OTTAWA - The Council of Canadians campaigns against free trade with the US and foreign influence in Canada, but it has a fondness for American dollars.
Tax filings by billionaire American charitable foundations show the Council accepted more than US$1.6 million in funding from them between 2003 and 2012.
The Council's national chairman sees nothing wrong with that.
"The only money we've ever received (from American foundations) is for human-right-to-water work at the United Nations," Maude Barlow told QMI Agency on Sunday. "99.99% of all of our funding comes from our members."
Much of the funding from American foundations was earmarked for the Council's campaigns on water issues, but tens of thousands of dollars may have gone toward other uses.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund forked over $45,000 to the Council in 2010 for something called "Earth jurisprudence."
Grants from other foundations were for general environment and sustainability programs or a "security and prosperity" project.
Barlow denied the funding was for purposes other than her US-based water campaign.
"No, the (funding) has been for our work on the human-right-to-water at the United Nations," Barlow said. "It's cross-border work in supporting and promoting the human right to water."
Still, Barlow's group received $50,000 from the California-based CS Fund in 2009 "to foment resistance to the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership" - an attempted harmonization of Canadian, US and Mexican security and trade regulations that ultimately failed.
The Beyond the Border agreement replaced the partnership in 2011.
Despite the Council of Canadian's official policy of non-partisanship, Barlow couldn't resist taking a shot at the Tories for their Elections Act reforms.
"We'll be lobbying and we will be organizing against it because it's a very dangerous piece of legislation," she said.
Last December, Barlow's group also appealed to Conservative supporters to withhold their donations because of the Senate scandal.
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Sun News : Council of Canadians likes American dollars
Tax filings by billionaire American charitable foundations show the Council accepted more than US$1.6 million in funding from them between 2003 and 2012.
The Council's national chairman sees nothing wrong with that.
"The only money we've ever received (from American foundations) is for human-right-to-water work at the United Nations," Maude Barlow told QMI Agency on Sunday. "99.99% of all of our funding comes from our members."
Much of the funding from American foundations was earmarked for the Council's campaigns on water issues, but tens of thousands of dollars may have gone toward other uses.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund forked over $45,000 to the Council in 2010 for something called "Earth jurisprudence."
Grants from other foundations were for general environment and sustainability programs or a "security and prosperity" project.
Barlow denied the funding was for purposes other than her US-based water campaign.
"No, the (funding) has been for our work on the human-right-to-water at the United Nations," Barlow said. "It's cross-border work in supporting and promoting the human right to water."
Still, Barlow's group received $50,000 from the California-based CS Fund in 2009 "to foment resistance to the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership" - an attempted harmonization of Canadian, US and Mexican security and trade regulations that ultimately failed.
The Beyond the Border agreement replaced the partnership in 2011.
Despite the Council of Canadian's official policy of non-partisanship, Barlow couldn't resist taking a shot at the Tories for their Elections Act reforms.
"We'll be lobbying and we will be organizing against it because it's a very dangerous piece of legislation," she said.
Last December, Barlow's group also appealed to Conservative supporters to withhold their donations because of the Senate scandal.
more/video
Sun News : Council of Canadians likes American dollars
