Blog

Maude Barlow delivers keynote speech to Tommy Douglas Institute

May 23, 2019

Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, delivered the following remarks this morning at the Seventh Annual Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College in Toronto. Her keynote speech explores the interconnections between poverty and populism and its implications for the environment.

Listen to Maude's speech on the Rabble.ca Podcast Network.

It is a great pleasure and honour to be here with you today and to speak in the name of one of my all-time heroes. In reading your on-line description of the moment we are in, I became a bit overwhelmed at our collective task and, frankly, my ability to address it.

Declaration on the Occasion of the 21st Anti-Chevron Day

May 22, 2019

Council of Canadians Honorary Chairperson, Blue Planet Project founder and internationally-renowned water activist Maude Barlow issued the following statement yesterday, May 21, 2019.

The Union of People Affected by Texaco (UDAPT), a coalition of more than 30,000 small farmers and Indigenous people affected by the oil operations of Texaco (now Chevron) in the Ecuadorian Amazon, has been fighting for more than 25 years to make Chevron pay for the remediation of an environmental disaster it caused. Chevron emptied more than 60 billion gallons of toxic water into streams, rivers and lakes. The company spilled 650 thousand barrels of crude directly into the rainforest and left 880 pits filled with solid waste exposed.

Chapters This Week

May 17, 2019

Fridays for Future in London has grown! Join the London Chapter every Friday in front of City Hall from 3-5 p.m.

#CouncilChapters help put campaigns and social and economic justice issues in the spotlight in communities across the country. Chapter activists continue to be busy protecting public health care and water, challenging unfair trade deals, calling for urgent and immediate action on climate change, and to standing up for democracy. Here are just a few examples of their recent actions...

Stop the deportation of Mohamed Harkat

May 15, 2019

The Council of Canadians has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale calling for the immediate end to deportation proceedings against UN Convention refugee Mohamed Harkat.

Harkat has been subjected to a Security Certificate since 2002. After three and a half years in solitary confinement, Harkat was released under the strictest conditions in Canadian history. Now he is facing possible deportation to torture.

Eau Secours brings fire to water: 9 QC Blue Communities

May 10, 2019

In seven months, Eau Secours and its volunteers have added seven more Québec municipalities to the Blue Communities roster of 49 Blue Communities—17 of which are in Canada. They have also signed up two educational institutions including McGill University.

Started ten years ago, Blue Communities were an attempt to counter former Stephen Harper’s drive to promote private-public ownership of public water utilities. It asked municipalities to pass resolutions promote and protect the human right to water, guarantee that water services remain public and not privatized, and provide tap water facilities.

Here is the list of Québec Blue Communities:

The Council of Canadians

User menu