Canada History Week 2020: Environmental History Learning Tool

CLIMATE SCIENCE & ACTIVISM

Over the course of 14 years, Josephine Biidaasige-ba Mandamin, from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, Manitoulin Island, walked an estimated 17,000 km around the Great Lakes to raise awareness about water pollution. Mandamin was the Chief Commissioner of the Anishinabek Nation Women’s Water Walk Commission. The Mother Earth Water Walk group she established received the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation in 2016. Her legacy is carried on by her grand-niece, Autumn Peltier, a water rights activist, who addressed the UN on clean water when she was just 14 years old.

Autumn Peltier (courtesy AP Photo/Richard Drew/ CP14560596). Chief Water Commissioner Autumn Peltier, from the Anishinabek Nation in Canada, addresses the Global Landscapes Forum, at the United Nations on Saturday, September 28, 2019.

My aunt and mom have been teaching me about the importance of clean drinking water and how to protect the environment since I was a little girl…. I advocate for water because we all came from water and water is literally the only reason we are here today and living on this earth. – Autumn Peltier 4