December 2025 Fundraiser Campaign
This December, we are asking you to give a gift to the environment by donating to the Manitoba Eco-Network. We are also giving back this year with a limited number of gifts for the first donors to give.
At the Manitoba Eco-Network we give back everyday. We’re not just fighting the environment’s daily battles—we’re changing the rules of the game. By shifting laws and policies, we ensure Manitoba’s environment is protected for generations to come. Over the course of December, we're aiming to raise $20,000 to support our ongoing work.
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For the first 25 donors that give $25 or more, we will mail you one of our hot off the press Manitoba Eco-Network stickers.
For the first 14 donors that give $350 or more, we will mail you a bottle of our own locally made small batch hot sauce: The Tipping Point.
The Tipping Point hot sauce is a collaboration between the Manitoba Eco-Network and 1882 Fruit Based Hot Sauce. The sour cherries and super hot peppers (Carolina Reapers and Dragon's Breath) were grown by Manitoba Eco-Network's Executive Director, James Beddome, before they were turned over to hot sauce master Patrick at 1882 Fruit Based Hot Sauce. The only way to get one of these limited edition bottles is to donate to the Manitoba Eco-Network!
Your donation motivates us.
At the Manitoba Eco-Network, we are constantly working for a better world. We are always looking to find new opportunities to collaborate with others to promote good environmental governance, support and build capacity, advocate for environmental justice, and act as a bridge between environmental organizations, the public, and all levels of government.
It is an honour to do this work. But it can sometimes be tedious, or exhausting. The struggles we engage with can be frustrating, especially when it seems like we have to be fighting the same battle over and over again.
This is why your support is so important. Not only does it help the Manitoba Eco-Network financially, but it is also a vote of confidence. It motivates us here at the Manitoba Eco-Network to keep going on those tough days.
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Manitobans care about impact assessment!
When a major development, like a quarry or new industrial site is proposed in a community, residents understandably want to know how it could affect their health, land, water, and way of life. That's where impact assessment comes in.
Our recently released Putting People and the Planet First: What Manitobans Expect from Impact Assessment is a collaboration with the University of Winnipeg, the Public Interest Law Centre, and the nearly 500 Manitobans who engaged with us as part of this study.
It shows that Manitobans know how to make impact assessment better, and we are hopeful that this work will lead much needed reform.
This work included workshops across Manitoba, and we were particularly moved by participants in Brandon and The Pas who encouraged us to do a follow-up project on mining law reform project, so we have submitted some grant applications that will hopefully make that a reality in the coming year or so.
Our advocacy makes a difference.
Our advocacy efforts, including speaking to the Legislative Committee and meeting with Minister Wiebe, also recently ensured that The Public Interest Expression Defence Act, passed with amendments as suggested by the Manitoba Eco-Network. The need to protect the public from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP suits) was a recommendation from our past work including the 2023 Final Report of the Healthy Environment, Healthy Neighbourhood (HEHN) project, environmental rights advocacy (2022-present), and our 2024 State of Environmental Governance Report, so we are proud to have had an impact on this important and needed piece of legislation. We are also thankful for our fellow collaborators in this campaign such as the Centre for Free Expression and the Robson Hall Rights Clinic.Building a cross-border coalition to protect our water.
We have been working to bring together a broad cross-border coalition that includes Dakota Resources Council, Save Lake Winnipeg Project, Animal Justice, Abercrombie Citizens for Responsible Growth, CPAWS, Sierra Club ND chapter, Animal Justice, Manitoba Animal Save, Project Artemis, Food and Water Watch, and the Environmental Law & Policy Centre, Mukwa Miikana, and others together to oppose intensive mega-dairy operations in North Dakota that threaten lake Winnipeg as well as local North Dakotan water and ways of living.
We wrote to the International Joint Commission in April, published an op-ed in May, held a press conference and met with Minister Moyes in June, attended and spoke at a rally on the steps of the Legislature in August, travelled to Grand Forks to speak to the Red River Watershed Basin in November, and we have been cooperating with Dakota Resources Council on a number of ongoing legal challenges as well. We still have a ways to go to stop these mega-dairy operations, but our efforts are having an impact with Manitoba announcing in October that a review of these North Dakota dairy project was welcomed.
Protecting Aquifers within Manitoba
We are also continuing our ongoing collaboration with Our Line in the Sand to oppose the revived Sio Silica sand mining project. This project was previously rejected by the Manitoba Government in February 2024, which followed a CEC hearing and report which recommended that a license not be granted. The Manitoba Eco-Network and Our Line in the Sand participated in the hearings together, which included hiring independent engineering experts who highlighted risks to the aquifers that supply drinking water for approximately 100,000 people in the area. These concerns were validated by the CEC in their final report and the government's ultimate decision to not grant a licence. Ultimately, local resident's and Manitobans should not have to be going through this again - but we are prepared to continue our advocacy on this issue.Meeting with the PUB
We have also been trying to push for de-carbonization through our ongoing collaboration with Environmental Defence, and retained Elson Advocacy to represent us in Public Utility Board (PUB) hearings. We are using these regulatory processes to demonstrate that we don't need more fossil fuel powered energy.
We presented to the PUB on the 2025 Centra Gas rate hearing, we are interveners in the ongoing Manitoba Hydro 2026-28 rate hearing, we are engaging in Manitoba Hydro's ongoing Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) process and based on our meetings with government official, including Minister Sala, we anticipate the IRP being sent to the PUB as well.
The best thing for consumers and the planet is make smart plans that move us towards de-carbonization. This means more wind and solar, more energy storage, and using our energy more wisely through activities such as better insulating our homes and workplaces - not more fossil fuels!
Making homes more energy efficient.
Soon we will be launching our Manitoba's Home Energy Use Map, in collaboration with with Sustainable Building Manitoba. This project brings a community-powered tool to understand, compare, and improve how Manitobans use energy at home and to serve as a catalyst for change to help Manitobans reduce their home energy use. We are currently in the process of bringing the map to the community of St. Pierre-Jolys this Spring, and then subsequently the rest of Manitoba.
Stay tuned for more!
