Ontario contains about one-fifth of the world's fresh water and it is our responsibility to protect our water for future generations. Despite this incredible bounty of water, access to it is deeply unequal and Ontario’s waterways are getting sicker every year. Meanwhile Ontario continues to hand over permits to extract groundwater for profit, mine below the water table, and pave over wetlands. But there is hope.
Where our government has failed, communities are winning local campaigns to protect wetlands, clean up degraded ecosystems, and protect water. These community-led campaigns are gaining momentum and forcing important victories as more and more people realize not only is our water at risk, but they can help protect it.
Join the movement by adding your name below and standing up for water protection in Ontario!
We the undersigned call on the government of Ontario to:
Recognize access to safe drinking water as a basic human right and develop a strategy to end all drinking water advisories in rural, northern, and First Nations communities;
Launch a transparent and public review of the Permit-To-Take-Water process, particularly for bottled water operations, to ensure water is for life not profit and that permitting provides for long-term stability, public use, and good watershed management.
Ensure that decisions about water must be based on our treaty obligations, public interest, and guaranteeing access to sustainable water resources for future generations and collaborate with indigenous people, farmers, rural Ontarians, and conservation authorities in developing a Provincial Water Strategy to protect our water, create jobs, and take essential action on the climate crisis.