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

Environmental Defence

‘Dire impact’ if concerns over nutrient runoff into Lake Erie aren’t addressed

‘Dire impact’ if concerns over nutrient runoff into Lake Erie aren’t addressed

In 2018, faced with a rise in toxic algal blooms that threatened the health of Lake Erie, Ottawa and Queen’s Park released the Canada-Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan, pledging to reduce levels of phosphorus in the lake by 40 per cent within seven years. Since then, says Michelle Woodhouse, water program manager with Environmental Defence, little has happened. “We were supposed to receive an update from the province in 2020 about how we were doing so far. We never received one,” Woodhouse said, noting a new “interim update” on efforts to slow nutrient runoff into the lake has been promised for next year.

‘We are sleepwalking towards disaster’ on Lake Erie, environmental group says

‘We are sleepwalking towards disaster’ on Lake Erie, environmental group says

In 2018, faced with a rise in toxic algal blooms that threatened the health of Lake Erie, Ottawa and Queen’s Park released the Canada-Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan, pledging to reduce levels of phosphorus in the lake by 40 per cent within seven years. Since then, says Michelle Woodhouse, water program manager with Environmental Defence, little has happened.

Ontario proposes to extend water bottling moratorium by nine months

Ontario proposes to extend water bottling moratorium by nine months

Ontario is proposing to extend a moratorium on water bottling permits for nine months to give the government more time to consider the science behind it. Over the past year, the government reviewed the state of water resources in key areas of the province and the effect that taking water out of the ground has on those resources, a spokesman for Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said.

Decision coming soon on water bottling permits in Ontario, environment minister says

Decision coming soon on water bottling permits in Ontario, environment minister says

A decision on how to proceed with water bottling permits is expected by early to mid-December, with a review nearly complete, Ontario's Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said Thursday. A moratorium on new and expanded permits to take water for bottling, which was put in place by the former Liberal government in 2017, and was extended last year by the Progressive Conservatives, is set to expire on Jan. 1. Yurek said his decision will be based in science, though if the government can't find a "conclusive way to go forward" he would extend the moratorium again.

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