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 U.S. government is ordering railway operator Norfolk Southern to clean up contaminated soil and water at the site of a hazardous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where officials are trying to convince wary residents their tap water is safe to drink. But the main pathway that dioxin gets into human bodies is not directly through something burning. It's through consumption of meat, dairy, fish and shellfish that have become contaminated. That contamination takes time.
The Mohawks of Bay of Quinte First Nation will be able to enjoy clean drinking water after five long-term drinking-water advisories were lifted in that community thanks to a state-of-the-art water-filtration plant that has come online, federal authorities announced last week. Federal and Nation investments in the community’s new water-treatment plant totalling about $58 million since 2014 paid off in a big way recently, Mohawks of Bay of Quinte Chief R. Donald Maracle said.
