CSJ Blue Community Update - Summer 2020

This summer, our CSJ Blue Community project has been active in supporting the People's Water Campaign - an effort to connect and strengthen various water justice causes in Ontario.

There have been several online conversations already on some of the key issues: plastics, privatization, and the pending sale of Nestlé operations in Canada to Ice River Springs. These events help us all understand the related impacts of water politics and guide our plans for a more just and beautiful future. 

New Posts Available

Our Project Coordinator Paul Baines has prepared 3 new blog posts on the Blue Community website for you to read and share. Each post includes a video recording of the webinar and follow up actions.

Part 1: Plastics and Pollution

Part 2: All Eyes on Nestlé

Part 3: Water Privatization

There will be more events coming for the People's Water Campaign this September, including one by Paul Baines about the purpose and power of various water justice declarations and commitments. 

Some Good (Blue Community) News!

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER -- by Vi Bui

July 28, 2020 marks a significant milestone in the fight to protect water. Ten years ago, the United Nations General Assembly recognized water and sanitation as fundamental human rights. Canada joined this international consensus in 2012, however, successive federal governments have failed to provide a framework or legislation to implement or enforce these rights. COVID-19 has made it even clearer that universal access to safe, clean water and adequate sanitation must be a reality to all. Click here to read the full story. 

We’re on Facebook!

Did you know that our Blue Community project now has a Facebook page? On it, you will find related news items and recent project updates. You can join and invite others to join here:

https://www.facebook.com/bluecommunitycsj/

Upcoming Events & Gatherings

In-person events will likely not happen this fall so the CSJ Blue Community Steering Committee is helping Paul plan at least one online gathering. Here, you will be able to ask questions, connect to the growing water justice movement, and dedicate the upcoming Season of Creation to the life of water. 

Stay tuned…

You can always connect with Paul Baines directly:

info@BlueCommunityCSJ.org

www.BlueCommunityCSJ.org

One River, Two Futures - Reflections on Water

Meet some of our Blue Community Steering Committee and join the conversation about water.

Blue Community Update

EARTH DAY EVENTS

Earthrise Screening Party with Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

“Earthrise" tells the story of the first image captured of the Earth from space in 1968. This iconic image had a powerful impact on the Apollo 8 astronauts and the world. Told 50 years later, "Earthrise" compels us to remember this shift and to reflect on the Earth as a shared home. There will be time after the screening for a live discussion with Emmanuel and a moderated Q&A with the audience.

When: Apr 22, 2020 3:00 PM

Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HyUfD50sQ_CUbycTEw6bwQ

New 90 minute film: OUR WATER

Four friends kayaked around Lake Superior to help raise awareness of the pristine waters and landscapes they behold. Sharing stories and values of what makes our backyard to important to us and those that live with it. Ryan Busch will be live on Facebook to answer questions.

When: April 22, 2020 from 7:00-8:30 pm EST Watch the film and engage with the makers at: https://www.fourthewater.com/

ENCOURAGING NEWS

Council of Canadians Announcement In an email from Vi Bui (Blue Communities Coordinator for the Council of Canadians) announced:

I’m writing today to bring to you some good news. A few weeks ago, Vancouver City Council voted to become the second largest Blue Community in Canada… That means that one in four residents in British Columbia live in a community that has committed to protecting water as a human right, banning bottled water, and saying no to privatization of water and wastewater services.

See more here.

When youth carry the weight of the world

These young activists have proven to their communities and the world that there is no time like the present to make a change.

• 11 year-old Stella Bowles wanted to swim in the river near her home in Bridgewater, N.S. but it was contaminated. She took action. After a couple months, Bridgewater officials announced they would be funding $15.7-million to clean the rivers and remove the 600 straight pipes that were contaminating the waters.

• In her final year of high school, Emma-Jane Burian from Burnaby, B.C. plans climate justice strikes on the first Friday of every month.

• Known as a water protector, Makaśa Looking Horse is from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and fights for water rights – especially against Nestlé’s bottled water permits.

  Read the full story

Watch on Netflix/In the News

• Canadian actor Ellen Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in her home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures. From the TIFF website.

• The CSJ Blue Community project sponsored the documentary, There’s Something in the Water, for a Peterborough community screening. Now you can watch it on Netflix whenever you like.

• In related news, this CBC article updates us about the recent closure of a mill that polluted Pictou Landing for decades. This story is featured in the above documentary There’s Something in the Water. Read the full story

• While not specific to water issues, the privatization of long-term health care has dire consequences for the quality of care for society’s most vulnerable. Read the full story that is also playing out across Canada during this COVID-19 virus crisis.

PROJECT UPDATES

Public Health & the Right to Clean Water – a new blog post. The recent spread of COVID-19 across the world shows the gaps in our collective preparedness and many systemic and social inequalities. For instance, how do people wash and disinfect their hands without access to clean and affordable water? Read more

Blue Community Updates

Looking forward is difficult in these extraordinary times with COVID-19. Everyday brings new changes to what has long been considered ‘normal’ and no one really knows what things will look like two years from now or even two weeks from now. There is a new blog post on the project website called: Public Health and the Right to Clean Water that connects the human right to water principle with the current pandemic. Here is a quick look back, and ahead for the CSJ Blue Community project.

We want to wish all our collaborators and partners well, especially the event organizers. In the past weeks and in the months to come, our Blue Community project was getting ready to address audiences in:

• Toronto at the WaterDocs film festival

• Hay River at the Catholic Women’s League Diocesan Convention

• London at the Go Wild Grow Wild Expo

• Rochester at the Sisters of St. Joseph Lakes Region planning meeting

• France and Switzerland as part of an international Say No To Nestlé delegation

Bless all the organizers who have spent months developing and coordinating these gatherings and who continue to monitor the public health situation and adjust for the future. Alternatives are being planned so that we can continue raising awareness and widening the circle of engagement.

One of the many priorities we heard from you in the Blue Community survey last year, was to create an educational poster for shared spaces like dining halls, schools, hospitals, parishes, etc. After many months of drafts and feedback from our Committee, the final product is almost ready. It features a full-colour hand-drawn image of a river impacted by two very different types of relationships. The title on the poster is: One River, Two Futures: reflections on water. Included here is just one small section of the poster.

On one side of the river we can see health, connectedness and sharing, while on the other side we see pollution, exclusion and extraction. Measuring 27 by 36 inches, this poster will catch people’s attention, give them some visual and factual information and lead audiences to our project’s website. The divided river image has text on each side to give more context and a few facts about the scarcity of freshwater and the struggle to share it. Can you think of somewhere to hang this poster and spark a reflection about water?

If so, please contact Paul Baines at info@BlueCommunityCSJ.org or 647.831.4525. Special thanks to Jenna Kessler who illustrated the poster.

EVENTS & INFO:

Toronto

Waterdocs trailer

Lake Erie

Sudbury and TO

Canada

The Bruce