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.
For discharge, spills, and waste, river currents carry these pollutants downstream. While sometimes diluted, the pollutants barely break down and begin to fill banks and sediment. It disrupts river ecosystems and lessens the quality of potable water in the Canadian wilderness. Furthermore, the spills that happen include toxic chemicals that natural processes can’t break down. This results in a complete loss of habitat for many aquatic animals.
Some of the world’s biggest mining companies are working with South Africa’s government on a 27 billion rand ($1.5 billion) water project to supply major platinum and chrome operations and several hundred thousand people with drinking water. Glencore Plc and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. are among the companies attempting to secure half of that amount in financing by the end of the year with the rest of the funds to be sourced by municipalities and the government.
Executives of embattled British utility Thames Water, which is partly owned by two of Canada’s biggest pension funds, have insisted that calls for its nationalization are premature and have been highly exaggerated. In an appearance before a committee of British parliamentarians Wednesday, company co-CEO Cathryn Ross said the utility wasn’t close to meeting the conditions required for the government to take over the business under a process known as special administration.
Thames Water may have to be taken over by the government if it runs out of money. But why is the UK's largest water company facing a crisis - and are other firms facing similar problems? When the company was privatised in 1989, it had no debt. But over the years it borrowed heavily and is currently £14bn in debt.
A group in Glace Bay, N.S., says the water in a local lake is contaminated and is asking the provincial government to clean it up before stocking the pond with more trout. The No. 20 Dam Sport Fishing Association paid to have the water tested at the John Bernard Croak Memorial Park on Beacon Street in September and president Donald McNeil said the results show levels of E. coli and total coliform that exceed Health Canada guidelines.
Mistreatment of Innu people by colonial governments continues today, said an elder and activist who has fought for decades to protect the Innu's traditional culture and land in Labrador. "I will start on how we have been treated by the white man, and the treatment is still ongoing today," said Tshaukuesh (Elizabeth) Penashue, on Thursday when she began her testimony at an inquiry examining how Innu children and families have been affected by the child protection system.
“Do you want to live a healthy life?” he asked. “Do you want to drink water that isn’t contaminated, breathe air that’s not polluted or walk in fields that are not otherwise strewn within the residues of airborne hazardous substances? Then you need to take this statute seriously.” The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, or CEPA, governs how toxic chemicals are identified and managed in Canada. It is in the midst of its first update in two decades, following a mandatory review that took place in 2016 and 2017.
New environmental targets set by the government are a "job half-done" and will fail to halt nature's decline, say charities. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published the goals on Friday after a six-week delay. The legally-binding targets promise to tackle major problems like the loss of animals and plants, and air pollution. But critics say that crucial targets to protect water quality and natural sites are missing.
Manitoba Hydro is reducing its request for rate increases for the next two years and is crediting a recent provincial government fee reduction. Earlier this month, the Crown-owned utility said it would ask the provincial regulator, the Public Utilities Board, for rate hikes of 3.5 per cent in each of the next two years. The utility said Tuesday it is revising that request to two per cent in each year.
In 2009, the then outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet was awarded the Gold Insigne award by the Council of the Americas; the latter an American business organisation “promoting free trade, democracy and open markets throughout the Americas.” Bachelet is not a stranger to controversy when it comes to human rights violations. Despite her personal history and that of her family as victims of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, her legacy as president also included excessive use of the anti-terrorist law to criminalise the Indigenous Mapuche’s resistance against exploitation of their land and natural resources.
Amid growing concerns over plastic waste, Oceana Canada is urging the government to take action against the growing plastic pollution crisis. Oceana Canada says the federal government must “continue efforts to reduce the amount of harmful single-use plastics flooding our oceans and devastating marine life.” Earlier this month, the organization called for strict recycled content laws that increase the availability of refillable and reusable packaging choices and stop the burning of plastic waste. Burning plastic is known to release harmful emissions into air, water and soil.
Japan's nuclear regulators have approved a plan to release into the ocean water from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the government said on Friday. The water, used to cool reactors in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster, is being stored in huge tanks in the plant, and amounted to more than 1.3 million tonnes by July. The regulators deemed it safe to release the water, which will still contain traces of tritium after treatment, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
I am completely confused about why our government cannot provide clean water for the Indigenous communities in the north and elsewhere in Canada. This necessary resource is monitored diligently throughout our country so why can we not provide these families with purification equipment and the proper training to maintain and repair the systems as required. This seems like a small service that can be easily provided to our Indigenous communities and there appears to be zero reason why our stagnant peace-time military engineers cannot provide a viable solution to this issue.
Government figures have shown that water-related events – including flooding – have surpassed forest fires as the top cause of property damage in Canada in the past several years, costing homeowners more than $1 billion in losses annually. Despite the threat, a recent study has revealed that an overwhelming majority of Canadians living in high-risk regions are not only unprepared to deal with the impact of floods, but they are also unaware of the potential danger.
In mid-February, Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy (EBC) received an additional $3 million from the government to spend by the end of March. The organization met the challenge by purchasing seven additional nature preserves, including four on Manitoulin Island. Two of those are going to be very good for hiking, said EBC executive director Bob Barnett. One is the Lewis Twin Peaks property, which has long been a hiking trail. “The owner agreed to sell it to us at a reduced price because she loved the fact that we were going to keep it open as a hiking trail,” said Mr. Barnett.
The province has unveiled a five-year, 89-point action plan to advance the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which became legislation in B.C. over two years ago. Hailed as historic by government and Indigenous leaders speaking at its unveiling, the plan outlines a list of "significant actions" the province is promising to undertake in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples.
While some experts say the government is doing a good job harnessing the economic potential of the so-called blue economy, there’s also room to grow in an important file that impacts diverse and marginalized communities. The “blue economy” is an “economy driven by sustainable, ocean resources, and accounts,” according to the federal government, and refers the ways in which oceans and water “can contribute to the economy in a sustainable way,” Hannah Kacary wrote for the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) of Canada.
But he says the pandemic cannot throw everything off course and the letters highlight the need to fight the “existential threat” of climate change and ensure a future where all Canadians have “a real and fair chance at success.” Patty Hajdu, minister of Indigenous Services Canada, already has a number of massive files on her desk, including revamping First Nations child welfare, continuing to build clean water infrastructure in First Nations communities and to “support First Nations-led processes to transition away from the Indian Act.
On October 12, the city of Iqaluit, Nunavut declared a state of emergency following the discovery of fuel contamination in their water supply. A full month later, the city remains in a water crisis, with little indication as to when the water supply will be back in service. The Canadian Armed Forces have been enlisted for an indeterminate period of time to provide potable water to residents. This indefinite military presence in the city is disturbing – the government is forcing citizens to depend on the armed forces for drinking water, a basic necessity. As a city with a large Inuit population, the crisis in Iqaluit highlights the federal government’s continued disregard of Indigenous peoples and their health. According to Lorraine Rousseau, Public Service Alliance of Canada North Regional Executive Vice President, this represents “decades of broken promises and ongoing inequalities that Inuit and Indigenous communities face.”
