Media Releases

Response to federal announcement on vehicle emissions regulations

Posted on September 22, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, September 22, 2014

"Copycat regs that don't kick in for a decade is just more baffle gab from a do-nothing government," said John Bennett, National Program Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation.

"Now, if Canada actually had regulations like what's coming in in the United States that would be great, and we'd say that," said Mr. Bennett. "But we don't actually have anything like that. We just have a fog machine of perpetual hollow announcements."

"If the federal government was serious about climate change they would be rolling out regulations for the oil and gas sector," concluded Mr. Bennett.

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#PeoplesClimateMarch

Posted on September 19, 2014
MEDIA ADVISORY, September 19, 2014

John Bennett, National Program Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, will be participating in the Peoples Climate March, Sunday, September 21st, in New York City.

Mr. Bennett stated he was going because: "I'm done waiting. 25 years of waiting is enough. We need action now!"

Mr. Bennett will be available to comment during and after the Peoples Climate March at: 613.291.6888

You can follow John on Twitter at: @John__Bennett

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Canadians outraged by Natural Resources Minister

Posted on September 18, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, September 18, 2014

OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada Foundation supporters were disturbed to discover Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford is so uninterested he has shut down his Parliamentary email (greg.rickford@parl.gc.ca).

Sierra Club Canada Foundation initiated an email campaign in response to learning Mr. Rickford's briefing binder instructed him to push for expanding Canada’s oil industry and ignored climate change. In 2005, Natural Resources Canada was responsible for administering numerous climate change programs designed to assist Canadians in living up to our Kyoto Protocol commitments.

Unicycling for Climate Change

Posted on September 10, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, September 11, 2014

OTTAWA – This Monday, September 15, 2014, Joseph Boutilier, a 24-year-old from Victoria B.C., will be completing his five-month long cross-country unicycle ride to raise awareness about climate change in Canada.

Boutilier’s one-wheel ride (the “Unity for the Climate Tour”) began on April 5, 2014. So far, his unicycle tour has taken him through five provinces and three U.S. states.

His 5,000 km journey – aimed at making climate change a priority issue in the 2015 election -- will conclude at noon on Monday when Boutilier reaches Parliament Hill.

Joseph planned for his journey to end on the day Parliament resumed with the aim of meeting as many Members of Parliament as possible to discuss climate change policy.

Sierra Club Celebrates Victory Against Fracking in Nova Scotia

Posted on September 3, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, September 3, 2014

Today, Nova Scotia’s Energy Minister Andrew Younger announced that his government will introduce legislation for a moratorium on fracking in the upcoming legislative session (see announcement here).

“This is a huge victory for citizens. The government has heard our call for real evidence of safety before proceeding with dangerous activities, like fracking,” said Gretchen Fitzgerald, Campaigns Director fro Sierra Club Canada Foundations’ Atlantic Canada Chapter.

Today we fight back!

Posted on September 3, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, September 3, 2014

MEDIA RELEASE
September 3, 2014

I have historic news. Today, we start to fight back.

This morning the Ontario Beekeepers launched a lawsuit against Bayer and Syngenta - the manufacturers of bee killing neonicotinoid pesticides.

These companies have raked in billions selling these pesticides in full knowledge of how lethal they are to bees.

So far we have looked to government and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to enforce the law, but once I sat down with the head of the Agency and key staff in June it became clear to me that the PMRA is infused with inertia and has no sense of urgency.

Government of Nova Scotia Needs to Ban Fracking

Posted on August 28, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, August 28, 2014

Sierra Club Canada Foundation is calling for a provincial ban on fracking based on the outcomes of a public review on fracking, released today. Click here to download the review

“This report makes it clear that fracking cannot proceed safely, and that the people of Nova Scotia are deeply concerned about its impacts on their health and communities, “ according to Gretchen Fitzgerald, Campaigns Director of the Atlantic Chapter.

“We are calling on the province of Nova Scotia to act immediately to draft a moratorium on fracking,” states John Bennett, National Program Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation. “Nova Scotians deserve the certainty that their communities will be safe.”

Sierra Club supports call for pesticide-free buffer zones

Posted on August 20, 2014
MEDIA RELEASE, August 20, 2014

The national environmental group Sierra Club Canada today announced its support for pesticide-free buffer zones around key public areas on Prince Edward Island.

"This is a minimum standard for protection of public health," said Sierra Club PEI volunteer and national board member Tony Reddin. "The citizens' group Pesticide-Free PEI has asked the PEI government to create pesticide-free buffer zones of at least 25 meters around children's playgrounds, schools, preschools, bus stops, hospitals, and senior citizens' homes. We strongly support this request; and those regulations should be written to clearly apply to all pesticides, not just cosmetic urban applications."

Sierra Club Canada, SOSS Stand in Solidarity with Innu, Maliseet, and Mi’gmaq First Nations Calling for Protection of the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Posted on August 14, 2014
July 16, 2014

The Sierra Club Canada Foundation and Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition (SOSS) are offering their support for the Innu, Maliseet, and Mi’gmaq First Nations of  Eastern Canada in their call for a moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

As with many oil and gas projects across the country, what we are seeing here is a government willing to run roughshod over rights of indigenous peoples to get to fossil fuels,” according to John Bennett, National Programs Director of Sierra Club. 

“We are proud to stand in solidarity with the Innu, Maliseet, and Mi’gmaq First Nations in calling for a moratorium on oil and gas in the Gulf.”

Low calving rates among blue whales cause for concern

Posted on August 12, 2014
Aug. 12, 2014

 

Scientists studying the blue whale in the Gulf of St Lawrence are reporting alarmingly low calving rates from this critically endangered species, says the Sierra Club Canada Foundation. The Sierra Club recently launched a campaign to safeguard the blue whale's critical habitat in the Gulf.

 

The Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) is a non-profit research organization located on the Gulf of St Lawrence's northern shore and they were the first group to begin long term study of marine mammals in the Gulf. Since their founding in 1979, this group has followed blue whale populations in eastern Canada, the Sea of Cortez and in the waters of Iceland.