The Right to Safe and Healthy Water (Ages 15-17)

Waterlife is a documentary film about the Great Lakes that follows the flow of the lakes' water from the Nipigon River to the Atlantic Ocean. The film's goal is to take viewers on a tour of an incredibly beautiful ecosystem that is facing complex challenges.

The Peace-Athabasca River Delta is a stunning habitat. Rivers converge in a rich, marshy wetland before draining into the Slave River. But the Delta is in trouble. Since the building of the WAC Bennett Dam in 1967, annual floodwaters--once the ecosystem's lifeblood--have become a thing of the past. The Delta is drying up, and lakes and wetlands are being replaced by brush. Species like the muskrat are disappearing. Footprints in the Delta explores the changes that have buffeted the region for several decades. Scientists, activists and Indigenous Peoples describe how lives have been fundamentally altered by the changes. And satellite images show the dramatic pace of degradation. Footprints in the Delta is essential viewing for anyone who cares about wetlands. It is a revealing account of the rapid change and environmental havoc humans can bring to a delicate ecosystem.

Canada possesses the greatest supply of fresh and salt water on the planet. This video examines the country's waterways, reserves and networks, and looks at the important role water has played in the past and present. Water shows how this precious resource has been both a boon and a challenge. Early explorers trying to locate the Northwest Passage to Asia ended up marooned and shipwrecked on the treacherous ice floes of the Canadian Arctic. Yet coastal waters have been treasured the world over for their bountiful fish stocks. And inland, the country's intricate systems of rivers and lakes have served as navigational arteries, sources of energy and playgrounds for leisure.

TRANSIT features five videos that examine Canada's rich and diverse geography. Each film in the series combines spectacular cinematography and lively animation, using the Earth's basic elements as themes: Air explores climate; Water showcases the country's network of rivers, lakes and oceans; Land looks at the vast territory that makes Canada the second largest country in the world; Fire documents old and new sources of energy; plus Life, which develops the themes of people, fauna and flora.

A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water - combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food - where does it all go? And what does it do to us? Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?

This feature documentary profiles the life and work of world-renowned Canadian scientist, educator, broadcaster and activist David Suzuki on the occasion of his last lecture in 2009—a lecture he describes as “a distillation of my life and thoughts, my legacy, what I want to say before I die.” As Suzuki reflects on his family history—including the persecution of Japanese Canadians during WWII—and his discovery of the power and beauty of the natural world, we are spurred to examine our own relationship to nature, scientific knowledge, and sustainability throughout modernity and beyond.