Women and Water event celebrates resource we cannot take for granted

Kim Wheatley, Maude Barlow, and Coco Love Alcorn will be part of Lakehead University's Office of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning's Women and Water event. 

June 11, 2019 – Orillia, ON

Directly or indirectly, water is central to our lives in every way. Water is also the focus of Lakehead University’s Office of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning’s upcoming event, Women and Water.

On Wednesday, June 19 people of all ages will gather for an evening of stories, teachings, and songs that share a common theme: the centrality of water. Three remarkable women will join Lakehead University for Women and Water and help explore, embrace and celebrate our relationships with water.

Kim Wheatley, water walker and Anishinaabe traditional grandmother, will open the event with traditional stories, songs and teachings. 

Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, chair of Food and Water Watch, and Lakehead University honorary degree recipient (2005) will answer the question, "Whose Water is It Anyway?", and discuss the fight for water justice in Canada and abroad.

The evening will also feature Canadian singer-songwriter, Coco Love Alcorn, who people will remember from her amazing turn at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 2018, will perform her viral hit, "The River," along with many other top songs.  

“We have been working really hard in Orillia to think through and address climate change and embrace sustainability,” said Dr. Linda Rodenburg, coordinator of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning. “We wanted to do something to celebrate our commitment to addressing these issues.  Everyone can learn something about the water, and embrace its importance in their own ways.” 

Rodenburg points out that, according to local Indigenous teachings, women are the keepers of the water. This doesn’t mean that the event is only for women, however. “Their message is for everyone in our community, men and women, young and old,” she said.

Details, including registration information, can be found online at www.lakeheadu.ca/cell. Tickets can be purchased at mysuccess.lakeheadu.ca/cell.

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Media: Jaclyn Bucik, Marketing & Communications Associate, 705-330-4008 ext. 2014 orjaclyn.bucik@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2019 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities and in 2018 Research Infosourcenamed Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the fourth consecutive year. Visitwww.lakeheadu.ca.