Thursday, February 23, 2012
4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Film starts at 5 p.m.
University of Victoria, Faculty of Law
Murray and Anne Fraser Building, Room 159 McGill Road, Victoria,
Lekwungen and WSANEC Territories.

Please RSVP to the Victoria film screening by clicking on the link  and registering via  our eventbrite site: http://onthelinevictoria.eventbrite.com

YOU ARE  INVITED to experience these wild spaces in all their natural glory for yourself and to better understand why Ecojustice is presenting at the public hearings on the basis that the Pipelines are unsafe, unsustainable and unnecessary.

Please also help us get the word out and forward the information about this event to your colleagues, friends and family.

The controversial Northern Gateway pipeline would scar some of British Columbia’s most breathtaking — and fragile — areas.

Filmmaker Frank Wolf and friend Todd McGowan walked, biked, rafted and kayaked the entire route the proposed pipeline would take — from the Alberta oilsands, through the Rocky Mountains,  over hundreds of rivers and streams, across one of the last  fully intact ecosystems on the planet, to the waters of the B.C.’s north coast.

See what they saw, hear what they heard, and discover what is truly at stake with this $5.5 billion project.

After the film Ecojustice lawyers will also be on hand to talk about our work in opposition of the pipeline.

Please note that this film is not yet rated.

Learn more about the film and Mr. Wolf by visiting:   http://www.onthelinemovie.com.

Ottawa – The controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, is facing mounting opposition across the country. A new Environics Research poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians has found that 62% of Canadians and 67% of British Columbians support “a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all the federal environmental reviews are complete”.

“The Victoria chapter of the Council of Canadians strongly opposes uncontrolled and unregulated fracking and endorses calls for an immediate moratorium on fracking until issues of water pollution and fugitive emissions of methane can be addressed”

“Communities across Canada are saying ‘no’ to fracking projects. It’s time for the federal government to ban the practice,” says Maude Barlow, national chairperson, Council of Canadians. “The federal government should at the very least initiate a moratorium while conducting reviews on the serious consequences of fracking.”

Fracking is a contentious method of extracting unconventional natural gas, primarily shale gas. The technique involves the injection of millions of litres of water and thousands of litres of unidentified chemicals underground at very high pressure in order to create fractures in the underlying rock formations to extract the trapped gas.

Fracking for unconventional gas is rapidly expanding in almost every province across Canada. In addition to making local water flammable due to methane pollution, there have been numerous occasions of earthquakes near fracking sites. Fracking wastewater at numerous sites in the US is too radioactive for water treatment plants to cope with safely. 90% of fracking worldwide takes place in North America.

There is currently no federal legislation on fracking. Regulations on water and drilling permits vary from province to province. Oil and gas wells are exempt from the National Pollutant Release Inventory. Environment Canada reviewed chemicals used in the process in Quebec and the US and found that approximately half did not meet the Chemicals Management Plan criteria for further investigation.

Council of Canadians members and chapter activists have been at the forefront of local campaigns to stop this dangerous industry and protect their water from toxic chemical and methane contamination resulting from the fracking process. Also announced today, the Council has launched the Fracker Tracker, a web-map that will help track fracking threats across the country. The Council of Canadians is urging people from coast to coast to sign the petition to stop fracking at www.canadians.org/fracking.

The Environics Research survey was conducted by telephone among a national random sample of 2,000 adults comprising 1000 males and 1000 females 18 years of age and older, living in Canada. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 2.19%, 19 times out of 20. Interviewing for this Environics National Telephone Omnibus Survey was completed during the period: January 5 – 15, 2011.

For more details, please see www.canadians.org/fracking, or contact the Victoria chapter of the Council of Canadians at info@victoriacouncilofcanadians.ca.

Venue

Victoria West Community Centre. 521 Craigflower Rd
Victoria, BC V9A 6Z5 Songhees Territories
(250) 590-8922
Map: Click here for a MAP

We will be talking about trade, CETA, Environmental Justice and more. Do drop by to see how you can spread the message

Venue

Victoria West Community Centre. 521 Craigflower Rd
Victoria, BC V9A 6Z5 Songhees Territories
(250) 590-8922
Map: Click here for a MAP

We will be talking about Maude Barlow’s upcoming Town Hall on the future of Public Health Care in Canada, and more. Do drop by to see how you can spread the message

Monday, January 16, 6:30-8:30PM
The Da Vinci Centre, 195 Bay Street, Victoria, B.C., Songhees Territories

RSVP on facebook

The 2014 Health Accord will set out the national plan for our health care system and play a big role determining the future direction for public health care in Canada. On January 16-17, 2012 Premier Christy Clark will host premiers from across the country to discuss health care and fiscal arrangements with the federal government in preparation to negotiate the 2014 Health Accord.

Join public health care advocates on the evening of January 16 for a Town Hall meeting to discuss the 2014 Health Accord and public innovations to strengthen health care in Canada.

Co-hosted by the Council of Canadians and the BC Health Coalition

Download a poster for the event.

For more information, contact:
The BC Health Coalition at info@bchealthcoalition.ca or 604-681-7945
The Council of Canadians BC/Yukon office at awaxman@canadians.org or 604-688-8846
The Council of Canadians, Victoria at info@victoriacouncilofcanadians.ca or 250-483-5454.

Opposing CETA and the Canada-European Union from ICTV Victoria on Vimeo

Want to know more about why CETA is bad for Canada? Read this fun comic (pdf): Top 10 reasons why CETA is bad for Canada

On November 10, 6:30 PM,  join Robert Mulligan – Criminal lawyer, Sibylle Artz – UVic Professor with the School of Child and Youth Care, Bruce Parisian – Executive Director, Victoria Native Friendship Centre, David Hough – Founder of the Restorative Justice Coalition at William Head Institution, and Chris Beresford – Member of the Board of the John Howard Society of Victoria at the First metropolitan Church, 932 Balmoral Road, Victoria, Coast Salish Territories in a public forum moderated by Victoria Member of Parliament Denise Savoie. Download the poster 2011.11.10 Omnibus Crime Bill-poster for the event and spread the word.

Note: This event is not organized by the Council of Canadians.

Also, LeadNow has an online petition, and more ways for you to get involved. Please read on and take action. We need to stop this crime bill.

This week, across Canada, experts are speaking out against the massive, cruel Crime Bill that our Conservative government is rushing through Parliament. Even conservative Texans are warning Canada not to follow America’s failed path of mandatory sentences and massive prison expansion.

via Leadnow | Stop the Crime Bill: Make Canada Safer, Not Meaner.

China’s merciless and violent crackdown in Ngaba and throughout Tibet is intensifying Tibetan grievances and exacerbating the resentment and desperation felt across Tibet.

This growing tragedy, if left unchecked, could spiral even further into a nation-wide crisis, unless the world acts now.

The international community, both citizens and governments, must Stand Up for Tibet.  Global diplomatic intervention now will save Tibetan lives.

via ENOUGH! GLOBAL INTERVENTION NOW TO SAVE TIBETAN LIVES.

Colonialism continues to repress indigenous populations all over the world, including in Canada. China’s ongoing colonization of Tibet is especially egregious given the context in which it is occurring, in spite of knowledge of the horrors of colonialism, colonization and the assimilation of endangered local cultures by dominant colonialist invasion.