Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, heralding Monday’s sentence, said the money will be placed in a fund that supports “projects that benefit the natural environment.” De Beers was charged under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, a prosecution considered significant as one of the first since the act’s regulations were amended in 2020.
In a resolution to a years-long dispute, De Beers Canada has plead guilty to one count of failing to report annual mercury monitoring results for the G2 station at Victor mine in 2014 as required under the mine’s Certificate of Approval. De Beers was not charged with failing to take samples, monitoring or for polluting the environment. The open-pit diamond mine operated by De Beers Canada Inc. is located upstream from the Attawapiskat First Nation. Beginning in 2008, the project pumped water from the open pit into the Granny Creek water system which flows into the Attawapiskat River, triggering a rise in the mercury level in the water and the fish populations.
