FMV Background

Five Million Voices was conceived by a gentleman named Tom Philp from the small village of River Hebert, Nova Scotia. Inspired by Silver Donald Cameron's documentary Defenders of the Dawn. Tom was looking for a way to get school children involved in a campaign to demand recognition for Canadian citizens' right to clean air, clean water, and healthy food. These rights are recognized by the governments of 177 countries. But not Canada.

Tom's idea was to encourage students to engage in a letter-writing and artwork campaign to communicate directly with the Prime Minister. The project would start in one or more small towns in Nova Scotia and spread the rest of the country, eventually involving all five million elementary and secondary school students in Canada.

Originally intended to involve only written letters and artwork, the project has been expanded to encourage participants to communicate with the PM in whatever ways they are most comfortable, including all forms of social media as well as audio and visual means.

An important component of the FMV project is making students aware that they have a voice in their future. No matter where they might live – Toronto or Tuktoyaktuk – they can use that voice to communicate directly with their elected representatives to express their concern about a healthy environment.

The resources page contains links to several videos and sites related to Green Rights.