Known internationally as an advocate of water resources, Maude Barlow was in the Yukon on Monday to say no to fracking.

The chair of the Council of Canadians addressed an anti-fracking rally outside the legislature at noon yesterday.

The Yukon is still in the position to say no, and it should say no, Barlow insisted.

The world is already in trouble with its water sources, she added.

The United Nations study says by 2030, demand for water will outstrip the available supply by 40 per cent, she said.

Barlow told the crowd to visit places in the world that don’t have water anymore, then come back to the Yukon and fall on your knees.

“I am here in solidarity, my Council of Canadians is here solidarity and we will take your message across the country,” she said.

“No fracking in the Yukon. Make your statement and take your stand on it.”

Barlow said water used in fracking operations has as many as 600 chemicals, and nobody has any way of dealing with where that contaminated water is going to go.

In an interview afterwards, the former senior advisor on water at the United Nations said you don’t have to look far, and you don’t have to look hard, to find critical water shortages on the planet.

They’re everywhere, she said, taking time to cite areas around the globe that are desperate.

She said half the rivers in China have disappeared.

“They are just gone,” she said. “They’re not polluted, they’re just gone.”

California is in crisis, Barlow noted. She said Alberta’s Bow River is in trouble.

“Demand is going up and supply is going down.”

She said no place on Earth is safe from the effects of climate change and loss of water.

Water resources in the Yukon are still largely intact, she pointed out.

Barlow said to allow fracking in the Yukon is a step in the wrong direction.

Fracking involves using water contaminated with chemicals, some of them carcinogenic, and nobody should believe anybody who says otherwise, she said.

Barlow said fracking contaminates local wells and ground water, leads to animal deaths and causes human health problems.

All have been well-documented, she said.

“Why would you take the beauty of this place, this place is known for clean water and clean air, and put it at risk?” she said. “Why would you endanger this beautiful environment?”

Barlow said Yukoners should not let the hydraulic fracturing industry get started in the territory.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has gutted the legislation meant to protect the country’s supply of fresh water but Canada still has the First Nations and their aboriginal rights as a safeguard, she said.

Barlow said the negative impacts of fracking have been felt mostly by the First Nations because the First Nations occupy the remote areas where fracking occurs.

“So suddenly it is going from First Nations being kind of victims for a while to First Nations being leaders in our struggle to protect our water and air.”

The Yukon, said Barlow, should apply the precautionary principle.

“Until you prove it is safe to us, you do not have access.”

As much as greenhouse gas creates climate change, so does the removal of water, she said.

Barlow said in her most recent book, Blue Future, she documents some of the successful attempts around the world to reclaim water resources that were once exhausted.

There have been some spectacular examples, she explained, noting cases in Slovakia, Australia, Portugal, Africa....

Barlow said the bottom line is if you want healthy water resources, don’t let them get destroyed in the first place.

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