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.
Maude Barlow counters the prevailing atmosphere of pessimism and offers lessons of hope that she has learned from a lifetime of activism in the memoir Still Hopeful. Barlow has been involved in three major movements: second-wave feminism, the battle against free trade and globalization and the fight for water justice. She emphasizes that effective activism is about building a movement and finding like-minded people rather than making the goal the focus.
A new display at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa will highlight the activism and accomplishments of Anishinaabe water-rights advocate Autumn Peltier. The display will be available for the public to view until January 8, 2023. The museum display features items related to her international advocacy for clean water rights, including the dress she wore when she addressed the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 about the issue of contaminated water in First Nation communities across the country.
As of June 2012, there were 146 First Nations communities in Canada under a long-term Drinking Water Advisory. Drinking Water Advisories are created when the water in a community is deemed unacceptable based on the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines which set basic parameters for clean, safe drinking water. A long-term drinking water advisory is one that has remained in place for at least one year. Some of these communities had been living under an advisory for over 20 years. First Nations communities are disproportionately affected by water quality problems as a result of longstanding water resource management issues and colonial practices of the province. The federal government has a goal to end all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by March 2021. Since November 2015, 88 have been lifted, however 61 remain.
Canadian Indigenous water activist Autumn Peltier, 15, addressed hundreds of international guests at UN headquarters in Manhattan on Saturday, where she urged the global community to respect the sacredness and importance of clean water. "I've said it once, and I'll say it again: we can't eat money or drink oil," said the activist from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. Peltier spoke at the Global Landscapes Forum, a platform on sustainable land use founded by UN Environment and the World Bank that's dedicated to achieving development and climate goals.
