“Burying nuclear waste hundreds of meters from Lake Huron is a catastrophe waiting to happen. These and other extreme energy projects such as fracking, tar sands oil pipelines and shipments are putting the Great Lakes in peril. I have traveled to all corners of the Great Lakes Basin and have spoken to people from all walks of life about their love of the lakes. The Great Lakes are a lived Commons and must be shared, protected, carefully managed and enjoyed by all who live around them from generation to generation. We have a responsibility to future generations to stop projects that could harm their drinking water. The waters of the Great Lakes are a public trust and governments have the responsibility to safeguard them for the common good and not allow them to be appropriated for private gain. Minister Catherine McKenna has a momentous decision to make in the coming weeks and I hope she shows communities around the Basin that the Trudeau government is serious about its renewed commitment to protect the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin.”
Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is a board member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council.
Maude is the recipient of twelve honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the 2005 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, the 2009 Planet in Focus Eco Hero Award, and the 2011 EarthCare Award, the highest international honour of the Sierra Club (US).
In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly and was a leader in the campaign to have water recognized as a human right by the UN. She is also the author of dozens of reports, as well as 17 books, including her latest, Blue Future: Protecting Water For People And The Planet Forever.