The Polaris Institute is a Canadian

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario. Its stated goal is "to help empower citizen movements towards democratic social change". It was formed in 1997 in response to its view that citizens were becoming politically disenfranchised in an age of corporate driven

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

. The catalyst for the formation of the organization was the passing of two controversial trade agreements, the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1989 and the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

of 1994. The organization currently focuses its work on six projects: * Water Rights: a multi-year campaign to promote public tap water and establish bottle water free zones’ in schools, universities, colleges and municipalities supplemented with work on a comprehensive ban on bulk water exports plus solidarity actions with water justice struggles and movements in Mexico, South Africa, and India. * Energy Transition: a multi-group campaign with other Canadian and US groups to put a cap on the production and export of crude oil from the Alberta tar sands and promote the development of clean and renewable energy sources. * Indigenous Rights: an ongoing initiative led by indigenous activists committed to grassroots mobilizations in

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

communities affected by tar sands development as well as an initiative to focus on the financial risk of investing on disputed First Nations lands. * Climate Jobs/Green Economy: a program wherein Polaris has played a role in organizing a new nationwide alliance of the country's major labor unions, environmental and social justice organizations to develop and promote a common policy platform for transitioning to a

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politi ...

. * Corporate Profiles: ongoing critical analysis of the corporate power that influences government policy making. Work includes developing corporate profiles on some of the major corporate players and providing a rapid response mechanism for community and movement activists on corporate research matters. Current projects include profiles of water services corporations operating in Canada, the influence of corporations over immigration policy in Canada, research on foreign and Canadian mining corporations and the lobbying activities of tar sands industry. * Global Justice: a program involving social movements and NGOs from around the world focused on corporate power hrough the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Powerand global trade justice issues hrough Our World is Not For Sale These movements are engaged primarily in: challenging the GATS regime at the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

; mobilizing resistance to the G20; and confronting the corporate capture of the United Nations.

External links

Polaris Institute
Political advocacy groups in Canada Think tanks based in Canada {{Canada-org-stub