Musicians for Water rallies voices for clean water

March 25 benefit concert for the northern GTA will feature acoustic performances by Burlington’s Sarah Harmer, Serena Ryder, and Metric's Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw.

One of my earliest memories of seeing Sarah Harmer perform was on a daytime talk show on CTV, where she played her now legendary environmental protest song “Escarpment Blues.” She had just finished a tour called I Love the Escarpment and a movie called Escarpment Blues detailing the serious jeopardy that underground water sources in Southern Ontario were in.

Fast forward decades, and Harmer is still in the thick of that fight.

Once again, she is letting her music do the talking as one of three performers this Wednesday, March 25 at Musicians for Water, a fundraising concert in Toronto on behalf of the Headwaters Community Coalition.

The lineup started with a phone call. “Emily and Jimmy from Metric were organizing this with a bunch of residents near the headwaters in Shelbourne,” Harmer tells HAMILTON CITY Magazine. “They had already spoken with Serena (Ryder), and I said ‘You heavyweights don’t need me.’ But they wanted me there.”

With such a killer lineup, the show will be letting the music and lyrics do the talking. “It will be a very stripped down show,” Harmer says.

And the topic? 

“Water is something everyone understands, and everyone has a different relationship to it. People who live in the country have a very different relationship to it than people who live in cities,” says Harmer, who grew up in Burlington.. “It’s a precious thing when you’re dealing with it on a large scale, and you need to do it right.”

Harmer points to a number of systemic problems with water regulation that she has been an active advocate against for many years.

She was one of the founding members of both PERL (Protect Escarpment Rural Lands), a group dedicated to fighting a quarry on Mount Nemo, and the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition, an umbrella group for similar organizations around the province.

“It’s been really important for community groups to learn from each other, compare and build science with one another,” explains Harmer. “Especially in terms of air quality and other areas that have been overlooked and regulated badly, or not at all.”

According to the province’s own numbers, there is a glut of gravel pit permits across the province. The industry has more gravel than it needs, but continues to pursue pit permits for reasons that Harmer says are not transparent.

“They keep that stuff very close to their vest. It’s good to bank land I guess, I don’t know?” Harmer says. “Maybe they see a permissive government, maybe it’s land banking, maybe consolidation?”

The Headwaters Region is made up of York and Durham, a scenic, rural area immediately north of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) known for its rolling hills, conservation lands, and as the source of major rivers like the Credit, Humber, Grand, and Nottawasaga. 

Meanwhile on Mount Nemo, PERL and CORE (Conserve our Rural Ecosystems) have just wrapped up presentations to the Ontario Land Tribunal and are awaiting word as to the fate of the proposed Mount Nemo Quarry. 

It has been a process worthy of a Scooby Doo episode, with developers and gravel mining companies having evidence thrown out after it was obtained by trespassing onto landowners’ property.

The hearings were further complicated by the province passing Bill 5 halfway through the process, virtually eliminating protection for endangered species, a key piece of CORE and PERL’s argument.

“It made a mockery of the endangered species act in Ontario. It made it so the habitat that was protected was whittled down to tiny areas,” Harmer says. “The bill came out at the time the hearing was underway and caused a quagmire about what the law said and what jurisdiction applies. It was a lot of discussion that was not based on science, but based on lobbying and watering down our once world-class endangered species act.”

As for the future? 

“I’m trying to work on some new music,” Harmer says.

“I always want to be able to write more songs. I don’t want to just go out and play my old songs, I want to have new fuel in the tank. I’m picking up my guitar every day and keeping my callouses up,” she says with a laugh.

Harmer says she is working on trying to be more simple in her songwriting. “I can get pretty wordy, and the simplicity is so other people can be brought in more easily.” 

At the same time, Harmer loves the documentary nature of artists like P.J. Harvey’s recent recordings, even if world events sometimes overwhelm her.

Harmer’s considerable songwriting chops will be on display at 567 Queen St. W. in Toronto at Musicians for Water on March 25, alongside Jimmy Shaw and Emily Haines (Metric) and Serena Ryder. Tickets are still available. 

It’s a show not to be missed for lovers of both great music and clean, fresh water.