Canada

What do rec centres and care homes have in common? They've been using toxic cleaners, but now workers and unions are cleaning up the cleaners.

by Sean Griffin

Nancy Jir, a member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union-CAW (Canadian Auto Workers) who works at Canadian Fishing Company in Vancouver, doesn't usually talk much at meetings. But when she stepped forward at a union environment workshop last year to explain how the commercial cleaning materials she was using at the plant were giving her rashes and chronic eye irritation, she had no idea of the campaign it would spark.

Excerpted from the forthcoming book by Anna Tilman

This is a story on how my involvement in mercury began and where it has taken me from a very personal perspective. I call it "my story."

For the past year or so, I have become engulfed, entrenched, immersed and strangely fascinated and horrified by mercury. Whatever information I have uncovered or discovered about mercury, it is never enough and I search for more.

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) of Halifax Nova Scotia, with support from the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, is taking the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to court. The Centre is proceeding with a legal action to protect Canada's marine fish habitat. They have brought an application for judicial review of a variation order issued by the Regional Director-General of DFO. The variation order would re-open the Canadian side of the highly productive and ecologically sensitive fishing ground called Georges Bank to groundfish draggers.

Amid howls of anguish and surprise, accusations of treachery and market fixing, as the US imposes a punishing tariff on Canadian softwood lumber imports, a few brave voices continue to insist the Timber Beast has no clothes.

by Will Horter, Forest Futures

On July 17th, the newly formed BC Coalition for Sustainable Forest Solutions released a report which documented $3 to $5 billion annually in subsidies to the BC logging industry. Cutting Subsidies or Subsidized Cutting, co-authored by economists Tom Green and Lisa Matthaus, focuses on five main types of subsidies: tenure, stumpage, bail outs, environmental waiver, and infringement of aboriginal title.

In November, the number of species at risk in Canada was raised by seven, following a meeting of COSEWIC, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The number of Species at Risk in Canada now stands at 387. Among the species re-evaluated, the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, tops the list.

by Aaron Freeman
Reprinted from the Hill Times, Canada's parliamentary newspaper, November 2001

Consumers can be forgiven for being cynical about biotechnology. After all, it's hard to know who to trust when there's no clear line between the biotech industry, government and organizations that claim to be on the side of consumers.

Recently, studies have linked pesticide exposure to leukemia and immune disorders in children as well as liver and kidney damage, reproductive problems and some types of cancer.

Compiled by Delores Broten

When her neighbours sprayed their lawn for dandelions, my sister had to move out of her own home for two days because the spray made her sick. No medical evidence can be cited to back up the experience of thousands of people like her, but now cities and towns in Canada are getting down to the grassroots and dealing with the problem. They are motivated by citizens' concerns about the health of children, pets and the environment.

The Canadian Bison Association lists 1,250 buffalo ranches operating in Canada. In the late 1990s, commercial production was expected to grow 25 percent a year until 2005. Experts predict as many as 700,000 animals will be processed 10 years from now. Some agribusiness analysts predict buffalo will displace cattle in North America.

by Don Malcolm

Forty kilometres north of the busy Trans Canada Highway at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Buffalo Pound Provincial Park offers an enchanting relief from the noisy, aggressive traffic beating its way east and west on Canada's main road. Within the park the Qu'Appelle River pursues its centuries old task of cutting a deep wide valley through the prairie flat lands.

The Canadian Bison Association lists 1,250 buffalo ranches operating in Canada. In the late 1990s, commercial production was expected to grow 25 percent a year until 2005. Experts predict as many as 700,000 animals will be processed 10 years from now. Some agribusiness analysts predict buffalo will displace cattle in North America.

by Don Malcolm

Forty kilometres north of the busy Trans Canada Highway at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Buffalo Pound Provincial Park offers an enchanting relief from the noisy, aggressive traffic beating its way east and west on Canada's main road. Within the park the Qu'Appelle River pursues its centuries old task of cutting a deep wide valley through the prairie flat lands.

by Tejas Ewing

The creation and spread of ecological ideas may be one of the most important ways that we can work to stem the destruction of our environment. If we change the deep-seated opinions in people, then the desire to make positive change should come from within us. If that occurs, change will be easy, because it will not be forced. I experienced the joys and failures of pursuing this goal.