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

MP

MP wants to ban polystyrene to keep foams out of Canada’s oceans, Island shores

MP wants to ban polystyrene to keep foams out of Canada’s oceans, Island shores

North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney wants to take polystyrene out of Canada’s oceans. Blaney introduced a private member’s motion to the House of Commons urging the government to ban both expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) from floating structures like docks. “Research suggests that dock flotation foam is one of the leading causes of plastic pollution in Canada’s oceans, lakes, and rivers,” Blaney says. “When microparticles become part of the aquatic environment, they are consumed by fish, dolphins, whales, and birds. They can also work their way into the food system. This is a critical threat to the ocean, the ecosystem, and to human health.”

MP for northern Saskatchewan talks First Nations drinking water problems

MP for northern Saskatchewan talks First Nations drinking water problems

The member of parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River is speaking on drinking water problems on First Nations in Canada. Gary Vidal, who also serves as the Conservative Party’s shadow minister and critic for Indigenous Services Canada told MBC Radio News the federal government likes to talk about the number of drinking water advisories which have been lifted, however he explained there are often details which are left out when this is reported.

MP wants water issues under one agency

MP wants water issues under one agency

A Canada water agency could solve clumsy and ad hoc solutions to climate change, invasive species, polluted beaches and recreational waters, increasing nutrient levels, harmful algal blooms and exposure to toxins on the Great Lakes, says Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey. “This disjointed approach has stymied positive outcomes, delayed meaningful actions, and permitted infrastructure deficits to grow, new invasive species to become established, and water quality to diminish. A divided governance approach has diluted results in ways that threaten the long-term health and sustainability of the multi-billion-dollar resource that is the Great Lakes,” said Badawey in a report to his federal Liberal colleagues.

Winnipeg MP says federal government willing to help tackle Lake Winnipeg pollution

Winnipeg MP says federal government willing to help tackle Lake Winnipeg pollution

Help could be on the way to update the North End Sewage Treatment Plant and fight pollution in Lake Winnipeg. The Lake Winnipeg Foundation, an environmental non-governmental organization, said the city is the single largest contributor of phosphorus in the lake, at around five per cent. Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid, parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment and climate change, told 680 CJOB the federal government is willing to do its part to tackle the problem, but the North End plant only serves as a starting point.

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