WHAT: Well-known water justice activist Maude Barlow will be in Victoria on Saturday, as part of a 5-city tour in B.C. to launch her new book Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis (ECW Press, September 2016). Boiling Point is a timely and insightful guide for B.C. election candidates, environmental organizations and residents seeking to protect freshwater in British Columbia and in Indigenous communities.
WHO: The book launch will feature Maude Barlow, best-selling author and activist, for a discussion of Canada’s water crisis and book signing. Presented by the Council of Canadians, The University of Victoria, UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, and The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA).
WHEN: 2:00 p.m., Saturday, April 8, 2017
WHERE: University of Victoria, Rm A240, Human and Social Development Building (Map). Seating is limited. People are encouraged to RSVP to confirm a seat for this event. Alternatively, seats will be available in the order of arrival.
WHY: Water is one of the most important issues of our time and will be front and centre leading up to the B.C. election in May. Pressing water topics include Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, the Site C dam, Nestlé and other bottled water takings, the Water Sustainability Act, fracking and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, mining projects like the Ajax Mine, trade agreements like NAFTA, drinking water advisories in First Nations and the impacts of gutted federal water legislation on waterways in B.C.
ABOUT MAUDE BARLOW AND BOILING POINT:
Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis (ECW Press, September 2016) is Maude Barlow’s 18th book. It lays bare the extent of Canada’s water crisis and argues water policies will become the defining issue of the next decade.
“The water crisis is at our door here in Canada. All the issues we thought so far away are upon us now,” writes Barlow in Boiling Point. “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.”
One of the world’s foremost water activists, Maude Barlow has been on the front lines of the planet’s water crises for the past 20 years. An expert on the subject, she has worked with governments and organizations around the world to protect this precious resource.
“Maude Barlow is one of our planet’s greatest water defenders,” says Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine. “This book has all the facts, forceful analysis, and moral clarity that Canadians will need to wake up and join this most urgent of struggles.”
Barlow is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians and Washington-based Food and Water Watch, a councillor for the World Future Council, a board member for a number of influential organizations and has previously acted as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the UN General Assembly. Her work has earned her an impressive 14 honorary doctorates and numerous awards and recognitions.
Copies of the book are available for journalists upon request.
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For more information or to arrange an interview:
Dylan Penner, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
Susannah Ames, 416-694-3348 ext. 154, susannah@ecwpress.com