Buckets of Nerdiness

Collecting water on a rooftop garden in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 2005.

When you visit a place as dry as Palestine, you get a visceral appreciation for water. It's wickedly hot -- hovering around 45 celsius each day while I was there. And it's hard to get water -- I visited a farming town in the West Bank where the Separation Wall cut the villagers off from their own fields and wells, and where I was told, over and over again, to drink nothing other than bottled water because what ran through the taps wasn't fit. OK for me; I had the shekels to buy it. Probably not so accessible to the scrabbly little boy who spat at my feet and muttered nasty words while I stood outside the store with my bottle. So I have a bit of a different appreciation of the differences between how we should regard water and the way that we actually do.

Al of which made it quite an honour for me a couple of weeks ago to help an MP draft a motion about water as a human right and public trust. I blogged about how I know this is completely nerdy.

On March 1, Peggy Nash, the NDP member for Parkdale-High Park (our old stomping grounds!) introduced the motion. Here’s what she said:

Mr. Speaker, today I introduced a motion that seeks to establish a national water policy for our country.

First and foremost, the motion calls on the government to recognize that access to water is a fundamental right. The issue of air quality has rightly jumped to the top of the political agenda recently but we must not forget about the importance of clean, safe water.

The motion also calls for a ban on the bulk export of water and strict restrictions on new diversions. It also opposes any move toward the privatization of water services. This would recognize that access to water is a basic human right and not a commodity.

As parliamentarians, it is our duty to ensure that water is protected for all Canadians. It is the government's responsibility to implement a national investment strategy that enables municipalities and aboriginal communities to upgrade desperately needed infrastructure.

The government must recognize the UN Economic and Social Council findings and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that access to clean water is a human right.

And here’s the motion I helped write:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should develop and present a comprehensive water policy based on public trust, which would specifically: (a) recognize that access to water is a fundamental right; (b) recognize the UN Economic and Social Council finding, in General Comment 15 on the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights (2002), that access to clean water is a human right; (c) prohibit bulk water exports and implement strict restrictions on new diversions; (d) introduce legislation on national standards for safe, clean drinking water; (e) implement a national investment strategy to enable municipalities and aboriginal communities to upgrade desperately needed infrastructure without resorting to privatization through public-private partnerships; (f) oppose measures in international agreements that promote the privatization of water services; and (g) commit to ensure water does not become a tradable commodity in current and future trade deals.

It hasn’t gone to a vote yet but I hope that all of you with voting rights here in the Great White North will ask your MP to support this motion when it comes to a vote!