Join us for a dinner screening and discussion of the environmental racism documentary “There’s Something in the Water,” co-directed and produced by Ian Daniel MC MPA 23. The film explores the topic of environmental racism and shines a light on the Canadian government’s current and historical decisions to prioritize the profits of large corporations over the health of Indigenous and Black Nova Scotian communities. The screening will be followed by a post-film conversation with Louise Delisle and Dorene Bernard, two activists featured in the film, and Yanilda Gonzalez, assistant professor of public policy at HKS. This event is part of the “What Justice Looks Like” discussion series convened by Assistant Professor Gonzalez. “What Justice Looks Like” takes a perspective of “public policy from below” by centering the voices of those on the ground level of struggles for justice, but traditionally excluded from the halls of power.
Please note that dinner will be served. This event is hosted by and cosponsored by The Ash Center for Democratic Innovation and Governance; the Anti-Racism Policy Caucus; and Anti-Racism Policy Journal at HKS.
About the Film
“There’s Something in the Water,” co-directed and produced by Ian Daniel MC MPA 23 and Elliot Page, is a documentary film that explores the topic of environmental racism and shines a light on the Canadian government’s current and historical decisions to prioritize the profits of large corporations over the health of Indigenous and Black Nova Scotian communities. The film engages in deeply personal and political dialogue with women from rural areas that are plagued by toxic fallout from industrial development who are at the forefront of some of Nova Scotia and the world’s most urgent environmental crises. (World premiere at Toronto Film Festival 2019/NETFLIX).
About the Speakers
Louise Delise is a grassroots activist and founder of SEED (South End Environmental Injustice Society). SEED is a Black-led non-profit society and direct grassroots response to the siting of a landfill near Shelburne’s African Nova Scotian and working-poor community and is a volunteer effort to address issues of environmental racism. SEED was awarded a 2018 Nova Scotia Human Rights Award and made international news with the release of “There’s Something in The Water”, a documentary. To improve access to clean drinking water in her community, Louise has initiated extensive water testing in partnership with Rural Water Watch, advocated successfully for the creation of a community well in partnership with NSCC and funding partners, installed UV treatment and filtration systems on homes in the Black community with contaminated water in partnership with LUSH Canada.
Dorene Bernard is a Mi’kmaq Grassroots Grandmother, from the Sipekne’katik band in Mi’kmak’i. She is a Water Protector, Water Walker, and Survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. She has a Master of Social Work and worked in Mi’kmaq Child Welfare for 15 years and Community Support for Residential School Survivors over the past 10 years. In 2017, she was the Coady International Institute Chair in Social Justice, sharing her teachings on Indian Residential School legacy, Social Justice, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Girls, Environmental Racism and Climate Justice.
Ian Daniel MC MPA 23 is a Roy and Lila Ash Student Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He is an Emmy-nominated producer, filmmaker, journalist, and curator. He recently co-directed and produced “There’s Something in the Water” a documentary film that explores the topic of environmental racism in Indigenous and Black communities in Canada. Daniel is the former Co-host and Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated TV show “GAYCATION” along with actor Elliot Page. An exploration of LGBTQIA+ culture around the world, the series had two seasons on VICE TV and was nominated for Emmy and GLAAD awards and won the Imagen Foundation award “Best Informational Program” for creating positive portrayals of Latinos in the media. This earned him “OUT Magazine’s 100 Most Influential LGBTQ People” and “Winq Magazine (Attitude UK) Man of the Year” honors. He reported on LGBTQIA+ issues for VICE and began his journalism career as an Associate Producer and intern at TODAY on NBC in NY. At Harvard, his the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Anti-Racism Policy Journal, Founding Chair of the Anti-Racism Policy Caucus, and a Senior Researcher (Documentary) at the Shorenstein Center.
