Tribute to Charles Caccia

For those of you who might not know, Canada lost a great environmentalist on Saturday when Charles Caccia died following a serious stroke earlier in the week. Charles Caccia served in the House of Commons for decades and could always be relied upon to fight the good fight for strong environmental policies. Every activist who needed help, every forest in danger that wanted a champion, could rely on Charles Caccia. I first met Charles Caccia when he was Federal Minister of the Environment in 1983. It was the first time I had ever had an environment minister ask to meet with me. I was in the midst of the very punishing and stressful court case to prevent the use of Agent Orange on Nova Scotia forests. Charles Caccia was coming to Halifax and asked his staff to arrange for us to meet. I will never forget walking in to the Halifax hotel meeting room, Mark Rudolph, his assistant at the time and Bob Slater, Assistant Deputy Minister, were there as well. I was nervous, a bit intimidated, never imagining that all three of these men would become good friends. I mostly would not have believed it was possible for a minister of the environment to completely agree with my position. But he did, Charles Caccia told me he was horrified it was still legal that phenoxy herbicides could be sprayed over vast areas of forest. He gave me tremendous encouragement. He was the first elected person of any political party to do so. For the next twenty five years I was blessed to have Charles as a friend. He was uncompromising in his determination to save the Earth. Despite his fierce Liberal partisanship, he was never afraid of condemning the policies of his own party when they did not measure up. Born in Italy he had a deep brooding quality, and his voice had a serious tone and accent that must have been of his native Milan. I remember once in the 1993 federal campaign, environmental groups organized the first ever political debate on the environment. Charles represented the Liberal Party. The first question was from David Donnelly, then head of the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund (now Environmental Defence). David was feeling a bit aggressive and threw Charles a pointed question about how the Liberals could justify being willing to re-open contracts for the purchase of helicopters, but refuse to re-open the contract for the construction of the Fixed Link to Prince Edward Island. Charles' classic response, in his slow deep voice was: "In an act of political lunacy, my party favours the link." No rebuttal to that! Charles was enormously generous with his time. He was the first MP to help another environmental champion, Colleen McCrory, who died last July 1, with the fight to save South Moresby. He became one of its most stalwart champions. Years later, he spent many hours trying to sort out a resolution to my hunger strike over the toxic waste in Sydney backyards and basements. He succeeded in getting Alan Rock to give a statement offering to re-locate people at risk (Health Canada managed a double cross on that, but that's another story,). Many of my friends tried to make me promise I would never go on another hunger strike, but Charles was more pragmatic. He made me promise that before going on another hunger strike I would check with him to see if my timing was bad. Charles served as Chair of the House Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development form 1993 to 2004. He was aided and abetted by the finest of MPs --.the "Three Musketeers" as we called them, Charles teamed with Karen Kraft Sloan and Clifford Lincoln, all Liberal MPs, put up a full rebellion to force changes to strengthen the Canadian Species at Risk Act. There has never been another display of courage and backbone like the three of them. My daughter and I were very lucky to be part of the circle of Charles and his lovely wife Iva's circle of friends and family for their generous Christmas gatherings. Of course, Charles had known Victoria Cate since she was born, helping me with her stroller getting on and off the buses to the Rio Earth Summit when she was not quite one year old. He always sent her personal notes with clippings and things he thought would interest her. Charles and Iva always had gifts for everyone and a sit down dinner that stretched on tables added to tables winding through the house for a multitude. As dinner wrapped up, Charles would offer a reading. With great solemnity he would gravely open one of the great books and read us something appropriate, like The Lorax. Charles once gave me a beautiful large coffee table type book, written in Italian and English, called The Monumental Trees of Italy . I just pulled it from the shelf, having gotten back from Brazil earlier this morning and feeling sentimental and teary about his sudden passing. The trees are so like Charles, or maybe he was like them. The photos are of the downey and great oaks of Italy. One, the largest oak in Ambruzzo, has a gnarled and massive trunk. Its roots so firmly and deeply into the soil, one cannot imagine any saw could fell it. There is nothing will o'the wisp about these trees. They are beautiful and resolute and strong and deeply of the earth. So was Charles Caccia.