WINDSOR – Just days after one of the most hotly contested federal elections in Canadian history, the Council of Canadians is hosting a national conference, ImagiNations: Reframing our Collective Future at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts in Windsor.
Issues to be explored by the conference include strengthening public health care, protecting water and the environment, achieving justice for Indigenous peoples, creating opportunities for young people, restoring democracy and civil society, and negotiating fair trade agreements.
“We can say without a doubt that Canadians want change,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “But what kind of change? And how can ordinary people help make it happen? More than ever we have to work hard to ensure that progressive voices are heard and that our values are upheld.”
Keynote speakers will be available to media at PRESS CONFERENCE Friday morning.
WHAT: Press conference with keynote speakers of ImagiNations: Reframing our Collective Future
WHERE: St. Clair Centre for the Arts, 201 Riverside Dr W, Windsor
WHEN: Friday, October 23, 10:00 a.m.
WHO:
- Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, The Council of Canadians
- Jerry Dias, President, Unifor
- Dr. Pamela Palmater, Associate Professor and Chair in Indigenous Governance, Ryerson University
Conference speakers will also include Gordon Laxer, an economist and author; Vanessa Gray, an Aamjiwnaang First Nation water activist; and Maureen Taylor, from the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization in Detroit.
For media only: Bookending the conference, the Council of Canadians will be touring two water-stressed communities in the region – Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia (Thursday) and Detroit (Monday). Over 60 petro-chemical facilities surround Aamjiwnaang First Nation within a 25 kilometre radius, affecting their health and their environment. Meanwhile, people in Detroit, 40 per cent of whom live below the poverty line, have had their drinking water cut off. The purpose of the tours are for these two communities to learn about each other’s water and other struggles, express solidarity with one another, and discuss effective strategies for collaborating to secure water, environmental and social justice around the Great Lakes.
See the complete conference program.
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