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 Minister Steven Guilbeault
The federal government says it's making Canada's largest investment ever in protecting the nation's sources of fresh water — including the Great Lakes. Commitments announced by the government during U.S. President Joe Biden's visit and in the recent budget bring the federal government's total investment to $750 million, said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Releasing treated oilsands tailings into the environment isn't the only solution being considered to clean up the massive toxic ponds in northern Alberta, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says. Guilbeault said Wednesday that even though his government is developing regulations on how the tailings could be drained into the Athabasca River, other solutions are under review.
Canada is throwing its support behind a push for a global treaty that could do for plastic pollution what the Paris agreement is slowly doing for greenhouse gas emissions. A resolution is set to be voted on Wednesday at the United Nations Environment Assembly meeting in Kenya, calling for a legally binding agreement to cut plastic waste by curbing demand and improving both the reuse and recycling of plastics. The resolution is intended to kick-start a wider negotiation to develop a treaty that addresses plastic pollution from production and design right through to waste management. The hope is that it will be ready for signatures the next time UNEA meets in 2024.
