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.
The federal government's proposed new bill to set drinking water standards in First Nations is being met with mixed reactions. Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu introduced Bill C-61 on Monday in the House of Commons. The proposed law is intended to protect fresh water sources, create minimum national drinking water and wastewater standards in First Nations, and provide sustainable funding for maintaining water quality.
Bill C-61 is the next step to ensure First Nations have clean drinking water for generations to come. Everyone in Canada should have access to safe and clean drinking water. First Nations have long called for legislation that affirms their inherent rights, recognizes their stewardship in keeping water clean and meets First Nations needs. Effective legislation, a national regulatory regime, and First Nations-led institutions are essential to supporting sustainable access to clean, safe and reliable drinking water in First Nations communities.
The bill Nestlé is backing this year, SB 1660, would create a whole new category of water, along with allowing industrial plants to bypass licensed water providers and treat water on-site for underground storage. "Effluent" -- or used -- water was already classified by Arizona as treated sewer water. However, this bill would create another type of effluent water specifically for manufacturers.
Alberta's government House leader is accusing federal officials of trespassing on private property, but the provincial justice department said there's no evidence of that occurring. "We are seeing federal employees trespass onto private land in Alberta and, as a result of that, we don't think that that's appropriate," Joseph Schow, government house leader and MLA for Cardston-Siksika, told reporters Wednesday.
Canada’s first environmental racism bill was back before the House of Commons this week after the committee studying the bill approved it without amendment. The bill was first tabled by former Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann in February 2020. “Environmental racism is something that has been ignored for far too many years,” Zann, the Liberal MP for Cumberland-Colchester, said in bringing forth the private member’s bill for second reading in the House of Commons on Dec. 8, 2020.
Nova Scotia Power says it will take at least another five months for it to submit the final bill to complete an ill-fated refurbishment of the Tusket hydro electricity dam in Yarmouth County. The project is already three years behind schedule with costs still unclear and revised construction plans still needing environmental permits. The last cost estimate was $36 million — twice the amount approved by regulators in 2019. The dam site in southwestern Nova Scotia has been plagued by water leaking into the construction zone.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is billing the taxpayer roughly $500 per year for a product he has infamously referred to as a “drink box water bottle sorta thing.” The charge was included in a massive disclosure of prime ministerial household expenses obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The five-member Trudeau family was found to rack up a taxpayer-funded grocery budget of approximately $55,000 per year — or roughly $28 per Trudeau, per day. That’s not all that different from the grocery budget accumulated by Trudeau’s predecessor. During his nine years in office, Conservative leader Stephen Harper’s annual family grocery budget averaged out to around $52,218.
Canada has joined much of the rest of the world in adopting a United Nations resolution recognizing that a healthy environment is a human right. But a bill making its way through Parliament to codify this right into law may need to change to be truly effective. While Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault has promoted the resolution’s “principles” as being in line with the bill, a Canadian UN special rapporteur has said the legislation “should be strengthened” and noted it is not consistent with the approach taken by the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly.
The House of Commons is close to adopting Canada's first-ever legislation on environmental racism — environmental hazards that disproportionately affect Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities. Bill C-226 comes up for a vote today and is expected eventually to pass through the House of Commons with the support of the Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party. Those parties hope the bill can be fast-tracked through unanimous consent and bypass several procedural hoops. That's not likely without the support of the two other opposition parties.
P.E.I. will start offering free well-water testing beginning Jan. 1. Legislation requiring the province offer free testing was introduced during the fall sitting of the legislature by Liberal MLA Hal Perry. The bill technically came into effect when it received royal assent on Nov. 17. Under the legislation, Island wells can be tested once every two years at no charge for water chemistry, and once every six months for E. coli and coliform.
A Liberal opposition bill to eliminate well-water testing fees on P.E.I. passed its third reading in the legislature Nov. 4 and could come into effect early next year. Liberal MLA Hal Perry, who introduced the bill, first started working on it in early 2020. "It's about safe drinking water for Islanders who live in rural communities," said Perry.
The federal government has indicated that it will soon introduce a bill to reform the country’s signature pollution prevention law, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson officially gave notice to the House of Commons of this plan on Thursday night. The bill that Wilkinson plans to introduce is not listed on the House’s agenda for Monday, suggesting that the earliest it could be introduced will be Tuesday. Its contents won’t be public until the bill is tabled in the House. The Liberals promised to “strengthen” CEPA during the last federal election campaign. The government doubled-down on that promise in its speech from the throne last fall, saying it would “modernize” the Act.
Activists say Aamjiwnaang is one of many examples in Canada of environmental racism, which is defined as the disproportionate exposure that Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities have to environmental hazards. "I didn't actually hear the term environmental racism until about 15 years ago — it wasn't until I was able to connect with other First Nations people across Canada to see what they were experiencing," said Nahmabin. "Now I realize that absolutely, this applies to here."
Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann wants environmental racism — when injustices related to the environment disproportionately impact people of colour and Indigenous groups — addressed in a new bill she’s put forth for debate in the House of Commons. Zann’s Bill C-320 looks to establish a strategy in Canada that would explore the correlation between race, socioeconomic status, and environmental risks, as well as the link between dangerous conditions and bad health in communities where Indigenous groups and people of colour live, CBC reported.
