In honour of World Water Day, and part of our ongoing Still Thirsty for Justice campaign, PSAC is hosting a virtual panel discussion moderated by National Vice President Sharon DeSousa. Clean water is a human right yet hundreds of communities across the country still do not have access to safe, clean water and most of them are Indigenous communities.  

The understanding that ‘water is life’ is sacred to many Indigenous communities and it is a resource that needs to be protected. World Water Day is an occasion to honour the importance of water in our lives and to advocate for its protection as an essential resource.  

Join us in this panel discussion to hear and share water stories and to understand what it means to be a water protector.  

March 19, 2024  (Panel 1 5:30 p.m. ET, Panel 2: 8 p.m. ET)

Speakers include Bomgiizhik (Isaac Murdoch) from Serpent River First Nation, Melissa Mollen-Dupuis from the David Suzuki Foundation and Judy DaSilva, a longtime water protector from Grassy Narrows.  

Judy is well known to the PSAC membership though her activism that has focused on fighting for justice for her community after a chemical plant upstream dumped 9,000 kilograms of mercury into the river in the 1960s and ’70s. Judy worked with the PSAC Thirsty for Justice Campaign (2016) and our more recent Still Thirsty for Justice Campaign.  She is an award-winning advocate for Indigenous rights and ecological justice. She is also an elder and community leader in Grassy Narrows First Nations, located northeast of Kenora, Ontario.   

Artwork by Iruwa Da Silva, Grassy Narrows