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Water Camp Brings Confluence of Activists to Squamish, British Columbia

Nestled deep in the lush, temperate rainforests of Squamish First Nation territory, more than fifty activists and Aboriginal leaders from British Columbia, Ontario and the US gathered at the end of November to fortify collective efforts to protect Pacific Northwest watersheds.  After a prolonged drought, the first storm of the winter season had just come days before and set the surrounding creeks flowing again, barely in time to welcome back the annual sockeye salmon runs. The tranquil, fecund environment helped open our hearts and spirits, as well as our minds, to the task of building a movement to protect our common water heritage from being sold, depleted, degraded, bottled and polluted.

Former chief of the Sooke First Nation on coastal Vancouver Island, Linda Bristol, opened the water activist training camp – a first in British Columbia – with a unifying message: “We do not inherit this land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our grandchildren.  Water is our transportation, our food source, our community. We’re water people; water surrounds us, gives life to the trees, to the berries, to the fish of the sea, to the salmon.  It is not for sale, it isn’t owned by anyone.”

Unfortunately, this view is being undermined by a number of profit-seeking interests.  The provincial government in British Columbia (BC), led by free marketers keen on selling off public lands and natural resources, are likely to promote new water transfer schemes to exploit water for profit and may reverse the ban on bulk freshwater exports.  The Santa Barbara, California based Sun Belt corporation has already filed a $10 billion NAFTA challenge to BC’s ban. In Northern California, Alaskan water speculator Ric Davidge has applied for permits to sell giant plastic bags filled with water from the Gualala and Albion Rivers.  And also in BC, the St’at’imc First Nation is fighting plans connected to the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Olympic Bid to build a giant ski resort on the last pristine watershed in their territory.  Further, in the Interior of BC the Secwepemc are fighting the expansion (up to 24.000 bed units) of Sun Peaks Ski Resort, which already in its present size (5,000 bed units) has had a devastating impact on their watershed and traditional practices in the area. They have called for a boycott of Delta Hotels, due to their decision to invest in the development, despite Secwepemc opposition.
 
Hosted by Council of Canadians, WaterWatch – Vancouver, two groups that had helped stop water privatization schemes in Vancouver and Kamloops, BC, and the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade, the water camp brought together an amazing array of community and Aboriginal activists, policymakers, environmentalists and concerned citizens. Over the course of five days, participants were trained in hands-on skills to protect and defend water, such as non-violent direct action, and took part in workshops on privatization, media, direct democracy, the law, and aboriginal title.

Camp organizer Tara Scurr, of the Council of Canadians said, “We wanted to carve out a special space to connect our issues, add new skills and tactics to our activist toolkits to share with our communities back home, and develop a regional, long-term strategy to protect the local water commons shared throughout the Pacific Northwest.”  A critical prerequisite to building this network was laying a foundation of trust. As Richard DeerTrack from the Taos Pueblo and of the Cheyenne water clan said, “We must respect each others’ ways.” 

The Aboriginal leaders brought not only a strong spiritual connection, but a solid legal foundation to build on.  A number of First Nation peoples have won precedent-setting  legal claims in Canadian courts to their ancestral lands and fishing, hunting and berry picking grounds, which drew from similar US Supreme Court Decisions. Provincial governments have historically given away rights to Aboriginal Title lands to non-Aboriginal investors who engage in real estate speculation.  Since the lands of Indian peoples are not paid for by those companies which develop them, companies operating on Indian lands receive an obvious subsidy contrary to international trade law.  This lack of compensation in now under consideration by the World Trade Organization thanks to the work of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade. 

The camp also focused on the importance of international solidarity and allying with fights against water privatization throughout the world, from Bolivia to Ghana.  North American water activists have much to learn from the organizing in places like Cochibamba where a powerful social movement forced Bechtel to give up their illegitimate water contract.  Speaker exchanges and solidarity tours with activists involved in front line battles against corporate water theft are key to ensuring that our work is connected.  We can’t allow some peoples’ lands and rights to be respected at the expense of others’.  The Council of Canadians work on an international treaty to protect water as a part of the global commons – unanimously endorsed by 800 participants from 40 countries at the July, 2001 Water for People and Nature conference – is an important vehicle for protecting the world’s water.

The multi-generational mix of participants also led to a rich and candid exchange. While some participants had grown up collecting their family’s water out of local creeks, others have been totally cut off from where their water comes from.  A challenge was put forth to build an inclusive movement for water democracy based on connecting through mutual experiences and a sharing of ideas, not convincing or pressuring people into this work solely out of fear. This meant helping urban people reconnect with their water sources, as well as supporting aboriginal claims to their land water rights. Chief Garry John, who brought his young daughter to camp, was optimistic that the work will bear fruit: “The fact that more and more young people are accepting their responsibility means there is hope.”  

On the closing day, participants decided to dedicate the entire month of March, 2003 to world water activism by observing World Water Day on March 14 with a celebration and developing actions to highlight the fight against the General Agreement on Trade in Services being negotiated in the WTO.  March 31 is the deadline for WTO countries to submit the lists of services they are willing to include in the GATS and water for human use is right at the top of the European Community’s agenda.

The Council of Canadians and the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade are developing an activist guide and video to assist activists across the US and Canada who may want to organize a similar camp in their region.

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