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Council of Canadians
Maude Barlow,
Chairman of the Council of Canadians
Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is
Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the
country. They work to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive
policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other
issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.
They develop creative campaigns to put some of the country’s most important
issues into the spotlight. They organize speaking tours, days of action,
conferences and demonstrations. They also produce research reports, create
popular materials, and work with individuals and organizations across the
country and around the world. They do all of this to ensure that governments
know the kind of Canada they want.
They state for instance that ‘it is like everyone is
talking trade these days and rightly so. The World Trade Organization (WTO), the
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) all have influence on our economy, our society, our lives…
The proponents of big business tell us that Free
trade is good for us. That may be so but these agreements, negotiated in secret,
don’t have anything to do with “Free” much less Fair trade. They are a Charter
of Rights for large corporations and they clearly undermine the ability of
countries and citizens to govern themselves. Some things should not be regarded
as a commodity to be sold for profit. Some things belong to all of us…’
The Council of Canadians is also a coalition of
citizen’s organizations from all across Canada that share a vision of livestock
production for health and social justice. Our mission is to promote livestock
production that supports food sovereignty, ecological, human and animal health,
as well as sustainability and community viability and informed citizen/consumer
choice.
The Council does not accept money from corporations or governments, and is
sustained entirely by the volunteer energy and financial assistance of its
members.
The Council now has over 70 Local Chapters across
the country, working on national campaigns as well as community issues. Chapters
are the activist bodies of The Council of Canadians. They make our national
campaigns happen at a local level. To raise awareness and create change,
chapters organize demonstrations, host public events, lobby their members of
parliament, facilitate discussion groups, work in local coalitions, share
Council campaign information, write letters to the editors of their local
papers, and do anything else that will help the struggle!
There might be a Council Chapter in your city or
town in Canada! We warmly invite you to join a Council Chapter by calling the
regional organizer nearest you.
If you're interested in starting a chapter in a community where one does not
exist, please call our National Office at 1-800-387-7177.
See more:
http://www.canadians.org |
