To celebrate World Water Day, the Council of Canadians Campbell River chapter and Timberline Earth Club are co-sponsoring a public film screening of White Water, Black Gold. This event will take place on Monday, March 23, at 7 p.m. at North Island College Theater, 1681 S. Dogwood Street. Admission is by donation.
White Water, Black Gold is an investigative documentary that follows mountaineer and hiking guide David Lavallee on his three-year journey from the ice fields of northern Canada downstream to the oilfields of Alberta. This film draws attention to the untold costs — to water and people — associated with developing the second-largest deposit of oil in the world.
Locally, the health of Campbell River, Quinsam River and Oyster River is threatened by decreasing snow packs caused by climate change, pollution from the Quinsam coal mine and from proposed contaminated soil dumping near our watersheds, and potentially dangerous plans to expand coal mining and frack coalbed methane near our watersheds in the future.
World Water Day, March 22, is a time for us all to pledge to protect our water as, in 2012, the federal Conservative government gutted the Navigable Waters Protection Act and removed protections from 99 per cent of Canadian lakes and rivers. The government exempted pipeline projects from this act, leaving waterways vulnerable to pipeline spills and other pollutants. The Council of Canadians is asking the public to take action by calling on our Member of Parliament, John Duncan, to reinstate protection of our lakes and rivers.
For more information, contact 250-286-3019.