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Maude Victoria Barlow (born May 24, 1947) is a Canadian author and activist. She is a founding member of the Council of Canadians, a citizens' advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works internationally for the human right to water. Barlow chairs the board of Washington-based
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization group with an office also in Los Angeles, California, which focuses on corporate and government accountability relating to food, water, and corporate overreach. Resulting ...
, is a founding member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization, and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based
World Future Council The World Future Council (WFC) is a German non-profit foundation with its headquarters in Hamburg. It works to pass on a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies to future generations. FuturePolicy.org The website f ...
. In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd
President of the United Nations General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...
and was a leader in the campaign to have water recognized as a human right by the UN. She has authored and co-authored 19 books, including her latest, ''Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada's Water Crisis'' and
Whose Water is it Anyway? Taking water protection into public hands
'.


Water policy

Barlow proposes the remunicipalization of the water and sanitation services because "the public and communities lose control as local government officials abdicate control over a vital public service, private water companies are accountable to their shareholders, not to the people they serve and often restrict public access to information about their operations Because they have to make a profit, they have to cut corners, raise water rates or lay off workers - often all three."


Film

Barlow is in the feature documentary film '' Blue Gold: World Water Wars'' by Sam Bozzo. Barlow is featured in two other recent documentaries about
water rights Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentiou ...
issues: Irena Salina's documentary '' Flow: For Love of Water'', and Liz Marshall's ''
Water on the Table ''Water on the Table'' is a Canadian documentary film directed, produced and written by filmmaker Liz Marshall. The film explores Canada's relationship to its freshwater resources and features Canadian activist Maude Barlow in her pursuit to protec ...
''. Barlow also contributes to a blog associated with ''Water on the Table''. Barlow is the subject of a
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...
documentary ''Democracy à la Maude'' as well as a CBC TV ''Life and Times'' biography. The
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...
film '' Paani'', being directed by
Shekhar Kapur Shekhar Kulbhushan Kapur (born 6 December 1945) is an Indian filmmaker and actor. Born into the Anand-Sahni family, Kapur is the recipient of several accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a National Film Award, a National Board of Review Award a ...
, is based on ''Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right''.


Awards

Barlow is the recipient of fourteen honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005
Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob vo ...
(known as the "Alternative Nobel"), the 2005 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, the 2009 Planet in Focus Eco Hero Award, and the 2011 EarthCare Award, the highest international honour of the Sierra Club (US).


Published works


Books: Principal author or co-author

*Parcel of Rogues: How Free Trade Is Failing Canada – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1990) *Take Back the Nation (with Bruce Campbell) – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1992) *Take Back the Nation 2 (with Bruce Campbell) – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1993) *Class Warfare: The Assault on Canada's Schools (with Heather-Jane Robertson) – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1994) . *Straight through the Heart: How the Liberals Abandoned the Just Society (with Bruce Campbell) – HarperCollins, Toronto (1995) . *The Big Black Book: The Essential Views of Conrad and Barbara Amiel Black (with Jim Winter) – Stoddart, Toronto (1997) . *MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the Threat to Canadian Sovereignty (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart (1997) . *MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the Threat to American Freedom (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (1998) *The Fight of My Life: Confessions of an Unrepentant Canadian – HarperCollins, Toronto (1998) . *MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment Round 2; New Global and Internal Threats to Canadian Sovereignty (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (1998) *Frederick Street: Life and Death on Canada's Love Canal (with Elizabeth May) – HarperCollins, Toronto (2000) *Global Showdown: How the New Activists Are Fighting Global Corporate Rule (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (2001) . *Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (2002) . *Profit Is Not the Cure: A Citizen's Guide to Saving Medicare – McCelland & Stewart, Toronto (2002) . *Too Close For Comfort; Canada's Future Within Fortress North America – McClelland & Stewart, Toronto (2005) . *Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Fight for the Right to Water – McClelland & Stewart, Toronto (October 16, 2007) . Also available in French, Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Turkish, and Spanish. *Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever - House of Anansi, Inc., Toronto (September 2013) (''print version''), 978-1-7708-9407-5 (''e-book''). *Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada's Water Crisis - ECW Press, Toronto (September 2016) (''print version''). *Whose Water is it Anyway? Taking water protection into public hands. - ECW Press, Toronto (September 2019) (''print version'').


Books: contributing author

* *Trading Freedom: How Free Trade Affect our Lives, Work, and Environment – Institute for Policy Studies, Washington (1992) *The American Review of Canadian Studies – Twentieth Anniversary Issue of The Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Washington (1992) *Crossing the Line: Canada and Free Trade With Mexico- New Star Publications, Vancouver (1992) *The Charlottetown Accord, the Referendum, and the Future of Canada – University of Toronto Press, Toronto (1993) *The Trojan Horse: Alberta and the Future of Canada – Black Rose Books, Edmonton (1995) *The Case Against the Global Economy –
Sierra Club Books Sierra Club Books was the publishing division, for both adults and children, of the Sierra Club, founded in by then club President David Brower. They were a United States publishing company located in San Francisco, California with a concentrat ...
, New York (1996) *Globalization and the Live Performing Arts, Conference Papers – Monash University, Melbourne (2001) *Alternatives to Economic Globalization, a Report of the International Forum on Globalization – Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco (2002) *Whose Water Is It? The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World – Edited by Bernadette McDonald and Douglas Jehl, National Geographic, Washington (2003) *Meeting the Global Challenge: Competitive Position and Strategic Response – BMA Program, Edited by Tom Wesson, York University Press, Toronto (2004) *Globalization, Human Rights & Citizenship, An Anthology From the Gannett Lecture Series – Rochester Institute of Technology, Edited by Robert Manning – trade paperback (2005)


Reports


Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World’s Water Supply
– International Forum on Globalization, San Francisco (June 1999) *The Free Trade Area of the Americas, The Threat to Social Programs, Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice – International Forum on Globalization, San Francisco (February 2001) *The World Trade Organization and the Threat to Canada's Social Programs – The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (September 2001) *Profit is not the Cure: A Call to Action on the Future of Health Care in Canada – The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (Winter 2002) *Making the Links, A Citizen's Guide to the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (with Tony Clarke) – The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (Summer 2003) *The Global Fight Against Privatization of Water – Annual Report, The World Forum on Alternatives, Geneva (April 2004) *The Canada We Want, A Citizen's Alternative to Deep Integration – The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (March 2004)


See also

*
Free trade debate Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...


References


External links


The Council of Canadians – Maude Barlow

Blue Planet Project

Maude Barlow Interview with Jeff Fleischer of Mother Jones

Maude Barlow on the Need for Water Justice
– video report by ''
Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
'' * Video
Maude Barlow: "The World Has Divided into Rich and Poor as at No Time in History"
* Video
Maude Barlow: "The Continued Destruction of the Earth Can Go on Quite Happily"

Right Livelihood Award

Huffington Post (Canada) – Maude Barlow
* Watc
''Democracy à la Maude''
at NFB.ca {{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Maude 1947 births Living people Activists from Toronto Anti-globalization activists Anti-globalization writers Canadian activists Canadian environmentalists Canadian feminists Canadian officials of the United Nations Canadian political writers Canadian women activists Canadian women environmentalists Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Privatization in Canada Water and politics Water privatization Writers from Toronto Canadian nationalists