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.
Taralee Beardy never thought she would see her community get a safer source of water, but a national $8 billion drinking water class-action settlement affecting First Nations is set to change that. Beardy, the chief of Tataskweyak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, says the construction of a new 40-kilometre pipeline and water treatment plant for her community is set to begin next spring, meaning Tataskweyak's six-year boil water advisory will be coming to an end.
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable. But experts say removing them will cost billions, a burden that will fall hardest on small communities with few resources. Concerned about the chemicals' ability to weaken children's immune systems, the EPA said last year that PFAS could cause harm at levels “much lower than previously understood.”
Luann Smith will be paying close attention to what Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu has to say on Monday about the federal government's willingness to fund a pipeline that will bring clean drinking water to Oneida Nation of the Thames. Smith, 67, is a lifelong resident of Oneida, a community that has been under a boil water advisory since 2019. Hajdu is scheduled to be a guest on Monday's edition of London Morning and will speak with host Rebecca Zandbergen about the situation.
