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

Trans-Canada Highway

This First Nation has a new highway and a water-treatment plant that's 'like our Stanley Cup'

This First Nation has a new highway and a water-treatment plant that's 'like our Stanley Cup'

People in Shoal Lake #40 First Nation are proud of what they've accomplished in recent years. The community in northwestern Ontario, near the Manitoba-Ontario border, built Freedom Road, connecting their once-isolated community to the Trans-Canada Highway, and completed a water-treatment plant that's helped them emerge from a 24-year boil-water advisory. This spring, the community was honoured by the Ontario Public Works Association with the Public Works Project of the Year for Small Municipalities and First Nations award for their new water-treatment plant.

Boil-water notice issued for small water system in B.C. Interior

Boil-water notice issued for small water system in B.C. Interior

Residents of a small community on the shore of Shuswap Lake have been advised to boil their water before use. The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District issued the boil-water notice for users of the Sorrento Water System on Friday evening, citing elevated turbidity in the water. The water system serves properties in the unincorporated community of Sorrento, about 25 kilometres west of Salmon Arm and 75 kilometres east of Kamloops along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Port aux Basques mayor says climate change talks needed after another dump of rain

Port aux Basques mayor says climate change talks needed after another dump of rain

Button says the storms, wind speeds and rainfall in his community are becoming more severe, and he says he feels it's time to have serious conversations about how communities like his can better prepare for a changing climate. Newfoundland and Labrador's government issued a statement saying no significant damage was recorded during Monday night's storm and that work to repair the highway from last week's flooding was ongoing.

B.C. floods will be Canada’s most expensive natural disaster this year

B.C. floods will be Canada’s most expensive natural disaster this year

The flooding in southern British Columbia will be the largest natural catastrophic disaster for the insurance industry in 2021, says Marcos Alvarez, DBRS Morningstar’s head of insurance. Insurance companies have not yet been able to provide estimates of what the total cost of damages for the B.C. flooding could tally up to, but Mr. Alvarez said in the past 10 years Canada has had several flood events across the country that each surpassed $1-billion in insurance claims. “Increases in average annual insured weather-related losses are higher in Canada than at the global level,” Mr. Alvarez said. “This is consistent with the notion that the warming of Canada’s climate is happening at about twice the rate of the global average.”

Kelowna man walking across Canada carrying cross for veterans, Indigenous communities

Kelowna man walking across Canada carrying cross for veterans, Indigenous communities

A Kelowna man has walked thousands of kilometres carrying a nine-foot cross across along the Trans-Canada Highway to raise awareness for veterans and First Nations communities without clean water. Warren Parke, from Kelowna, started carrying the cross across Canada after working on a First Nations reserve and was unable to drink the water there. Back in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also told veterans that they were asking for more than the federal government could afford, which also struck a chord with Parke.

A century of water: As Winnipeg aqueduct turns 100, Shoal Lake finds freedom

A century of water: As Winnipeg aqueduct turns 100, Shoal Lake finds freedom

The taps to Winnipeg's drinking water were first turned on in April 1919, but as the city celebrated its engineering feat and raised glasses of that clear liquid, another community's fortunes suddenly turned dark. Construction of a new aqueduct plunged Shoal Lake 40 into a forced isolation that it is only now emerging from, 100 years after Winnipeg's politicians locked their sights on the water that cradles the First Nation at the Manitoba–Ontario border. "The price that our community has paid for one community to benefit from that resource, it's just mind-boggling," said Shoal Lake 40 Chief Erwin Redsky.

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