Civic Engagement
17 yr old film maker Slater Jewell-Kemper speaks at Parliament Hill rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVANr9S4m1c
Youth environmentalist and filmmaker Slater Jewell-Kemker speaks out at the Anti-Prorogation Rally at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on January 23rd.
George Heyman speaking at Vancouver's January 23rd rally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEery7EczUg&feature=related
George Heyman, Executive Director of Sierra Club BC, closes out the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament rally with a stirring speech on what our democracy really means. Over 1000 people gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery January 23.
Beyond Copenhagen: what kind of bottom-up climate activism do we need?
As we move into 2010, the feeling of many people across this country seems to be that now is the time to give up on large-scale politics, and focus on small local-level solutions to the outstanding problems of our age, such as manmade climate change (the Transition movement [1], which began in Totnes and is slowly spreading worldwide, is an outstanding example of such 'localist' solution-seeking).In Copenhagen, the New Radicals
A student in Copenhagen sees hope for the future of humanity -- but only if we're willing to fight for it.
[Editor's note: Last week, University of Victoria Environmental Law Professor Michael M'Gonigle wrote a two-part letter to a friend at the climate change conference in Copenhagen. That friend is student Jamie Biggar, who is attending conference as a member of the Canada Youth Delegation. This is Biggar's response.]
Hello M.M.,
Gibsons Named World's Most Liveable Community
The Sunshine Coast town of Gibsons has earned a Gold Award for liveability from the United Nations-backed International Awards for Liveable Communities.Gibsons - pop. 4,200 - won in the Whole City category for towns with a population under 20,000 for best practice and leadership in creating a socially and environmentally sound community.
A 40-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver, Gibsons consists of the quaint fishing village of Gibsons Landing and the commercial-industrial hub of Upper Gibsons on Highway 101.
Councillor Skakun taking aim at HST
Coun. Brian Skakun has launched a campaign of his own to stop the harmonized sales tax.
Taking
a page from the NDP playbook, Skakun has started a petition drive which
he hopes to use to convince the rest of his city council colleagues to
adopt a resolution to take to the Union of British Columbia
Municipalities convention in September.
Surrey students force Mayor Dianne Watts to deal with pesticides
The City of Surrey has finally taken tepid steps toward doing what many other municipalities did quite some time ago: ban cosmetic pesticides.
Last week, the region's second largest municipality launched a public consultation process "to receive options for pesticide control in the City of Surrey".
In addition, the council voted in favour of an eight-month trial to ban the use of herbicides on boulevards and medians.
Olympics security overkill: Why so afraid of protest?
Rafe Mair, Tyee.ca July 20, 2009 Less than two weeks ago, Bud Mercer, head of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit looking after security for the 2010 Olympics, raised with Vancouver City Council the specter of the violent clashes that rocked World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle and Quebec City.
To combat these forecasted dangers, the taxpayer is spending one billion dollars, at last count, and using 16,000 police and armed forces personnel!
Proposed Vancouver city bylaw takes dead aim at anyone who might express a contrary view or protest during the Winter Olympics
In the flush of bidding for and winning the right to host the Olympics, nobody talked about how staging them might mean limiting civil liberties.
It's only now, with seven months until the 2010 Winter Games begin, that organizers and compliant politicians are revealing plans to make it more difficult to exercise our fundamental constitutional rights to free speech, peaceful assembly and free expression.
