Maude Barlow

Put down the selfie sticks and protect water in Canada

Maude Barlow — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 12:50:21 +0000

There's no question we had it bad with the former Harper government.

It slashed protections for 99 per cent of lakes and rivers that previously existed in the Navigable Waters Protection Act and removed safeguards under other water legislation.

People are hungry for real change. But one year later, are Justin Trudeau's actions speaking louder than his words?

Trudeau's ministers assure Canadians that they are modernizing water and environmental legislation like the Navigation Protection Act and will create nation-to-nation relationships with First Nations.

Water everywhere, Canadian policy nowhere

Council-of-Canadians — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 20:47:30 +0000

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Five years ago this week, the United Nations adopted a historic resolution recognizing the human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as "essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life." For those of us in the balcony of the General Assembly that day, the atmosphere was tense. A number of powerful countries had lined up to oppose it, and we expected the vote to be close.

Democracy -- and the 'Fair' Elections Act -- has its day in court

Maude Barlow — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 18:25:26 +0000

Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a supporter of rabble.ca.

Day 1, July 2, 2015

"This case is about the right to vote -- the cornerstone of democracy."

Letting corporations sue governments protecting the environment is no way to solve the water crisis

Maude Barlow — Thu, 28 May 2015 19:15:54 +0000

As the world looks for innovative solutions to solve the rapidly worsening water crisis, two Salvadoran experts toured Canada this month to promote a simple strategy that could save the public billions of dollars.

This World Water Day, a recovery plan is more important than ever

Maude Barlow — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 17:01:34 +0000

Twenty-two years ago, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 to be World Water Day. In a world facing a severe and growing water crisis without a roadmap, this day is more important than ever.

Merkel's political imperatives spell trouble for CETA

Maude Barlow — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 16:53:16 +0000

German chancellor Angela Merkel will be in Ottawa for a visit on Monday, but she may not be bringing the news Stephen Harper wants to hear when it comes to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

That's because the German government wants to reopen CETA and amend the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. This controversial provision allows a transnational corporation to sue a national government that passes public interest or environmental legislation that impacts their future profits.

B.C. First Nation bans bottled water and becomes first Indigenous 'Blue Community'

Maude Barlow — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:26:56 +0000

Tsal'alhmec, known as "People of the Lake," (Seton Lake Indian band) became the first Blue Indigenous Community this week. Tsal'alh adopted a resolution with the three criteria needed to become a Blue Community: recognizing of the human right to water, banning bottled water at community facilities and events and promoting public water services.

Tsal'alh has joined the 15 Blue Communities in Canada and three international Blue Communities, in Switzerland and Brazil, that are taking action to ensure the human right to water is respected.

Detroit canary in the coalmine when it comes to water rights

Maude Barlow — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 20:26:49 +0000

Today, October 20, two UN experts, Catarina de Albuquerque, the special rapporteur on the human right to drinking water and sanitation and Leilani Farha, the special rapporteur on housing, will visit Detroit Michigan to assess the charges that water cut-offs violate the human right to water and sanitation. This is a very important development in the ongoing struggle for water justice in Detroit and the experts will be welcomed by the civil society movements there.

Les élections au Nouveau Brunswick sont une épreuve décisive pour le reste du Canada dans le brûlant dossier du gaz de schiste

Maude Barlow — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 21:38:06 +0000

Les électrices et les électeurs du Nouveau‑Brunswick se rendront aux urnes dans ce qui pourrait s'avérer une nouvelle lutte très serrée entre conservateurs et libéraux. Mais les élections de cette province pourraient également être déterminantes pour l’avenir du Canada et l’avenir du gaz de schiste.

New Brunswick election a litmus test for the rest of Canada on shale gas

Maude Barlow — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:59:20 +0000

New Brunswickers head to the polls in what seems to be another PC versus Liberal tête-à-tête this Monday.

But this province's election could also be key to determining Canada's future and the future of fracking. Liberal Premier Shawn Graham's wrong-headed decision to sell off NB Power cost him the last election; this time, PC Premier David Alward will lose from putting all of his eggs in the shale gas fracking basket.

In both cases, the people of New Brunswick rose up and took a stand. In New Brunswick, the Alward government has been industry-friendly to the extreme: giving Crown lands to the Irvings for forestry, helping TransCanada approve the Energy East pipeline, and signalling to shale gas (fracking) companies that New Brunswick is "open for business."

A life of activism gives you hope, energy and direction

Maude Barlow — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 18:20:36 +0000

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Maude Barlow received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from York University in Toronto yesterday morning. Here are her speaking notes for the Convocation ceremony.

Chancellor Gregory Sorbara, President Mamdouh Shoukri, the Senate of York University, and all the graduation students,

It is a great honour to share this convocation with you today. I am moved by your grace, energy and hope on this lovely June day.

Water cut-offs in Detroit a violation of human rights

Maude Barlow — Tue, 27 May 2014 17:14:27 +0000

I recently visited Detroit, Michigan and am shocked and deeply disturbed at what I witnessed. I went as part of a Great Lakes project where a number of communities and ‎organizations around the basin are calling for citizens to come together to protect the Great Lakes as a Lived Commons, a Public Trust and a Protected Bioregion. We are also deeply worried about the threat of extreme energy such as diluted bitumen from the tar sands of Alberta and fracked oil and fracking wastewater from North Dakota being transported by pipeline and rail near the lakes and on barges on the lakes and are calling for a ban of these dangerous toxins around and on the Great Lakes.

New El Salvadoran government inherits lawsuit for refusing Canadian-owned gold mine

Maude Barlow — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 18:05:39 +0000

Even before former guerrilla commander Salvador Sánchez Cerén is inaugurated as President of El Salvador, his administration is saddled with an unnecessary $301-million liability -- a lawsuit over El Salvador's refusal to allow an environmentally perilous gold mine to be built.

It is a legacy that has already cost the Salvadoran government some $5 million in legal costs -- money that the impoverished nation could have spent on education, health care, disaster relief, you name it.

Cuts prompt Health Canada worker to hide library resources in basement

Council-of-Canadians — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 19:20:44 +0000

Welcome to Stephen Harper's Canada, where hiding books from the government just became an act of civil disobedience.

The federal Conservative government recently shut down health science libraries so abruptly that some Health Canada workers have resorted to hiding books and journals at unsanctioned libraries off-site, including one that was set up in an employee's basement to save irreplaceable health research. The research library can now be accessed by emailing "Fred."

The road to steam rolling the Health Canada libraries was paved with strategic potholes. The government created the conditions that made the information inaccessible, unaffordable, and extremely slow to arrive.

Canada-EU deal threatens Canada's water

Maude Barlow — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 14:26:58 +0000

Prime Minister Harper has just signed the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and Canadians who care about our freshwater heritage should be deeply concerned for three reasons.