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megram - 55NovOttawa - Index

Blue Gold.This work led indirectly to her being awarded
the Canadian Environment Awards Citation of Lifetime
Achievement Environmental in June 2008, shortly before
she received her seventh honorary doctorate,this one from
Nipissing University in North Bay.
Honoured as she is to have the numerous awards she
has accumulated over the years, she says that “the more I
get known, the more awards there are, and the more this
work goes international, the more I am invited to exciting
places and universities around the world, the harder it is to
find a balance in life,especially when there is a crying need
to speak out on so many issues.”
She must often travel for more than half the year, par-
The Council of Canadians
In June 1985, a group of
Canadians, concerned about the
federal government’s policies —
particularly the prospect of free
trade with the United States and
the erosion of cultural sovereignty
— created “a broad-based citizens
organization to protect and promote
Canadian sovereignty and
democracy.”
The Council of Canadians
quickly established itself as “a voice
for economic sovereignty.” Two
years later, the Council was instrumental
in building opposition to
free trade and creating a national
coalition of labour and social
groups that opposed the corporate
free trade agenda. Other major battles
for the Council of Canadians
have included campaigns against
the deregulation of the energy
industry, cutbacks to the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation and various
social programs, and the 1994
North American Free Trade
Agreement.
In 1998, the Council helped
defeat the Multilateral Agreement
on Investment, and it has been at
the forefront of citizen opposition
to similar trade and investment
deals at the World Trade
Organization and elsewhere.
As a government and corporate
watchdog,the Council offers a
critical voice on key national
issues.It has run citizen campaigns
against cutbacks and changes to
Canada’s system of public pensions,
the proposed mergers of
November/December 2008 • 14 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
ticularly when she is on a book tour.“I keep vowing to slow
down, but the vows break down all the time,”she says with
a smile.“I concentrate on the issues I care most about. I’m
doing what I love. I’m healthy and taking care of myself. I
run — well, lope. I don’t push myself, but all my best ideas
come out of running, the more in nature by a park or lake
or woods the better.”
One of the other most rewarding experiences, she
says, is taking time out at the family cottage in the Gatineau
Hills.
“It’s not a big, fancy cottage, just a little haven where I
park my soul and bribe my grandchildren to come up and
swim.”
four of the country’s biggest
banks, and the introduction of
bovine growth hormones into the
nation’s milk supply. The Council
has also worked with groups and
individuals across the country to
fight the concentration of media
ownership in Canada.More recently,
the Council launched campaigns
to prevent the bulk export
of Canada’s fresh water and protect
Canada’s public health care
system from privatization. Since
2004, the Council has focused on
fighting deeper economic integration
with the U.S.
While the Council’s original
mandate was to promote the right
of Canadians to continue to have a
distinctive and progressive political
culture, provide universal
social programs and have an independent
foreign policy that promoted
social justice and peacekeeping,
it also has a history of
adapting to changing political realities
and major global issues.
Recent campaigns have frequently
been based on international solidarity
and a critique of global corporate
rule. Through its research,
educational work, and campaigns,
the Council is committed to “building
a stronger civil society and a
better world.”
Adapted from www.canadians.org.
Maude Barlow’s Other Roles
Co-founder — The Blue
Planet Project is a global initiative
working with partners around the
world to achieve “water justice.”
The goal is based on the principle
that water is a public trust and, as it
is part of the global commons,
everyone has a right to water.
Director — The International
Forum on Globalization is a San
Francisco-based research and educational
institution opposed to economic
globalization.This alliance of
leading activists, scholars, economists,
researchers and writers represents
more than 60 organizations
in 25 countries. It was formed to
stimulate new thinking, joint activity
and public education in
response to economic globalization
and focuses on concern about the
consequences for democracy,
human welfare, local economies
and the natural world.
Fellow — The Institute for
Policy Studies is a non-profit think
tank for progressive or liberal causes
based in Washington, D.C. Its
goals are peace,justice and environmental
concerns.
Board member — Based in
Washington, D.C., Food & Water
Watch is a non-governmental
organization and consumer rights
group focusing on corporate and
government accountability, with
regard to food, water and fishing.
Founding member — The
World Future Council is an international,
non-governmental organization
whose goal is to work for a
sustainable future in the fields of
environment, peace, governance,
human development and human
rights issues.