Earth Day Celebration in the Park

By Eric Schiller

Monday, April 22 was Earth day. On that day, the Ottawa Water Study/Action Group (OWSAG) and the Ottawa Riverkeeper conducted a water celebration in Strathcona park at the Adawe bridge crossing.

The event began with an Indigenous water ceremony. The preciousness of water in all creation was honoured. To support this message, information was on hand from OWSAG and the Ottawa Riverkeeper. Several passers-by stopped, received information and signed the Bottled Water Declaration.

The event was given an artistic touch by poetry readings from Ian Prattis, vibrant Cameroonian drum music by Wise Atangana and live painter Angeli.

After these preliminaries, participants got into the serious work of environmental cleanup. Teams set out to collect garbage of all kinds. Special bags were used to collect plastic bottles. These will be used for a bottle water event later this summer. Stay tuned for details to come.  ​

Check out more  photos here!