During our third episode of the “We are Un-Frackable” series, we heard from two powerful women at the forefront in the fight to stop fracking: Kukuwes Wowkis, Mi’kmaq water protector and grandmother from Unama’ki (Cape Breton) and Robin Tress of the Council of Canadians, a climate justice campaigner and anti-fracking organizer.
With attendees from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, the We Are Un-frackable conversations have connected us from coast to coast in a shared commitment for a healthy environment and a frack-free future.
If you missed this inspiring conversation, you can watch it here:
Robin shared the primary concern of many community members who face fracking impacts: water. “Because once the chemicals from fracking get into the water, we can never get them out and there’s huge health impacts with all of this.” The intersections between our health and the environment are especially clear.
Kukuwes Wowkis explained the teachings from her family and elders that guide her on the frontlines and in her fight against fracking. “All my life I’ve been raised on listening to my elders and what they had to say about the lands, the air, the water and the animals. You know it in your heart that you need to protect it for future generations. When we go into the front lines we do it with our whole heart and we follow the seven sacred teachings. We are all connected, all across the world and it’s on a global level: the reason why we are doing it is to protect our mother Earth.”
We promised we’d share some resources related to this webinar series. Check these out:
- Check out this documentary on Netflix. Called ‘There’s Something in the Water’, it tells the story of 3 different fights against environmental racism in Nova Scotia, one of them being Alton Gas.
- Here is a 10 minute documentary by SubMedia about the struggle to stop Alton Gas featuring Kukuwes Wowkis and other water protectors.
- Here is the Grassroots Grandmothers fundraiser for their ongoing court case against Alton Gas.
We are witnessing a meltdown of the crude oil and LNG industries during the pandemic. What better time than now to ramp up the pressure more than ever and make our voices heard? Together, our future is un-frackable.
We hope these conversations become a space for movement lessons, to learn from one another and express solidarity in fracking and gas fights across North America.
