Great Lakes Commons Water Forum

April 27, 2013

12 to 5pm

Harbourfront Centre, York Quay Centre, Lakeside Terrace

235 Queens Quay West

* Please note that Queens Quay is under construction.  For updates please visit http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/construction/

We are very excited to have Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow speaking at our fourth annual Water Forum in defence of the Great Lakes.  Alanna Mitchell, journalist and author of Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis will MC the event. 

Other speakers include representatives from On the Commons, Great Lakes Water Walkers, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, IICPH, National Farmers Union - Ontario, and Rising Tide Toronto.

Comments on "Fear of fluoride"

This week's NOW magazine Alt.Health section discusses fluoride. We've sent in our reply!
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 Thank you NOW for bringing the issue of water fluoridation to the forefront in last week's issue. But you missed the mark. It is not ‘fluoride’ that is being added to our water. It’s toxic industrial waste called fluorosilic acid, inherently contaminated with heavy metals. Children in Vancouver and most countries around the world that don't forcibly fluoridate their citizens with this chemical have better dental health than those living in Toronto. The expansion of subsidized dental care programs for the poor shows that fifty years of artificial fluoridation didn’t work.

If the only benefit is from topical use, then purified and concentrated sodium fluoride in toothpaste, approved for this use and carrying a warning label against swallowing or use by young children, will do. Diluting industrial waste in our drinking water is not topical use. It’s pollution that severely overdoses the (toothless) bottle-fed baby. If swallowing fluoride helps teeth, then a cup of tea or teaspoon of salt per day provides it naturally and putting industrial waste in our drinking water is unnecessary.

The Council of Canadians has taken a strong national position against fluoridation on the basis of evidence of health harm to young children and the downstream environment. Toronto City Council ought to be able to do what the Windsor Council did: act on the numerous scientific studies that show adding industrial waste to public drinking water to increase everyone’s fluoride intake is not only ineffective, but unethical.

The Council of Canadians, Toronto chapter
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Link to the original article -  http://www.nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/story.cfm?content=191276

AUDIO: National Telephone Town Hall with Maude Barlow

Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and Jamian Logue, Director of Development and Member Services, spoke with Council members from across the country about members’ priorities and how they will be reflected in our campaigns and the work we will be doing in 2013 to build a better Canada.

AUDIO: National Telephone Town Hall with Maude Barlow

February 6 - Next TCoC Monthly Meeting

Topic:  Sabotaging Democracy: 'Robocall' Voter Suppression in the 2011 Election
Guest Speaker: Professor Michael Keefer
Wednesday, February 6th, 7 – 9 p.m.
Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Room 3 (on the 2nd floor)

Join us for our February chapter meeting. All welcome!

Revelations of widespread fraud and voter suppression around the 2011 federal election are a harsh reminder that as Canadians we cannot take our democracy for granted. Professor Michael Keefer, School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph discusses the May 2011 federal electoral fraud and the robocall issue. Currently eight Canadians are awaiting decision on their legal cases under the provisions of the Canada Elections act at the Supreme Court of Canada. The Council of Canadians has set up the Democracy 24-7 Legal Fund to pay the legal fees and associated costs of the applicants.

The documentary “Hacking Democracy” will be screened.