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.
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.
Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of an international agreement to protect wetlands around the globe, and this may get you thinking what is so important about wetlands. For awhile they were looked at as wastelands, but over the past few decades, science has shown just how important these areas are. Dan Kraus, a senior conservation biologist with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, says wetlands were the first habitat to have been protected through a global agreement.
