WMU Canadian Studies sponsors visit by Prof. Joy Parr

Canadian Studies at Western Michigan University will sponsor a visit by noted scholar Joy Parr, Canada Research Chair at the University of Western Ontario, on 3-4 October.  She will present the annual Canadian Studies lecture, discussing her research on environment, health, and policy in the Great Lakes region.  The lecture, titled “Local Water Diversely Known,” is free and open to the public. It  will be held on 3 October (Wednesday) at 3:30 p.m. in the Brown and Gold Room, Bernhard Center, on the WMU campus. 

Prof. Parr’s lecture examines a case of water contamination that drew world-wide attention.  In June 2000 contamination from cattle manure entering the water supply in the small town of Walkerton, Ontario killed 7 and sickened 2,300.  The event received international coverage but the press covered the story as a crisis caused by neo-liberal cut-backs in water regulation. Prof. Parr, whose home village is near Walkerton, argues that the cause was the local preference for the taste of non-chlorinated water and for local control over village services. She serves as the social scientist acting as liaison between the community and the medical team studying the long-term health effects of the contamination.

For further information on the lecture or to participate in other activities during Prof. Parr's visit, please contact Nora Faires, Chair, Canadian Studies Initiative at nora.faires@wmich.edu or 269-387-4650.  For more information regarding Prof. Parr’s research and scholarship, visit her web page at: http://publish.uwo.ca/~jparr/