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

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'The spirits hear us': Paddles and prayers protect Lake Simcoe

'The spirits hear us': Paddles and prayers protect Lake Simcoe

For an Anishinaabe woman, water is life — and water had taken life away. “It was very emotional for me. I guess you can say I was a little bit angry at the water.” Then she realized that part of her healing journey must include this. She would organize Shining Water Paddle to bring prayers, offerings, blessings and songs to the water. They would honour the spirits, remember the ancestors and seek their guidance to protect this precious resource, this essence of First Nations peoples. It was time to make their voices heard — and for her to heal, too.

Calls mount for public inquiry into Iqaluit water crisis as Nunavut government changes tune

Calls mount for public inquiry into Iqaluit water crisis as Nunavut government changes tune

Calls are mounting in Nunavut for the territorial government to call a public inquiry into the Iqaluit water crisis. The city of nearly 8,000 went for two months without clean tap water last fall after hydrocarbons were detected in the water and ultimately traced to the city's water treatment plant. The do not consume order was lifted in December, after a bypass had been set up at the plant, only to result in a boil water advisory that lasted nine days earlier this month, as residents again reported the smell of fuel in the water.

How did fuel enter water?

How did fuel enter water?

Iqaluit resident Jenny Ell says she couldn't believe it when she turned on her tap a couple of weeks ago and smelled fuel for the second time in a matter of months. Ell, who is pregnant, said she was worried for her baby's safety and immediately contacted the city. "I'm hanging in there," Ell said. "Hopefully they're not slow about it like the last time it happened." About 8,000 people in the territory's capital city couldn't drink the tap water for two months last fall when it was found to be contaminated with fuel.

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