The Council of Canadians Windsor chapter marched in Detroit today for “complete justice” including the human right to water and sanitation.
Outreach for the march noted, “Detroit didn’t just put the world on wheels. The Motor City created a living wage and made social justice a reality for workers across America. And in a Wall Street economy where justice too often takes a back seat to profit, Detroit is still fighting for a living wage — and for clean air, access to drinking water, and freedom from pollution that is disrupting our climate and threatening our lives. It’s a fight that touches all of us, every day, but it’s a fight some of our leaders want to ignore. Here’s something our leaders can’t ignore: thousands of workers, families, doctors, children, teachers, faith leaders, and activists from all walks of life — all marching in the streets of Detroit.”
The march called for “complete justice” which includes “housing justice, water justice, environmental justice, worker justice, food justice, social justice, and much more.”
The Council of Canadians and Blue Planet Project have called for water justice for Detroit following the city’s announcement in March 2014 that it would shut off water services to 1,500 to 3,000 customers each week if their bills remained unpaid. The Detroit News recently reported, “Detroit was the most impoverished major city in America with 39.3 per cent living below a poverty line of $24,008 for a family of four.” Last week, the Episcopal News Service reported, “On any given day, some 10,000 Detroit residents, the majority elderly women and single mothers, turn on a dry tap.”
We believe that it is a human rights violation to disconnect water from people who do not have the means to pay their bills. Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has stated, “When the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation, the human race took a giant evolutionary step forward. In a world of declining water sources and growing inequality, we had better get this right before millions more ‘legally’ have their water services removed.”
Further reading
Everyone in Detroit should have access to clean water (December 2014 blog by Maude Barlow)
Windsor chapter says from Detroit to Dublin water is a human right (November 2014 blog)
Windsor-Essex chapter organizes solidarity action to challenge Detroit water cutoffs (July 2014 blog)
Photos: The Windsor chapter in Detroit today. Photos by Randy Emerson.
