As sent out from The Edmonton Chapter of the Council of Canadians:
Good afternoon,
Firstly, it was wonderful to have you with us last night at the “Protect our Water – Say No to Coal Townhall”! If you weren’t able to join us, you can find and share the recording of the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1df4cLDRZ0.
As promised, we’re following up today with a way to keep the pressure on the provincial government!
This week, the Alberta government made an unprecedented announcement, stating they would reinstate the 1976 Coal Policy. This reinstatement is only a temporary measure as the government brings in consultation on a “new, modern coal policy” that it insists will protect the Eastern Slopes.
While this is a significant win for our movement, we must keep pushing (as explored in this article in the Tyee). Now is the time to increase pressure to ensure protections are complete and not just smoke and mirrors. Click here to send a customizable letter to your MLA, Ministers Savage and Nixon, and Jason Kenney demanding a stop to exploration and other coal related activities on the Eastern Slopes, and a meaningful and transparent consultation process around the new Coal Policy. Together, we can ensure the only viable position for the government to take is: no more coal.
We’ll be taking further actions in the coming months, as will many other groups! We wanted to take this opportunity to share the resources from the webinar again (including Ian and Drew’s presentations, attached), and encourage you to support the ongoing work by many organizations, especially:
Financially support Niitsitapi Water Protectors in their work: https://www.gofundme.com/f/no-coal-mines-on-niitsitapi-land and follow them and take action at: https://www.facebook.com/NiitsitapiWaterProtectors/.
You should also follow the Alberta Wilderness Association’s actions and analysis at https://albertawilderness.ca/. You can also get in touch with Ian and the AWA at iurquhart@abwild.ca and awa@abwild.ca.
Additionally, the Alberta Wilderness Association will be having a virtual town hall next Tuesday, February 16 on Coal and Health. You can learn more about this event and register here: https://albertawilderness.ca/product/coal-and-health-virtual-town-hall-feb16/.
Now is not the time to let up the pressure on the Alberta government – they’ve given us many reasons to doubt their intentions. This work continues, and we are grateful to and look to the leadership of First Nations communities, grassroots activists, rural Albertans, and all those working hard to push the government to protect our water and say no to coal.
The fight continues,
The Edmonton Chapter of the Council of Canadians
Here is the video linked above that you can watch right here.
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