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.
You may have heard about the Columbia River Treaty in the news once, or perhaps many times, over the last decade. The Columbia River Treaty is an agreement between Canada and the United States about our shared watershed. It was originally ratified in 1964 with negotiations to “modernize” it ongoing since May 2018. It’s big. It’s complicated. It’s important. It’s confusing.
About 100 Grassy Narrows First Nation residents have arrived in Thunder Bay, Ont., after the community was partially evacuated due to flooding. They arrived in Thunder Bay, which is about 400 kilometres southeast from Grassy Narrows, on Monday. Grassy Narrows Chief Randy Fobister said the evacuees from his community are all vulnerable people, including those with health issues and elders.
The Atikamekw community of Manawan, 250 km north of Montreal, is going on day five of a drinking water outage. School is cancelled, the regional health centre is closed, members are unable to bathe or use running water and elders are being evacuated in order to keep an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at bay. In a press briefing held Monday, Manawan Chief Paul-Emile Ottawa explained the outage – which began on Sunday – could have devastating effects for the community of 2,500 if not rectified quickly.
The NDP MPP for the region with the longest-running boil water advisories of any First Nations in Canada is demanding the Ontario government become part of the solution. Sol Mamakwa, who represents the riding of Kiiwetinoong in northwestern Ontario, said the provincial government could do more to help alleviate the suffering of communities on long-term drinking water advisories.
The Liberal government will miss a target it set during the 2015 federal election campaign to lift all long-term drinking water advisories in First Nations by March 2021 — in some cases by several years — according to a survey of communities by CBC News. More than a dozen First Nations said projects to end long-term drinking water advisories won't be completed by the promised deadline.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to walk back his government’s promise to end all water-boil advisories in First Nations communities by March 2021. Pressed by reporters Friday, Trudeau wouldn’t commit to meeting the 2021 deadline and said the federal government was working to lift the remaining drinking water advisories “as soon as possible.”
