FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2009

United Nations Discusses the Human Right to Water

United Nations, New York / April 24, 2009 – Just one day after her first address to the UN General Assembly, Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow briefed over 30 countries on the global water crisis. Participating countries included China, South Africa, Indonesia, United States, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Bangladesh, Chile, Japan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, Belgium, and the Czech Republic (the current chair of the EU).

At the briefing, Barlow outlined the main global water challenges and also a way forward: a UN ‘blue covenant’ that would protect water as a commons, ensure equity of access, and prioritize environmental restoration. There was significant interest from various countries, and as a result Barlow has now met individually with Lebanon, Ecuador, Spain, and Germany. Barlow will meet today with key UN agencies that work on water issues to discuss the development of a high-level task force at the UN.

Barlow was asked to write a working paper for the countries in attendance yesterday to outline the options for advancing the right to water at the UN. The Canadian government was also present for the briefing, despite stepping out during her speech to the General Assembly. Canada remains the primary opponent to the human right to water at the UN.

“Having met with these leaders it is all the more clear that we have an enormous responsibility to deal with the global water crisis,” says Barlow. “It is also clear that we have little time in the face of the needless destruction of the world’s freshwater.”

In his introduction to her General Assembly speech, UN President Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann said “Maude Barlow is known and loved by all of us who recognize in her the world’s leading authority on water. She promotes the same spiritual values … that are indispensable for the survival of our species.”

Dylan Penner, Media Officer, The Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org

First Nations Water Declaration In Ontario

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009

TORONTO— The Chiefs in Ontario are pleased to announce the adoption of a First Nations Water Declaration to show their commitment to water protection.

After a First Nation Water Policy Forum hosted by the Chiefs in Ontario last autumn, First Nations leadership along with Elders from various regions across Ontario voiced the need for a declaration on the importance of clean water for First Nation communities.

“Our challenge is to identify strategic initiatives that will increase water quality in First Nation communities across Ontario, while we deal with poverty, climate change and a population explosion facing First Nations,” says Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse. “The goal of this declaration is to ensure that our people are educated about their rights to clean and safe drinking water. This is something we need to teach our children and this is a basic human right, one that we will not let the government ignore. Through the establishment of positive relations, we would like to acknowledge the commitment of the Ministry of Environment in supporting our efforts.”

Following the release of the First Nations Water Declaration, the Chiefs in Ontario will launch a community poster and public information campaign. The Chiefs in Ontario will share the First Nations Water Declaration with UN Water Advisor Maude Barlow for her work in developing a UN declaration on water.

The Chiefs in Ontario, comprising the 133 First Nations in Ontario, is a political forum and secretariat for collective decision-making, action and advocacy.
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For interviews with Regional Chief Toulouse, please contact:
Kathleen Pilcher
Chiefs in Ontario
807.626.9339
kathleen@coo.org

First Nations WATER DECLARATION in Ontario

The First Peoples (First Nations) of this land were/are placed here on Turtle Island otherwise known as North America by the creator;
First Nations have responsibilities to their own territories that includes lands and waters;
As First Nations, the creator gave us a specific way of life, which included teachings on how to care for our mother the Earth;
Water is the life giving gift that our mother the Earth provides for all of us and it is through the relationship that women have with our Mother Earth that they are the keepers of the special ceremonies needed to ensure waters are respected and that future generations will continue to experience this gift.

The Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have kept alive the ceremonies given to our ancestors by the Creator, which are passed down through time in order for us to continue the way of life the Creator had intended us to and;
We need to respect, honour and share the spirits of the waters in the ceremonies given to us by the Creator;
First Nations have a direct relationship with all waters including the rain waters, waterfalls, mountain springs, swamp springs, bedrock water veins, rivers, creeks, lakes, oceans, icebergs and the seas - to ensure that the waters provides for all living things on a daily basis;
First Nations in Ontario have the laws and the protocols to ensure clean waters for all living things;
First Nations have knowledge, laws and our own ways to teach our children about our relationship to waters;
First Nations in Ontario made treaties with the non-indigenous people based on the continuation of all life and;
First Nations in Ontario's treaty making with the Crown created a relationship of rights for all parties and;
First Nations in Ontario's treaty relationships makes certain that our internationally protected right to give our free and fully informed consent on all issues related to use and care of water as our right and were not given over with the making of Treaties;
First Nations in Ontario's fundamental water rights is a relationship based on an expression of a power relationship between ourselves and the Creator and;
First Nations have rights to determine the key properties of waters including distribution, contents and legitimacy of water rights to restore the balance;
First Nations in Ontario have reviewed the state of the waters within each of our territories;
First Nations in Ontario have seen the need to retain, declare and assert our relationship with waters to ensure that there are clean waters fo the future generations;
First Nation peoples in Ontario have met in Garden River First Nation territory to raise our voices in solidarity to speak for the waters.

We announce and proclaim our role as holders of rights and carriers of responsiblities ot defend and ensure the protection, availability and purity of freshwaters and oceans;
This is our responsibility to the future generations - for those chidren yet unborn - is set out in this Water Declaration.

The Chiefs of Ontario
www.chiefs-of-ontario.org
http://www.nationtalk.ca/modules/news/article.php?storyid=19604