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 member of parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River is speaking on drinking water problems on First Nations in Canada. Gary Vidal, who also serves as the Conservative Party’s shadow minister and critic for Indigenous Services Canada told MBC Radio News the federal government likes to talk about the number of drinking water advisories which have been lifted, however he explained there are often details which are left out when this is reported.
Two forestry companies and a contractor have been fined for their roles in 2019 road repairs gone wrong that led to flooding in a northern Saskatchewan lake, the province says. A track hoe was used to remove a beaver dam during road repairs in July 2019 near Nesslin Lake, about 200 kilometres north of Saskatoon, the province said in a Friday news release. Water and other sediment leaked into a creek before flowing south into the lake, causing water levels to rise quickly and resulting in flooding.
One of Saskatchewan’s most far-flung settlements is inching closer to clean drinking water. Uranium City residents hope the promised improvements to the community’s water treatment plant are closer to reality, but progress is slow, noted Dean Classen, who is chair of the northern settlement’s board. In 2001, the provincial Water Security Agency handed a precautionary drinking water advisory to the small community near the Northwest Territories border. An emergency boil water advisory has been in place since 2015.
