EDITOR'S NOTE:There are numbers of articles here that have come in from the Council of Canadians....all on WATER issues.
ENJOY!

WIN! French court rejects Suez lawsuit against FLOW
Friday, November 19th, 2010

Maude Barlow, Irena Salina, and Steven Starr

A French court has rejected a defamation lawsuit brought by Suez Water against FLOW.

FLOW: For Love of Water is Irena Salina’s 2008 documentary film on the world water crisis and the destructive role played by transnational corporations, which prominently features Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow.

In a December 2008 Straight.com interview, Salina said, “Maude was the godmother of the film, the inspiration and the support. There was a time when I had no money and she would call me up and offer her help.” The Ottawa Citizen reported that Barlow is the “main protagonist” in the film.

Steven Starr, the film’s producer, said late Wednesday, “This is a huge victory for Freedom of Information everywhere. Irena and I started this film by asking a simple question - Who Owns Water - and the French courts have now reaffirmed our rights as filmmakers to answer that question. We will work with Arte, our esteemed distributor, to re-release the film in Paris shortly.”

In a statement issued today, Food and Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter said she, “applauds the court for its commitment to upholding the rights of the media to scrutinize the activities of multinational corporations, especially when those activities compromise the ability of millions of people around the world to access a vital natural resource.”

For more on the film, please go to www.flowthefilm.com


VIDEO: Maude Barlow on the coming water crisis in Alberta
Thursday, November 18th, 2010


On October 25, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke at the United Nurses of Alberta annual general meeting in Edmonton.

In the speech, Maude discusses public health care, the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, water as a human right and public trust, the coming water crisis in Alberta, and much more.

That speech is now on-line in three parts at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXYXIe09hfg, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2UoXqRxw4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH4uh_5Nmmk.

POLL: 96% of Canadians believe water should be a human right
Thursday, November 18th, 2010

The Winnipeg Free Press reports that, “Almost all Canadians believe clean water should be guaranteed as a human right, according to a poll to be released in Winnipeg this month by the Trudeau Foundation and the University of Manitoba.”

“Of those surveyed, 96 per cent said water should be a guaranteed right, while only two per cent said it should not be the strongest response to any of the six emerging rights the pollsters proposed. The support for clean water as a human right was solid across income groups, education levels and regions of the country. Adults under the age of 45 were a bit more supportive, as were women. …Full results of the national survey will be released at the Montreal-based charity’s annual policy conference, to be held Nov. 18-20 at the Fort Garry Hotel.”

“The findings suggest the Harper government may be out of touch with Canadian citizens on water rights. In July, Canada abstained when the United Nations passed a resolution stating ‘the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.’”

Canadians have been consistent in their view of water as a human right. In April 2004 the Council of Canadians and CUPE commissioned an Ipsos-Reid poll that found that 97 per cent of Canadians wanted water to be recognized as a human right. More on that at http://www.canadians.org/media/water/2004/29-Apr-04.html.

The Winnipeg Free Press report is at http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/fyi/Safe-water-a-human-right-Canadians.html.



**Watch ‘Waterlife’ documentaryThursday, November 18th, 2010**
Last night I went to the Cinema Politica screening of Waterlife at Carleton University. The documentary about the Great Lakes takes the viewer on a journey from Lake Superior, through Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and finally Lake Ontario, and explores the many threats facing the lakes.

Those threats include:

invasive species, such as zebra mussels, lamprey, and the Asian carp, and the impact that has on fish stock and even micro-organisms in the water;
climate change, and how with less rainfall, less snow and ice cover, there is more evaporation and lower lake levels;
agriculture, and how herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers pollute the Great Lakes and cause algae blooms;
industrial pollution, including heavy complex metals and PCBs, and the toxic sediment it creates on the bottom of lakes and the chemicals that go into fish;
sewage pouring directly into rivers, and Lake Michigan being used to flush Chicago’s waterways;
refineries and the estrogenic contaminants that feminize fish and frogs, impacts the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, and causes miscarriages and high cancer rates;
new wastewater pollutants, including antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, anti-depressants and the degree to which that goes into our drinking water;
oxygen depletion in the lakes, which bring new risks for fish, birds and people.
Waterlife also follows the inspiring journey of Anishinabe elder Josephine Mandamin as she walks the 17,000 kilometre shoreline of the Great Lakes.

The film was followed by an informative Skype coversation with director Kevin McMahon.

The Council of Canadians is looking into organizing community screenings of the film in Great Lakes communities as one way to help promote the recognition of the Great Lakes as a commons, public trust, and protected bio-region.

For more on the film, please go to http://waterlife.nfb.ca/ and http://www.ourwaterlife.com/. For a listing of threats to the Great Lakes in a recent campaign blog, please go to http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3796.