More than 100 countries around the world have some sort of legal recognition of human rights to clean water, clean air and healthy food, while Canada has none. The David Suzuki Foundation started the Blue Dot movement( bluedot.ca) to get the federal government to add these rights to the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Their strategy is to get Canadians to join the Blue Dot Program, to get municipal governments to make declarations in support of these rights, to get provincial governments to do so as well, and finally, to get the federal government to amend the Charter and add these rights.

So far, more than 170 municipalities, in all parts of the country, have made declarations of support and the aggregate population of these municipalities adds up to more than half the population of Canada.  The list includes BC municipalities like Vancouver, North Vancouver, Nanaimo and Vernon, but NOT Kamloops.

Here in Kamloops, a small group of people are working to support the Blue Dot Program by getting people to join, and we want to have the city council of Kamloops recognize our right to clean water, clean air, and healthy food.  (After all, why shouldn’t they?  Our city council spent $70 million to provide us with healthy, safe, clean water.)  The local group is calling itself the Kamloops Blue Dot Network.

We are asking citizens of Kamloops to join our effort to get a municipal declaration here and to support the Foundation’s effort to get the Charter changed.

Thank you for considering this request! Ross Styles, Chair of Kamloops Blue Dot Network, and Dr. George M. Johnson, Member