Yesterday afternoon National Chairperson Maude Barlow, Regional Organizer Mark Calzavara, London Chapter activists Gary Brown and Don McLeod and I arrived in Sarnia for our fifth stop of the Great Lakes Need Great Friends tour. We spent the afternoon seeing a part of Sarnia that the typical tourist doesn't see. Ron Plain, an activist from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, lead the five of us on a ‘toxic tour' of Sarnia which is also known as Chemical Valley. Our first stop was the Shell compound, a massive cluster of facilities spanning blocks and blocks.

Last night, the Council of Canadians kicked off the second week of its 8-city tour. Almost 100 people gathered at Queen's University in Kingston for the fourth stop of the tour. Betty Carr-Braint from the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte began the event with a welcoming which set the tone for an inspiring and moving evening.

Mark Mattson, President of Lake Ontario Waterkeepers, was the first speaker and gave an engaging speech about the claw back of environmental reviews and regulations over the last several decades. The most recent example is the gutting of the Fisheries Act in Bill C-38. He stressed the need for audience members to take protection of the Great Lakes into their hands and make governments and corporations truly accountable to them.

Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will begin an eight-city tour in defence of the Great Lakes this Tuesday in Toronto.

Advance media on the tour has been good:

On Tuesday May 15, the Council of Canadians will formally launch the Great Lakes Need Great Friends speaking tour in Toronto.

Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson for the Council of Canadians, will be joined by special guests in eight cities in the Great Lakes Basin to discuss pressing water issues threatening the lakes such as multi-point pollution, water withdrawals, industrial abuses, invasive species and nuclear waste storage and shipments.

On Sunday, I had the honour of speaking at the Earth Day Every Day event organized by the Earth Mothers and the Foundation for the Great Earth Peace. Despite the chilly weather, up to 50 people gathered on Petrie Island just outside of Ottawa to hear a variety of speakers and participate in workshops on permaculture, food sustainability and solar energy.

Francine Payer, Madeleine Vézina and other Earth Mothers lead the water ceremony at 9 a.m. with over 20 people participating. The Earth Mothers then opened the event with drumming and singing.