Weaving Together Grassroots Water Protectors

Water Allies is pleased to announce a panel featuring the work of two movements working to protect the water: Protect the Tract and Wellington Water Watchers.

Guest Speaker: Serena Mendizabal (Protect the Tract) will share a history of resistance, and thoughts on how to amplify, advocate and organize to end exploitation of Haudenosaunee lands and waters. Protect the Tract is a Haudenosaunee-led project that conducts research, policy development and develops capacity for civil engagement, to exercise sovereignty through the promotion of land stewardship over the Haldimand Tract.

Guest Speaker: Dani Lindamood (Wellington Water Watchers) will share updates on recent campaigns with the Wellington WaterWatchers. Water Watchers was founded in 2007 to oppose Nestlé Water Canada’s local water-bottling operations in Wellington County, Ontario. Today, the Water Watchers has become a resource to grassroots leaders on the frontlines of water protection, empowering people & communities to work in solidarity towards social justice through the unifying lens of water.  Both speakers will share reflections on what it means to work in solidarity, in a good way.

This event is to be aligned with Bonnie’s course Water and Environmental Justice (Tuesdays from 9-11am, New College, University of Toronto).

Serena’s Bio: Serena Mendizabal is a 25-year-old Cayuga Ngabe Panamanian Wolf clan woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory with a passion for self-determined community development, action, and futures. Serena is a Masters of Geography and Environment at Western University with a focus on Indigenous environmental health governance, looking at the potential for community health to improve through the self-determination of resource and energy decision making. Serena is passionate about the self-determination of her people, the Haudenosaunee, and believes their traditional governance and systems are the only way to create a just climate future. Serena is in multiple different Indigenous environmental projects in her community of Six Nations, and beyond, working towards a future that is full of Indigenous youth leading & learning from our elders; sovereign, healthy nations; and land & waters back. For more on the work of Protect the Tract see: https://www.protectthetract.com/.

Dani’s Bio: Dani Lindamood has worked across multiple sectors, including social enterprise, academia, and the nonprofit sector, but water is always at the heart of what she does. Originally from California, Dani moved to southern Ontario in 2015 to pursue her masters degree in Sustainability Management with an emphasis on water at the University of Waterloo. After spending a couple years in academia, she began working with the Wellington Water Watchers as a consultant in 2019, supporting research & science communications initiatives, then transitioned to a permanent role as the Program Manager, then Programs Director. Every day is different with the Water Watchers, but education, mobilization, resourcing the movement, and celebration for water all ground her work. When she’s not on the clock, Dani can be found enjoying a craft beer, swimming, soaking in the wonders of nature, and making music. For more on the work of Wellington Water Watchers, see: https://www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca/