Barlow returning to take up battle for Great Lakes

By DOUGLAS GLYNN Midland Free Press May 17 2012

PERKINSFIELD -Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians chairperson, who joined the protests that led to the cancellation of landfill Site 41, will be back in Tiny Township on May 28.

Barlow is scheduled to speak at the Tiny Community Centre on Concession 8 East as part of a province-wide tour aimed at restoring more democratic control of the Great Lakes. The event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

“The Great Lakes are in serious trouble,” says Barlow, whose tour “is aimed at protecting the lakes from private interests and government complacency.”

“Industrial pollution, climate change, over-extraction, invasive species, and wetland loss are all taking their toll on the watershed that provides life and livelihood to more than 40 million people and thousands of species that live around it.”

“On this tour to Great Lakes Basin communities, we’ll be discussing an exciting new proposal to designate the lakes and their tributary waters as a lived Commons, to be shared, protected, carefully managed and enjoyed by all who live around them,” Barlow says.

“A Great Lakes Basin Commons would recognize that water is a human right. It would recognize the ecological rights of the watershed, that private interests are subordinate to community rights, that governments have an affirmative obligation to manage and protect the Great Lakes, and that First Nations-American Indian tribes should be involved in the decision-making process.”

The Council of Canadians is demanding that these commons and public trust principles be included in the Ontario government’s upcoming Great Lakes Protection Act.

“Defending our water from exploitation is not just an environmental issue. It is also a question of human rights and social justice,” she added.

On the eve of her speaking tour Monday, Barlow was presented with a Heart & Vision award from the United Church for her “exemplary commitment to social justice and for her leadership of the international effort to establish the fundamental human right to water.