SEEDS is a Porte Parole Production (Montreal) written by Annabel Soutar and starring Eric Peterson (of Corner Gas and Street Legal fame). SEEDS has played in major Canadian cities since 2010, on tour from BC eastward, closing in Fredericton, March 19th. The local Raging Grannies were there, singing some great parodies about Monsanto.
This documentary theatre piece is the story of Saskatchewan canola farmer Percy Schmeiser's four-year legal battle with biotech giant Monsanto (1998-2004). Mr. Schmeiser continues to travel the world — he’s 84 now — talking about genetically modified organisms, the dangers of them, and the environmental and health and political ramifications of multinational corporations being able to copyright a seed. It continues to confront us with very serious questions. The answer to Schmeiser’s “Who owns Life?” question is about the future of our food system.
“April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.”
T.S.Eliot, the author of these first seven lines of his famous poem, “The Waste Land,” could well be a contemporary columnist for any paper in the world today. For New Englanders, April is always a tease for spring. The days can flip from sunny warm weather where coats are shed and windows opened to a late wintry blizzard which forces us to shovel, plow and keeps us inside by a fire.
For our last refection for Lent 2016, Sr. Réjeanne Bourque, CND invites us to Easter excitement and the wonder of the Resurrection. Sr. Réjeanne is a CND Sister in Visitation Province and lives in Prince Edward Island, Canada. I am grateful that Anna Rowley, an Associate Co-Coordinator for Eastern Canada, sent me this reflection to share with all of you. And I am grateful to all who have contributed to our Lenten reflections, Sharon Norton, Kathy Chadwick, Barbara Houlihan Hecht, Dolores Libby and Christine Mc Michael. Thank you, too, to all of you who have prayerfully participated in our Lenten community by reading and reflecting each week and to those who shared their responses. May the beautiful season of Easter gladden each of us with the joy, peace and hope of the Risen Christ among us! Sr. Joan Mahoney, CND
