Twenty-third annual Daniel O’Hanley Memorial Lecture set for Sunday

The Latin American Mission Program (LAMP) of the Diocese of Charlottetown is inviting all Islanders to the 23rd annual Daniel O’Hanley Memorial lecture, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2 p.m., at Our Lady of the Assumption Church Hall, Stratford.

The guest presenter is Eliza Starchild Knockwood, a Mi’kmaq woman of the Abegweit First Nation. Her topic is Water as a Sacred Trust: How do we Protect it?.

This lecture is designed to inspire Islanders to appreciate that water is a gift from the creator and to encourage existing water protection movements.

The lecture continues LAMP’s themes of promoting non-violent protest for the protection of natural resources. It also brings out its belief in the essential position of Aboriginal peoples in the past, present and future of the Island, of Canada and of many other countries.

Knockwood is well-known and highly-respected in the Maritimes and across Canada.

A passionate defender of all aspects of the natural environment, she is especially committed to honouring water as key to the care and protection of Mother Earth.

Island people have made it clear during the past year that they know water is one of the most precious and fragile resources. The histories of the Mi’kmaq and of European settlements are intertwined with where the water flows. People know that ground water is their only source of water and that it is a civic and moral duty to protect it from excess extraction and contamination.

As part of the afternoon’s session, there will be a short response from a spokesperson for the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Water.

The lecture is a fitting memorial to Daniel O’Hanley, who worked with landless peasant farmers in Nicaragua for seven years, where he was murdered in a botched robbery attempt on July 3, 1991. He and the peasants with whom he worked understood the preciousness of water, a scarce resource in their newly acquired land.

Each

year

since

his

death, LAMP honours him and Islanders by presenting the

All are welcome. Everyone is invited to bring a small jar of water from home in order to take part in a moving water ceremony.

all lecture.