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New prison draws job seekers
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Wednesday, September 23, 2015 • kelownacapnews.com
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The second annual Bus Pull fundraiser for United Way takes place Thursday in downtown Kelowna. See story A3.
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Standing up for clean air and water kmichaels@kelownacapnews.com
Could Kelowna become a Blue Dot on the map of B.C.? A group of environmentallyminded residents are trying to build momentum to have Kelowna council pass a declaration affirming the right to a healthy environment, aligning it with the David Suzuki foundation’s Blue Dot campaign. “As of right now, 80 Canadian municipalities have passed similar declarations,” said Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill Winery and
one of the leading voices in the local endeavour. “Fundamentally, it’s about the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and have access to safe food. It can also be about providing knowledge to residents about toxins released into the environment and allowing input into government decision making that affects our environment.” Clean water and clean air are things that Kelowna residents are lucky enough to take for granted and the Blue Dot designation would largely be symbolic, he said.
But that doesn’t make it any less relevant. “Symbolism is an important part of leadership,” Cipes said, pointing out that a municipal declaration, along with a provincial declaration—an item being tabled at the UBCM meeting this week—would lay the roots for change at a higher level of government. In particular, he hopes it could lay the groundwork for a change to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “What the charter is, is a distillation of our deeply held national beliefs—it’s the basis of our law,” he said.
“So if this is something we agree on as a country, and Canadians identify nature as part of their national identity, it should form the basis of our basic laws.” More than 1,000 signatures from Kelowna residents supporting the Blue Dot campaign being brought to Kelowna council indicate a local appetite for change and Cipes believes more people of all stripes will get on board with the idea as word spreads.
SEE STANDING A29
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