There was a big turnout Monday evening for a screening of an American documentary that’s critical of the bottled water industry.
The free evening screening of Tapped drew more than 350 people to the U of G’s War Memorial Hall, said a news release from the Council of Canadians, whose Guelph chapter helped to arrange the screening.
Also helping to organize the event, which included remarks from Council of Canadians national chairperson Maude Barlow and others, were Wellington Water Watchers and the U of G’s Central Student Association. These groups organized the event in response to the city’s decision to cancel a planned screening of Tapped last month in the Riverside Park pavilion, after a Nestlé Waters Canada official sent a letter of objection to Mayor Karen Farbridge, the release said. Nestlé operates Canadian water bottling plants in Aberfoyle and in Hope, B.C.
Wellington Water Watchers had organized a water conservation documentary series on three evenings in September in partnership with the city, and Tapped was one of the three films scheduled for free screening in city-owned venues.
“The incredible turnout” at Monday’s event “is a clear sign that the community will not stand for Nestlé’s bullying,” Barlow said in the release.
“People are definitely opening their eyes to the harm Nestlé and the bottled water industry does to our water sources,” she said. “Nestlé may think twice again before they try to stifle public debate about critical social issues.”