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.
A veterinary hospital in Halifax says a dog's recent death was connected to exposure to blue-green algae at Long Lake in Hammonds Plains. Halifax Veterinary Hospital said in a statement Wednesday that a dog suddenly died after spending about five minutes in the water at the lake on June 16. The vet hospital said the dog quickly lost the ability to stand, was non-responsive and showed "seizure-like" activity.
The provincial government is taking action against "medieval villages" being planned in the northern Ontario wilderness. It has ordered the developers working in unincorporated townships to show they are following the rules by the end of the year. More than a year after first hearing concerns about these off-grid communities popping up in the Temiskaming district, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing issued an information bulletin on Nov. 30. It lays out existing laws and policies around planning, building, sewage disposal and water use that need to be followed in unorganized areas outside of municipal boundaries. In a letter obtained by CBC, the ministry further requests specific information from the Boreal Forest Medieval Villages corporation that has so far developed four of these villages in the north, and gives the corporation until Dec. 30 to reply.
After two years of being shut down due to COVID-19, a Manitoba fishing and hunting lodge finally reopened this spring to face the most devastating flooding one of its owners has seen in nearly four decades. "There's probably about four feet of water in the boathouse right now," said Donna Hastings, who, along with her husband, owns Windsock Lodge on the shore of Long Lake in Nopiming Provincial Park. The lodge's dock, and a deck attached to that, have been "ripped apart," she said.
