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.
The Liberal government tabled much-anticipated legislation Monday that aims to improve water quality in First Nations communities, improve collaboration on water protection and codify a new First Nations-led commission. The long-promised bill, which Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu is touting as the result of immense collaboration and knowledge-sharing, would apply a new framework for source water, drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on First Nations land.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has tabled a petition calling on the federal government to take urgent action on Canada’s aging asbestos-cement pipes due to the potential dangers of drinking tap water containing the deadly fibre. “This is an understudied and unregulated problem,” May said Thursday in the House of Commons. “Believe it or not, many municipalities rely on old cement water pipe delivering water to millions of Canadians, and the pipes contain asbestos fibres.”
The federal government says it's signed its first major nature agreement with a province and First Nations to mutually support protecting 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030. In Vancouver on Friday morning, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault joined B.C. Premier David Eby, several cabinet ministers from both governments and First Nations leaders to announce a $500-million commitment from both governments for an agreement that would help conserve and protect land, species and biodiversity in the province.
A historic deal signed Friday will protect 30 per cent of B.C.’s lands and waters by 2030. The Trilateral Framework Agreement was signed between the federal and British Columbia governments and the Indigenous-led First Nations Leadership Council. With this agreement, the federal government will be contributing $500 million and the B.C. government has dedicated more than $500 million, which includes a fund for old-growth forests and the opportunity for additional funds from the philanthropic community. The agreement includes a commitment to work together toward protecting 25 per cent by 2025, including on Indigenous protected areas.
An Indigenous group has raised a large traditional tent on the lawn of Parliament Hill to celebrate a program that places agents known as “guardians” across Canada to care for lands and waters. The communal tent, known as a shaputuan in the Innu language, was organized by the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a group that advocates for the guardian program nationally and promotes Indigenous-led conservation efforts.
A new agreement between the federal government and the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia will allow Mi’kmaw First Nations to manage and control their housing and infrastructure. "Since 2015, we have been working in a nation-to-nation partnership with Indigenous Peoples to advance self-determination,” said Patty Hajdu, minister of Indigenous Services. “Whether for water and health or housing and infrastructure, Indigenous communities must have the tools to decide for themselves. Today is an important step on this journey.”
Many others, in Lake Babine Nation and beyond, share Charlie’s concern. The Babine River is an integral tributary for Skeena sockeye, which is a major sockeye run in B.C., second only to the Fraser River. Skeena sockeye are central to Lake Babine Nation health and economy. Every bad year has future ramifications. If fewer salmon return to spawn one year, it can mean a lower return four or five years down the line — the length of the sockeye life cycle.
The mayor of South Bruce Peninsula has resigned after he was caught on tape making racist comments about a nearby First Nation community, the Ontario town announced in a statement Tuesday. Garry Michi was recorded in an audio clip posted Friday by an anonymous individual questioning the federal government's decision to fund a water treatment plant on the Chippewas of the Nawash Unceded First Nation, also known as Cape Croker.
Edmonton's utility company, Epcor, plans to start building a concrete wall and berms around parts of its water treatment plants at Rossdale and E.L. Smith — both in the North Saskatchewan River floodplain — to help protect the region's water supply. Construction on the flood mitigation project is slated to start next year with a budget of $65 million, with about $22 million coming from the federal and provincial governments.
A First Nation, whose lake supplies drinking water to the city of Winnipeg, is suing for a century of alleged damages, according to a statement of claim filed Tuesday. The 13-page “injurious affection claim” seeks unspecified financial damages to compensate for the “devastating impacts of the Winnipeg aqueduct” that isolated the Anishinaabe community for more than 100 years.
Four communities in New Brunswick will get a combined $22 million from the federal, provincial and municipal governments to support water infrastructure projects. Tracadie and Rivere-du-Nord will receive $13.2 million, with $8.8 million going to Bathurst and Belle-Baie. Tracadie will use the funding to support the second phase of its multi-phased project to renew aging sanitary sewer, water and storm sewer mains on Principale Street.
The federal government has made new anti-pollution measures mandatory for cruise ships, but environmental groups say they don’t stop contamination of some of Canada’s most sensitive coastlines. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced recently that voluntary guidelines established in April are now mandatory. Those rules cover the discharge and treatment for so-called black water, or stuff from toilets, and grey water, kitchen water, water from laundry machines, and water containing cleaning products, food waste, cooking oils/grease and other pollutants.
A $13.2 million investment in clean water infrastructure was announced by three levels of government today for the northern communities of Tracadie and Rivière-du-Nord. “Investments in this critical infrastructure will benefit residents and support growth in these communities,” said Réjean Savoie, minister responsible for the Regional Development Corporation. “We are pleased to work with the municipalities of Tracadie and Rivière-du-Nord to help fund these projects.”
In the wilderness north of Great Slave Lake, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, mining companies are eyeing a potential treasure trove of critical minerals as demand for lithium, nickel, graphite and copper has risen sharply to meet the needs of the burgeoning electric vehicle and solar power industries.
The Chinese owner of the Tanco mine in eastern Manitoba has revived talk of partly draining a lake in order to extract more cesium from one of the world's few deposits of the critical mineral. Sinomine Resource Group is musing about a long-term redevelopment of the mine it purchased in 2019 along the shore of Bernic Lake, a small Canadian Shield body of water located between Whiteshell and Nopiming provincial parks. The goal is to reach cesium that cannot be mined right now, because it's embedded in vertical columns that hold up the roof of the underground mine.
"This topic of security and safeguarding Canada's sovereignty, it ties into so many different other issues," Koch said. "One element or aspect to start with is actually to make sure that Northern residents have access to basic services. It means education, health care and clean drinking water." "This will ultimately support Canada's goal of establishing security and projecting outward Canadian sovereignty in terms of the Arctic."
