1.

Calls For Input / Calls For Comments / Calls For Nominations / Calls For Participation

1. Call for Participation - RCEN Task Group for Health Canada's VDD
2. Call for Interest - Promotion of the World Urban Forum
3. Call for Comments—Regulations Amending the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER)
4. Call for Input - EPA Caucus Seeking Information on Public Reviews

2.

Action Alerts

1. Sign on to the Acadian Forest Declaration!
2. Support Bill to Ban the Non-Essential Use of Pesticides

3.

Announcements

1. Environment Week Success Stories
2. Launch of Campaign No Means No to Ascendant Copper in Ecuador

4.

Resources

1. Workshop for NGOs Communications Tools

5.

Events

1. Valuing Nature: Stewardship and Conservation in Canada 2006

6.

Employment

1. Community Capacity-Building Coordinator, Centre for Sustainable Watersheds

1.

Calls For Input / Calls For Comments / Calls For Nominations / Calls For Participation

i.

Call for Participation - RCEN Task Group for Health Canada's VDD

The Canadian Environmental Network (RCEN) is forming a task group to discuss issues, and establish priorities and strategies for ENGOs' participation in the Health Canada Veterinary Drugs Directorate (VDD) meetings. Maria Castro of the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition will represent RCEN ENGOs at the May 10-11, 2006 meeting.

The Task group will hold a conference call on Friday, May 5th at 2 pm EDT. If you wish to be part of this Task group, and communicate your comments and concerns, please contact Olivier Bertin-Mahieux, tel.: (613) 728-9810 ext. 34 before TODAY, Friday, May 5th.

ii.

Call for Interest - Promotion of the World Urban Forum

ENGOs are encouraged to play a part in promoting the World Urban Forum, as they may have done with Habitat JAM last December 2005. There are several ways to promote the event, including posting a web banner on organization websites, posters in the office, brochures, newsletters, and online event calendars. To play a part in promoting the WUF, visit the WUF Promotion webpage, where you can choose a level of involvement.

For those taking part in promoting the World Urban Forum, their organizations' logos and links will be included on the WUF3 website, which is visited by people from across the globe. This is an exciting opportunity for your organization to be part of a historical event, which will have a resounding impact on cities worldwide. For any questions, please contact Nicole Mezzarobba, GLOBE Foundation, tel.: (604) 666-1293.

iii.

Call for Comments—Regulations Amending the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER)

The proposed Regulations Amending the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) have been posted on the Canada Gazette Part I, April 8, 2006, Vol. 140, No. 14 (page 771). The deadline to submit comments is May 7.

RCEN members are encouraged to submit comments to the Privy Council Office regarding the need to review alternatives to using new lakes (such as Trout Pond in Newfoundland) as tailings impoundment areas (TIAs); the fact that the fisheries assessment for Trout Pond was flawed; the risk of ground water contamination and the lack of aboriginal consultation for the inclusion of Trout Pond in the amendment. The addition of Trout Pond to the MMER amendments could set a precedent for using new lakes as TIAs all across Canada. For more information, go to the MiningWatch website or contact Sarah Heiberg, at (613) 728-9810 ext. 24. Please submit your comments to Patrick Finlay, Environment Canada, and copy Georgette Muller, PCO Policy Analyst, Sarah Heiberg and Joan Kuyek.

iv.

Call for Input - EPA Caucus Seeking Information on Public Reviews

Members of the Canadian Environmental Network's Environmental Planning and Assessment (EPA) Caucus' Public Participation Committee are looking for information/knowledge of any public review and/or consultation where a lead agency, regulator or proponent sought public input/feedback attendant to any environmental assessment. Please provide any subjective input about the nature of the process, how it worked, and its success or failures. Documented reports and/or records may be identified with sources. This information will allow the EPA Caucus to catalogue the factors affecting the outcome of a public participation process negatively or positively, and what kinds of issues will contribute to a strategic and effective public participation process. This data/evidence compiled will permit the construction of a template or checklist for parties to use when providing input into the scope and structure of any pubic participation process in the future.

Please forward any responses to Jannis Klein, EPA Caucus Coordinator.

2.

Action Alerts

i

Sign on to the Acadian Forest Declaration!

ENGOs are encouraged to support measures to save the remaining Acadian forests of New Brunswick and to sign on to the Acadian Forest Declaration. This declaration and the list of signatories will be presented to the Premier of New Brunswick and the Minister of Natural Resources in December 2006. Stay tuned for the official launching of the Acadian forest campaign and declaration! ENGOs are also invited to send this message to anyone that might be interested to sign-on or learn more about the Acadian Forest.

ii

Support Bill to Ban the Non-Essential Use of Pesticides

ENGOs are invited to e-mail their Federal Member of Parliament and asking him or her to request that the private members' Bill to Ban the Non-Essential Use of Pesticides be brought forward to debate in the House of Commons. The Bill will expire if it is not requested to be brought forward to debate. Send a message to the Prime Minister and leaders of the opposition: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Bill Graham M.P., Jack Layton M.P., Gilles Duceppe, Minister of the Environment Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health Tony Clement.

For more information, contact Ian Wayne, tel.: (613) 992-5316 or (613) 301-2079 or visit the Pesticides Phase Out Website.

3.

Announcements

i.

Environment Week Success Stories

Canadian Environment Week is June 4-10, 2006. This year's theme is "Taking Action on the Environment". In light of this theme, Environment Canada (EC) is looking for success stories related to environmental projects. Each year, EC profiles such stories on EC's Canadian Environment Week webpage. Submissions do not have a set length but 1000 words max is a good guidepost.

If you have a story you would like to share, send it directly to Cherie Johnston, EC. Please include a description of your project and its successful outcomes and include a link or other contact info should webpage visitors want more info about it. For more information, contact Anne-Marie Sleeman, Communications Advisor, EC, tel.: (604) 713-9514.

ii.

Launch of Campaign No Means No to Ascendant Copper in Ecuador

This week Friends of the Earth Canada in collaboration with Mining Watch Canada, announced the launch of the No Means No to Ascendant Copper in Ecuador campaign, just one day before the Ascendant annual meeting in Vancouver. Ascendant Copper Corporation (ACX-T), a Canadian junior mining company, has been trying to push ahead with its mining activities against the will of local governments and residents, who have actively been resisting mineral development in their region since the mid-1990s.

As part of the campaign launch FOE has released a new documentary film, The Curse of Copper: The True Costs of Mining in the Cloud Forest of Ecuador, which reveals important insights into the communities' struggle to enforce their Ecological Ordinance-a municipal law which prohibits mineral development in the County. For more information or to join the campaign to save the Intag Cloud Forest, visit the Ascendant Alert website.

4.

Resources

i.

Workshop for NGOs Communications Tools

A new round of Ready, Set, Go! Workshops is beginning on May 25, 2006. The workshops are developed and delivered by IMPACS, a Canadian leader in helping nonprofits and charities communicate more effectively. These workshops will help to develop and deliver clear messages, get your organization's stories out in the media, build strong relationships with your key stakeholders, use online tools effectively and more. If you have access to a phone and a computer connected to the Internet, you can participate in the workshops via teleconference and the internet. All workshops run either Tuesdays or Thursdays, for two hours and are priced at $55 per session.

For more information, visit the IMPACS website or contact Wayne Cullen, IMPACS, tel.: 1-877-232-0122 ext. 111.

5.

Events

i.

Valuing Nature: Stewardship and Conservation in Canada 2006

Valuing Nature: Stewardship and Conservation in Canada 2006 will be taking place July 5-8 in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. The conference is being co-hosted by Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust and the Newfoundland & Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation. Held every three years, this conference has been attracting participants representing all levels of government, non-profit organizations, industry, aboriginal groups, youth, educational institutions and individuals from across Canada and beyond.

During the conference, groups of participants with targeted expertise and experience will be invited to contribute to the discussions on the conference themes in sectoral working groups. The program will include three full days of concurrent sessions. There will be exhibits, posters and inspirational plenary speakers, as well as time for networking. Severn Cullis-Suzuki will also be speaking at the conference.

For more information, and to register, visit the Conference website.

6.

Employment

i.

Community Capacity-Building Coordinator, Centre for Sustainable Watersheds

The Centre for Sustainable Watersheds is seeking a motivated recent graduate to fill the intern position of Community Capacity-Building Coordinator. The succesful candidate will work with a multi-disciplinary team and Environment Canada partners, on a national program to improve water information sharing in Canada. The intern will carry out research and development to help create a distributed directory of water organizations and programs. They will also support different water stakeholders to get involved with the project. The intern should be familiar with the principles and standards for information sharing set out by the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure and ResEau. Strong communications skills and an ability to meet the public are a must. The deadline to apply is Monday, May 15, 2006.

Terms of Employment: Full-time internship with possibility of extension to March 31, 2007, 13$/hour. For more information, or to apply, visit the CSW website.