Don't take water for granted!

Photo: Dr. Rob de Loe speaking about water at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.


The RBC National Lecture Series – A Canadian Perspective on Water kicked off last night at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

Dr. Rob de Loe, University Research Chair in Water Policy and Governance, University of Waterloo in Ontario, was the keynote speaker and his presentation delighted the crowd with what was essentially, a tour of how we use and abuse water in this country.

More than 97 per cent of all the earth’s water is saltwater, Dr. de Loe reminded the audience. How we use the remaining fresh water is of the upmost importance.

“We have an exceptionally long history of mucking around with water,” said Dr. de Loe.

Dr. de Loe’s presentation focussed on the importance of groundwater and how it is negatively affected by the hardening of the earth – pavement, concrete and other forms of development and urban sprawl.

A large part of his presentation was devoted to how we use water in Canada – agriculture, drinking water, household chores, gardening, recreation, manufacturing, mining – and something most people would rather not talk about – getting rid of human waste.

As the talk took place in Ottawa, he made mention of the fact that the city’s combined storm/sewage system flushed millions of litres of raw sewage into the Ottawa River this year and downstream for someone else to worry about.

Dr. de Loe suggested that we need to look at our own behaviour and offered ways in which we could have a positive affect on water issues.

Some of these were obvious – use less water overall, gather rainwater for use in gardening, washing cars, flushing toilets and refrain from dumping toxic substances down the drain.

He also said people need to become “active consumers” and question manufacturers more.

“You can’t believe all the labeling on the cans,” said Dr. de Loe.

As an example, he warned the audience about cans of tuna that have been marked as “dolphin safe.”

Just because they are marked that way, does not necessarily mean that other potenially-endangered species were not killed while the massive drag nets brought in tuna.

The series continues with more lectures along with the exhibition – Canada’s Waterscapes – Yours to Enjoy, Explore and Protect.

For more information please go to the Canadian Museum of Nature's website.

Veterans' week starts today

To find out what is going on in your community, please click here.

A call to action on climate change

Photo: Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.


Climate change protest organizers called on Canadians to “fill the hill” this afternoon, but Mother Nature seemed to have kept many of them away from Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Perhaps a thousand people stood in the rain and heard speeches from politicians and leading environmental leaders about the need for Canada to aggressively reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

What they lacked in numbers, however, they made up for in enthusiasm, as many danced, sang and cheered, despite the inclement weather.

Every good protest needs a whipping boy and the target du jour was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whom many blame as the reason why Canada has the worst record on reducing domestic emissions among G8 nations, according to a press release that was circulated.

But Canada’s GHG problem started long before Mr. Harper got elected, something Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada recognized.

In his speech to the crowd, he said his group and others have been talking to governments over the years and because of their inaction, the country finds itself playing environmental catch-up.

He cited the difference between Bangladesh and Canada as a striking example.

On a per capita basis, for every ton of GHG emitted in Bangladesh, 24 tons are emitted in Canada.

Mr. Hazell encouraged members of Parliament to fast track Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act.

Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada warned Canadians that climate change is already here.

“Climate change is measured in the (increased) number of kilometres that girls and women have to walk each day to access water in Africa,” said Mr. Fox.

According to a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change fact sheet, more than 20 million people were displaced by sudden climate-related disasters in 2008 alone. An estimated 200 million people could be displaced as a result of climate impacts by 2050.

The protest on Parliament Hill was one of 5,200 International Day of Climate Action events in 181 countries around the world, according to the 350.org website.

The number 350 is the number that (some) scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide – measured in parts per million (ppm). According to the 350.org website, the world is already at 387 ppm.

The next United Nations Climate Change Conference starts on December 7 in Copenhagen.
















Photo: Climate change activists on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Book review - FOB DOC

In late 2008, several Afghan girls were injured when men threw battery acid on them as they walked to school in Kandahar.

The girls’ crime? Getting an education.

For Ray Wiss, an emergency room medical doctor from Sudbury, Ont., and a Captain in the Canadian Forces (CF), the way to win the war against the Taliban is to stay in Afghanistan long enough for the population to get sufficiently educated to reject the Taliban’s loathsome way of life.

Capt. Wiss believes the Taliban fear an educated population and that is why they do everything in their power to prevent young people from acquiring knowledge.

In 2007, the Taliban forced the closure of 300 schools and burned or blew up another 130. In addition, they killed 105 students and teachers.

Capt. Wiss has recently returned to Canada after having served his second tour of duty in Afghanistan and is currently promoting his book, FOB DOC, in which he states (among other things) that the Afghanistan conflict is a moral war and one Canadians need to not only be engaged in, but better informed about.

“A moral war is defined by the immorality of our enemies,” said Capt. Wiss in a telephone interview from Toronto.

He did not start out to intentionally write a book; instead, he maintained a diary while on his first tour of duty, and that evolved into the book.

This book will probably not change the minds of those who are adamantly against the war, but it may give them a greater appreciation of the hardships and difficulties that men and women in the CF have to endure to do their jobs in Kandahar.

More than that though, Capt. Wiss wants Canadians to know about the impact the CF is having on the lives of people in Kandahar.

He tells a story about a Canadian ambulance crew who helped a girl who was injured in a Taliban bomb attack last August. While the crew were helping the girl, her mother got inside the ambulance, took off her burka, and in English, not only thanked the medics, but expressed bewilderment as to why Canadians would come all this distance to help them.

For much of his tour, Capt. Wiss stayed in the Canadian Forward Operating Bases – otherwise known as FOBS. The facilities and amenities he describes in the book are primitive but functional.

The book is illustrated with more than 100 photographs that give the reader a good idea of life in one of the FOBs and at the Kandahar Air Field, where the majority of the CF stay.

Capt. Wiss describes Kandahar province (the birthplace of the Taliban) as a socially barren environment where women have been excluded from the social milieu and where the lives of boys and young men are limited to home, mosque, limited educational and employment opportunities and no interaction with women.

One question that always gets asked is why won’t the civilian population fight the Taliban more? Capt. Wiss says they do, but they have to be very cautious.

“They come to our FOBs in the middle of the night or will whisper something to us when we are out on one of our combat patrols,” said Capt. Wiss. “But they have to been exceedingly careful. They don’t have the guns – the Taliban do. The Taliban will come into a village at night and settle scores with anyone who they think has been cooperating with the coalition.”

Capt. Wiss wishes Canadians knew more about the successes the Canadian Forces have achieved in Kandahar. His book details highly successful combat operations where Canadian, British and Afghan troops routed the Taliban without suffering any losses themselves, nor take any civilian casualties.

Despite the military successes the coalition has achieved, and the fact that Afghanistan receives millions of dollars in international aid, it is ranked second to last on the United Nations Human Development Index.

Royalties from the book will be donated to the Military Families Fund.

Who is winning the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan?

Photo: Andrew Wilder speaking at the University of Ottawa.


As the body count increases in Afghanistan and the war’s popularity decreases in the west, politicians and military leaders are scrambling to find ways to win the hearts and minds of Afghan civilians.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s largest recipients of developmental aid, but continues to be one of the least secure places on Earth.

That was the theme Tufts University professor, Andrew Wilder, talked about yesterday at the University of Ottawa. As part of his presentation, he questioned the effectiveness of aid in promoting stability in Afghanistan.

He and his fellow researchers have made several trips to the country and have spent hours interviewing a wide variety of stakeholders – politicians, aid workers, soldiers and tribal elders.

After reviewing information gathered, Mr. Wilder was able to make a list of the reasons why interview subjects did not feel secure and did not believe that aid had lead to significant improvements in their lives.

According to the interviews, many Afghans believe that the government is both bad and corrupt; and that NATO forces show disrespect for their culture, religion and traditions. Locals in the south believe neighbouring countries play a role in their instability. Unemployment (currently estimated at approximately 40 per cent) and ethnic conflicts were also mentioned.

Ironically, the Taliban were listed near the bottom of the list of reasons for not feeling secure in parts of the country.

Mr. Wilder is still finishing his report. Some of his preliminary recommendations include: Policies should be evidence-based; prioritize quality over quantity; recognize that big development projects are not always better; reward security and not insecurity by doing more developmental work in the north, not just in the southern provinces.

"Security is the number one issue in Afghanistan - not poverty," said Mr. Wilder.

Landmine survivors still have not found what they're looking for

Photo: Landmine survivor, Prak Cheat, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Landmine survivors still have not found what they’re looking for, according to a new report called “Voices from the Ground.”

The 272-page report – issued by Handicap International and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is the first such report to actively engage survivors of landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).

A total of 1,645 survivors in 25 of the world’s most landmine-affected countries were surveyed for the report and asked about the services they received in the last five years.

The results are shocking.

Overall, only 25 per cent of respondents believed they were receiving more services in 2009 than in 2005.

One of the major complaints was that most specialized medical, rehabilitative and psychological services are located in urban centres and not accessible to many survivors who live in rural communities.

The majority of respondents were also pessimistic about their future job prospects and their ability to access higher education.

Victim assistance is one of the pillars of mine action, but it is the least funded of all of them.

The Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) states that “each State Party in a position to do so shall provide assistance for the care and rehabilitation, and social and economic reintegration, of mine victims and for mine awareness programs.”

Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Many countries rely on NGOs to provide victim assistance.

“Sometimes in countries embroiled in conflict or coming out of a conflict situation, national healthcare systems are damaged, under-resourced, and may not be able to provide for the needs of landmine survivors and other persons with disabilities,” said a spokesperson for Mines Action Canada (MAC).

In 2007, there were 5,426 casualties caused by mines, ERWs and victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to Landmine Monitor.

MAC believes countries that contribute to mine action need to do more to help landmine survivors.

“Perhaps the best way donor countries can show mine-affected countries that victim assistance is important is by funding victim assistance programs and working with mine-affected countries to strengthen services available to mine survivors, their families, communities, and other persons with disabilities,” said the MAC spokesperson.

What can Canada do?

“MAC would like the government to announce at the Second Review Conference (in Cartagena, Colombia, Nov. 30 – Dec. 4, 2009) that it is committed to being a leader on this issue until at least the next review conference in 2014. This leadership can be expressed by announcing plans that Canada will be a top five donor each year by minimally providing $1 per Canadian per year (therefore, $33 million),” said the spokesperson.

To read Voices from the Ground, please click here.

Cluster bomb treaty one step closer to reality

Photo: LEBANON) Ali Oussama Joumaa’ was 11 years old when this photograph was taken. On 4 September 2006, two weeks into the ceasefire, he was in the streets near his family’s house in Houmin El, Fawka, when he and his three cousins found many unexploded cluster submunitions. “They were everywhere around us. We knew that they were dangerous and we went to report them, but I fell and my hand hit one. It exploded and my hand was badly injured,” says Oussama. He was lucky not to have been more seriously injured, as cluster submunitions are designed to kill. When we met him at the Ragheb Harb Hospital on 6 September 2006, his mother Samia Alloush sat at his bed side, watching, fretting and wondering how she would get all of her kids to the other end of this nightmare in one piece.
Photo credit: John Rodsted / Norwegian People's Aid 



The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) took one small step for mankind this week when Croatia became the 15th country to ratify the treaty.

However, a total of 30 states are required to ratify the treaty, which would then make it international law.

Cluster bomb survivors and civil society groups are now waiting on the next 15 countries to complete the final ratification process and mark the treaty’s entry into force.

And that should happen in the near future, according to a spokesperson with the Cluster Munition Coalition.

“The ratification process is going at a normal pace and getting 15 ratifications in nine months is not bad at all,” said the spokesperson in an email interview. “Parliamentary procedures can be cumbersome in some countries which means that even if countries prioritize the issue, the administrative side of it may delay the process a bit.”

The countries that have ratified the CCM are: Albania, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Holy See, Ireland, Japan, Lao PDR, Luxembourg, Mexico, Niger, Norway, San Marino, Sierra Leone, and Spain.

Canada has not yet ratified the treaty, although campaigners are not overly concerned at this point.

“With a minority government, issues such as treaties are moving slower than normally,” said Paul Hannon, executive director of Mines Action Canada (MAC), in an email interview.

“MAC is in regular contact with all parties and sees no impediments to Canada ratifying the CCM.

Mr. Hannon believes Canada will be a full State Party in time for the First Meeting of States Parties in 2010.

One of the requirements of the CCM is for each State Party to destroy all cluster munitions that it stockpiles as soon as possible but no later than eight years after the CCM enters into force.

Canada has cluster munitions stockpiled but has taken them out of service.

“The cluster munitions currently in Canada’s possession are 155-millimetre Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM),” said a spokesperson with the Department of National Defence, in an email interview. “These remaining cluster munition stocks are artillery based and have been taken out of operational service. They have never been used by the CF in operations and are in the process of being destroyed. We have already destroyed our entire stockpile of MK20 Rockeye air­delivered cluster munitions.”

Cluster bombs were last used during the Georgia/Russia conflict in August 2008. Civil society groups hope the treaty will stigmatize the use of the weapon, much like the Mine Ban Treaty did for anti-personnel landmines.

“The emerging international norm is gaining momentum and even non-signatories will find it increasingly difficult to even consider the use of the weapon in the future,” said the Coalition spokesperson.

The Department of Foreign Affairs did not respond to media requests by deadline.

To learn more about the issue, please click here.

Karsh exhibition in Ottawa

Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada.


If there is a benefit for having to endure a particularly rainy summer in Ottawa, it is that it gives one a good excuse to visit the plentiful museums here in Canada’s capital city.

Of particular interest is the Festival Karsh now on at the Museum of Science and Technology in the city’s east end.

Yousuf Karsh is well known in Ottawa – and, indeed, throughout the world, as one of the finest portrait photographers of all time. The exhibition features many of the images that propelled Karsh to international fame, including his 1941 portrait of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in his defiant “Roaring Lion” pose.

In this exhibition, Karsh is also shown as a masterful darkroom technician and lighting expert.

Besides the large black and white photographs, the exhibition features Karsh’s floor-to-ceiling enlarger, a Calumet 8 x 10 view camera, tungsten lighting equipment, studio backdrops and numerous darkroom tools.

If there is a downside to the current exhibition, it is that some of the prints are underlit and the captions are below the photographs – meaning that tall people must bend over to read them. This is not always easy in poor light.

The exhibition continues until mid-September.

For more information, please click here.

Racers help Veterans

Photo: Honda Canada presented a cheque, prior to the start of the Rexall Edmonton Indy, in the amount of $56,021 to Wounded Warriors.ca. To the left of Canadian race driver Paul Tracy is Jerry Chenkin, executive vice president of Honda Canada. To the right is Captain Wayne Johnston, president and founder of Wounded Warriors.ca. (Photo courtesy: CNW Group/Honda Canada Inc.)


Wounded Warriors.ca is much richer today thanks to Honda Canada and Canadian race car driver, Paul Tracy.

Just before the start of yesterday’s Rexall Edmonton Indy race, a cheque in the amount of $56,021 was presented to Captain Wayne Johnston, president and founder of Wounded Warriors.ca.

Money raised at events during the Indy car races in Toronto last week and this past weekend in Edmonton was matched dollar-for-dollar by Honda Canada.

Wounded Warriors.ca is a volunteer, not-for-profit organization founded in September 2006 after a friend of Capt. Johnston’s was injured by a suicide bomber in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Mike McTeague, a Sapper with the Canadian Forces, was flown to a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany with serious injuries. Capt. Johnston was assigned to be his assisting officer and noticed that injured soldiers had very little in terms of personal items while convalescing in hospital.

Thus, The Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior Fund (now called Wounded Warriors.ca) was born to help members of the Canadian Forces wounded in action.

The fund pays for a kit for each wounded soldier who arrives in Germany for medical treatment.

The kit consists of a personnel bag, a portable music/DVD player, a supply of DVDs and CDs, a blanket, a jacket, a Team Canada hockey jersey, a flag, and a variety of toiletry items.

In addition, money raised through Wounded Warriors.ca supports the Padre’s Contingency Fund, the Fisher House Endowment and veterans who try to access benefits from the Canadian Government.

To learn more about this program, please click here.