Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

Don River

Data shows Ontario, Quebec have worst water quality in Canada

Data shows Ontario, Quebec have worst water quality in Canada

A report from Environment and Climate Change Canada said Ontario and Quebec have the poorest water quality in Canada, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “Calculated trends using data from 2002 to 2020 show no site with improved water quality,” said the report. “During that same period, water quality deteriorated at 24 sites.” Water quality showed no improvement in the past two decades because of raw sewage dumped into waterways. Regional waterways with worsening quality included Ottawa’s Rideau River, Toronto’s Humber and Don rivers, and Quebec’s Chateauguay, Jacques-Cartier, and la Petite Nation rivers.

Hydro One teams in clean up mode after oil spill leaks into the Don River

Hydro One teams in clean up mode after oil spill leaks into the Don River

Cleanup crews from Hydro One are continuing their work at the Don River on Saturday after an oil spill from one of its transmission sites leaked into the river a day earlier. Nancy Clark, a spokesperson for Hydro One, said one of the company's transformers at the Bathurst Transmission Station in North York failed early Friday, resulting in insulating mineral oil being released.

Canoodling Canada's original highways

Canoodling Canada's original highways

On the rack in the backyard, the little red canoe is withdrawn, overturned and not liking it, and the crest of snow on the canvas is visible along the tumblehome. It yearns for open water now closing in on this writer. Back in 2007, after much input from listeners and a panel of judges, the CBC Radio show Sounds Like Canada picked the canoe as one of the country's seven wonders. One of those judges was Roy MacGregor. “It may have been the promise of a railroad to the Pacific that made Canada whole,” writes Roy in his book, Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada, "but it was rivers that carried the people west and made that railroad necessary.”

Toronto launches $3B project to improve water quality in Lake Ontario and city's waterways

Toronto launches $3B project to improve water quality in Lake Ontario and city's waterways

City officials have launched Toronto's largest and most significant storm water management program — the Don River and Central Waterfront and Connected Project — which will halt the flow of sewage into Lake Ontario and clean up waterways. The first phase of the five-phase project — the Coxwell Bypass Tunnel — will see a 10.5 kilometre long and 6.3 metre wide tunnel built at a cost of $400 million. The overall project is expected to cost $3 billion.

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