21), and then Winnipeg (November 24).
As in Saskatoon, many of these book tour events are being organized by Council of Canadians chapters.
In the acknowledgements section of her book, Barlow says, “Right across the country, tireless environmentalists, public sector workers and First Nations and community activists work day after day to protect water and local community rights. A special shout-out to the Council of Canadians chapters right across Canada, whose members give so freely of their time and talent.”
Please purchase your copy of Boiling Point from an independent bookseller like Turning the Tide, but it can also be purchased online directly from the publisher here.
