Beloved listeners, the mamas have a treat for you: our very first guest on the podcast, featuring the marvelous Bethany Lee from Protect Our Water Source!

Bethany is a fellow mother, and like Justine, has roots in the city and has fallen in love with the rural Quebec life in recent years. In this wide ranging interview, we talk about loving and belonging in our communities, how being mothers shapes our hopes for the future, and how we should share the most precious public resource: water.

Bethany is the spokesperson for an organization called "Protect Our Water Source", which become organized when it was revealed there would be a commercial water pumping venture in Hinchinbrook. Her community of Powerscourt was both surprised and concerned by the lack of information provided, and the organization has sprung forth to push for more disclosure on how water testing was performed for this project.

She takes us through the timelines of the project, what risks water pumping poses to the nearby farms, how the community has responded and what the next steps are.

It's a fantastic episode, both for locals and all those who have ever wondered: "Who is water for?"

Bethany would say: "it's for the people".

Sources we mentioned:

Protect Our Water Source: https://protectourwatersource.ca/

"The History of the County of Huntingdon [Quebec]: And of the Seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois from Their Settlement to the Year 1838" by Robert Sellers

Gleaner: "Farm To Food" podcast

Eau Secours: https://eausecours.org/