On April 22, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke at a Boreal Forest Network free Earth Day forum at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg. Barlow spoke on “international water issues, privatization and trade agreements, and other pressing issues.”
To see a 33-minute video by Paul S. Graham of her speech to the packed hall in Winnipeg, please watch below or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFMz7in0jKY.
In an advance media release, Barlow said, “This Earth Day, we celebrate the fact the United Nations has just debated, for the first time, the need for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Modern humans regard nature as a great resource for our pleasure and profit and not as a living ecosystem which gives us life. Our relationship to nature must change, from one of exploitation to one of caring stewardship.”
Manitoba’s Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie was also at the event to speak on the province’s initiatives to support Indigenous communities on the east side of Lake Winnipeg who are leading the bid to have the pristine area declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
