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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising a new version of the Canada Water Act – and one of the improvements, he says, will be in the area of Indigenous rights. What that might mean for Indigenous people and communities is the focus of APTN Investigates: Liquid Law. Earlier this year at the fork of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Winnipeg, the prime minister announced not just the updated Water Act – but a new agency to administer the regulation of water across the country.
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.
Sault College's Natural Environment Coordinator and professor Ryan Namespetra has been appointed to the taskforce designed to help bring the Canada Water Agency (CWA) to the City of Sault Ste. Marie. This taskforce is part of the city's proposal to bring freshwater conservation to the Upper Great Lakes, which the college has endorsed and will work collaboratively on. "Strongly aligning with many of Sault College’s core values, our college enthusiastically endorses the City of Sault Ste. Marie’s proposal to bring the Canada Water Agency to our City along with the creation of a taskforce to lead this initiative," the college stated in a news release issued today. "Having it (the CWA) located within our city will not only benefit our community as a whole, but also future students and generations."
