That For the Love of Water happened on a rainy, then sunny Sunday afternoon on Barrie’s waterfront did not dampen its spirits.
Hosted by the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, the event featured water issues and those speaking about the salt pollution of Ontario's waters, impacts of gravel extraction on groundwater, First Nations water sovereignty, the reduction in Ontario's wetland protections and Lake Simcoe itself, represented by nearby Kempenfelt Bay.
About 30 people listened to speakers and conversed on the importance of water, near Tiffin Boat Launch on Lakeshore Drive.
Dani Lindamood of Water Watchers explained why we often take water for granted in Ontario
“We live in what we perceive as a really beautifully water-rich area,” she said. “We have a huge percentage of the world’s fresh water, but when you put that into the actual scale of what we’re doing to the water, how we're treating it, how we’re polluting it or overusing it and over-allocating it and ultimately how the province is not protecting it, that’s why we take it for granted.
“We see abundance and instead when we look at the scientific data, we see that while there’s lots of volume of water around us, water quality from one watershed to another shifts, changes, especially as you do things to the land. We take for granted that everything we do on the land isn’t going to be held by the water, but it is.”
Becky Big Canoe is with the Water Is Life; Coalition for Water Justice, and she spoke of the importance of events like For the Love of Water.
“It’s to bring to attention the plight of our water,” said the Georgina Island resident. “I use water to help me heal. Water is our first medicine. It should be our last medicine.”
She also performed a ceremony, wrapping grains, a corn cob, salmon and strawberries in a red cloth, along with several stones, and having them thrown into Kempenfelt Bay.
“It symbolizes gratitude, because of all the things made possible by water, like food and medicine,” said Big Canoe.
Speakers also included Claire Malcolmson of Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition and Katie Krelove of the Wilderness Committee’s Ontario office.
Krelove said she grew up in Barrie, swam and boated in Kempenfelt Bay. She stressed the importance of lakes and rivers, marshes, swamps and bogs.
“Wetlands mitigate climate change…and flooding,” Krelove said. “They absorb that water like a sponge.”
Malcolmson said she’s been with Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition for 23 years and the lake is not better.
“This is our shame and this is our glory,” she said of Lake Simcoe. “The sprawl (housing development) agenda in Ontario is bad for Lake Simcoe. We’d really like to get back to governments listening to us.
“We’re motivated by the frustration of beach closings and blue-green algae outbreaks. And governments doing nothing about it.”
Sunday’s speakers offered solutions to Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin, also Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, and Attorney General Doug Downey, Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP, who Malcolmson said were invited to attend and listen, but they had not shown by 3 p.m. as the event was wrapping up.
