Pictures from World Water Day 2007 in Brandon

The Brandon Launch took place on Oct 6 at 7pm beside the Assiniboine River - the temperature was 1 above zero with a wind. IT WAS COLD!! There was not a big crowd - about 20 people. Rev Harvey Hurren, Knox United; Elder Linda Oppanacha; and Dr Bill Paton addressed the group. CKX, the local TV station was in attendance and did an interview with Dr. Paton, the University Prof who talked about the stress on water treatment systems in Manitoba as we pollute our water sources, and how the cost of water treatment increases as a result. This has led Governemnts to privatization of water systems in France, and he suggested that Canadians must be concerned about what happens here. He also talked about the threat to aquifers from agriculture in rural Manitoba. CKX also showed our Aboriginal elder talking to the group, and then did an interview with one of the attendees, who talked about how protection of water needs to be a federal and provincial responsibility. Then when the clip was on the news today they went to the city water treatment plant and interviewed the guys there who talked about the stress on the system when there is run off in the spring, and what happened in Walkerton and Lethbridge. So all in all I would say, other than it being cold, and the resources coming in the mail on Oct 7!! that it was very successful. We are going to have resources available at the Marquis Project so people who were there know where to go to get them anyway! - Debby Coombs

	Miguel spoke of the plight of Mexican farmers. Due to subsidized American grown corn, they are unable to sell their corn at a price which produceS a decent living for themselves and their families. NAFTA, with a few exceptions of corporations, has not been good for Mexico. For more information on NAFTA & Mexico see A Cry for Justice - the Human Face of NAFTA'S failure in Mexico

It was slippery with the melting snow, and windy and cool on the Launch Day in Winnipeg. Fletcher did a fine job of introducing the event and both he and Louis Laurencelle, chair of Francophone Diocesan of D & P read the pastoral statement. Fletcher presided over the water ritual, with reps from four other denominations at the directions (Brenda Fraser,Presbyterian moderator for the region, Sr.Rolande Bissonette, Grey Nun,Ted Chell - ELCIC, Marcia Schippers of Christian Reformed with Sandra Bater - Anglican. Lorraine Dumont was there with resouce material and I taped a big KAIROS logo to the table. And if I do say so myself the Winnipeg Raging Grannies and a couple of groupies did a great job of opening and closing with adapted Granny songs from other Granny groups, plus our own, with Gisele's contribution en francais (also about bottled water)

People having lunch at the Forks could see us coming and going and some were curious. from Audrey McClelland

Aboriginal Video - There has recently been a meeting of those concerned with Aboriginal Rights about distributing the video"Let Justice Flow" I think it is called, on Hydro Development which is now being shown widely at Cross Lake I believe.More copies are being made.

Run for Rights/Walk for Peace - On June 11th Winipeg Kairos members attended the Run for Rights at 9:30 AM at Kildodan Park and/or the Walk for Peace starting at the Leg at 12:30 PM . KAIROS committee members were involved in planning both events.The Run was an opportunity to raise funds for some of them e.g. Amnesty, LITE,No Sweat MB,WREN. Both events were opportunities for promotion of organizations by displayed material and personal contact .The Walk was planned by an enlarged committee this year,to be more festival-like with a broader theme, so a fair bit of work was put into planning a program after the walk to attract a wider audience. The program included Raging Grannies (of which a couple of us are members), Muriel Smith speaking on the Non-Proliforation Treaty, a US war resister who now lives in Toronto,an Aboriginal elder and drum group and other musical groups. It was ably chaired by Elizabeth Carlyle of the Canadian Federation of Students who also helped considerably with the planning.As usual a Sikh organization provided food and there were about 300 or so people attending .

Aboriginal RightsThere has recently been a meeting of those concerned with Aboriginal Rights about distributing the video "Let Justice Flow" I think it is called, on Hydro Development which is now being shown widely at Cross Lake. More copies are being made.