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.
Leadership in Eabametoong First Nation in northwestern Ontario have ended the state of emergency now the community's water treatment plant is producing running water and all of its members have returned home following community evacuations last month. The remote Ojibway First Nation of about 1,600 people is approximately 360 kilometres north of Thunder Bay and It has been in a state of emergency since July 5, after a fire broke out at the Eabametoong First Nation Water Treatment Plant.
Eabametoong First Nation remains in a state of emergency as the northwestern Ontario community marks more than a week without access to running water. The remote Ojibway First Nation of about 1,600 people is approximately 360 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont. It has been in a state of emergency since a fire broke out at the Eabametoong First Nation Water Treatment Plant last Wednesday.
There is currently no timeline for the restoration of water service at Wabaseemoong Independent Nations after accidental contamination forced the northwestern Ontario community's water supply to be shut off last month. The shutdown occurred on Dec. 23, after a water pipe burst in the building that houses the community's water reservoir, leading to a flood, said Curtis Bergeron, director of strategic water management with Indigenous Services Canada.
The water level on Lake of the Woods continues to recede following major flooding in spring and early summer. In its latest update, the Lake of the Woods Secretariat states the lake level declined by six centimetres over the past week, and is expected to drop another eight to 10 centimetres in the coming week. Still, water levels remain high, with the lake above its 2014 peak of 323.78 metres. However, the lake remains below the record set in July 1950, when water levels reached 324.31 metres. High water levels, caused by heavy rainfall and thick snowpack leftover from the winter months, in the region led to major flooding in some areas in spring and early summer, including Sioux Lookout, Kenora, Fort Frances, Red Lake, and Marten Falls First Nation.
This spring, the CBC's Amy Hadley set out to explore climate change's effect on northwestern Ontario for the radio series This Makes It Personal. The series introduces audiences to people who are facing down the impacts of climate change in their daily lives and what they're doing about it: From how a remote First Nation is adapting to changing water and patterns, to wolverines and their changing habitats, and a support group helping people through climate anxiety.
People in Shoal Lake #40 First Nation are proud of what they've accomplished in recent years. The community in northwestern Ontario, near the Manitoba-Ontario border, built Freedom Road, connecting their once-isolated community to the Trans-Canada Highway, and completed a water-treatment plant that's helped them emerge from a 24-year boil-water advisory. This spring, the community was honoured by the Ontario Public Works Association with the Public Works Project of the Year for Small Municipalities and First Nations award for their new water-treatment plant.
Many municipalities in northwestern Ontario have been struggling with flooding for weeks, but some good news may be on the horizon. That is, if the weather cooperates. "Fortunately, June hasn't been the same as the record precipitation we saw in April and May across the region," said Matt DeWolfe, executive engineer with the Lake of the Woods Control Board, which regulates water levels on Lake of the Woods and Lac Seul.
With rising water levels cutting off access to her home in Mine Centre, Ont., Rebecca Maclean has resorted to unusual measures to get to work every morning. Maclean has been using her kayak and canoe to access her vehicle, parked on the other side of the flooded road in front of her house. "This is not our first rodeo with flooding," said Maclean, who lives at Bear's Pass on Rainy Lake, east of Fort Frances. "We did have flooding in 2002, and at that point in time, I didn't have a child, so I just waded every day and the water was up ... to basically mid-thigh."
Town officials in Fort Frances are continuing to work to address flooding in the northwestern Ontario community. As of Monday, Fort Frances has closed sections of Front Street, as well as walking and bike paths along the street. Also closed are the Front Street playground and fitness equipment, the Sorting Gap Marina gas docks and boat launch, Lookout Tower, the Hallett, Crowe Avenue Dock, Point Park and Seven Oaks.
The Winnipeg River is flowing at a record volume in Manitoba because officials no longer have any other option to control flooding across a vast swath of northwestern Ontario and northern Minnesota. Flooding on the Winnipeg River, which is running at about 3.5 times its usual volume at this time of year, has already forced hundreds of people from their homes and washed out roads in Whiteshell Provincial Park. This is the result of inflows that are only expected to increase in the coming days, raising water levels up to two-thirds of a metre higher in some locations in Manitoba.
The flooding situation in northwestern Ontario is likely only going to get worse before it gets better, after weeks of record rainfall in the region and more rain in the forecast this weekend. The Lake of the Woods control board is warning of hazardous flows throughout the entire Winnipeg River drainage basin, which includes areas of Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota. This comes after seven weeks of record rainfall for some areas, on top of a thick snowpack in the region leftover from the winter months. Communities across Canada have reported significant flooding this spring, including in the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northern Ontario.
Even though northwestern Ontario is drying up after a wet start to spring, officials are still watching the watersheds for potential flood risks. Lakehead Region Conservation Authority in Thunder Bay has downgraded its outlook from a flood watch to a conditions statement after area rivers and streams have reached their peak earlier this week. Still it's too early for people to let their guard down.
Despite a wetter-than-average December, water levels on Lake Superior are nearly 30 centimetres lower than a year ago, according to an organization that monitors lake levels. The International Lake Superior Board of Control said Lake Superior water levels in January are 28 centimetres below levels recorded a year ago, and seven centimetres lower than the long-term average between 1918 and 2020.
Jamie Lee Parenteau knows that water is where life originates. She knows that it must be protected in every way possible from pollution or waste. The Ojibway woman’s ancestors were able to live off the water as a resource, and to sustain all living things in their care. Yet in some First Nation communities today, water has become a curse. “In our culture, water is so much more. It’s sacred,” says Parenteau, who is from the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation. “Our people could just go to the lake for everything. That was before all these things like the (pulp) mills and mercury poisoning. Our people drink that water and got poisoned by it.” The young mother is a water protector — and she now has a licence that says so.
Bimose Tribal Council in northwestern Ontario and Canadian charity Water First are pleased to announce that on Friday, 11 interns of their drinking water internship program for young Indigenous adults have graduated. Of the cohort, 91% are now water operators in training (OIT), having earned their OIT certification. Graduates of the internship program are from ten participating First Nations communities across the Bimose Tribal Council region, and are supporting their communities to ensure clean drinking water.
In 2015, Justin Trudeau promised that if elected he would end boil-water advisories in First Nations communities within five years. “We have 93 different communities under 133 different boil-water advisories,” said at the time. “A Canadian government led by me will address this as a top priority because it’s not right in a country like Canada. This has gone on for far too long.” That top priority was abandoned last October when the government admitted that they would not make the mark. They have given no updated timeline for when this national travesty will end.
The town of Terrace Bay will remain under a boil water advisory for most of this week after a lightning strike cut power to the northwestern Ontario town's water treatment plant on the weekend. Terrace Bay Mayor Jody Davis said the strike occurred during a storm on Sunday night. And while there were no injuries, some of the plant's equipment was damaged. "A breaker was hit," Davis said Monday. "One of the transformers, which is for the water treatment generator, emergency generator, it got fried."
Rebecca Zagozewski, executive director of the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, said she has seen contractors save on costs when building water treatment plants on reserves by using obsolete parts and failing to include maintenance manuals, ventilation or chemical rooms, and bathrooms. “Engineering companies will put in their bids obviously as low as they can go,” said Zagozewski.
‘Water sustains us, flows between us, within us, and replenishes us. Water is the giver of all life, and, without clean water, all life will perish.’—Assembly of First Nations “No human being, no animal or plant, can live without its water,” says Dawn Martin-Hill, co-founder of the Indigenous Studies program at Hamilton’s McMaster University. For centuries, the Unist’ot’en people have called Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia home. Their way of life is such that they can drink straight from the pristine Morice River (Wedzin Kwah) that flows through their land. Last year, construction began on the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, posing a direct threat to the Morice. “We call it sweet water,” said Martin-Hill. “We had that everywhere. We had it here in Ontario.” “You know it when you’re drinking it. I’d rather have sweet water over running water.”
The NDP MPP for the region with the longest-running boil water advisories of any First Nations in Canada is demanding the Ontario government become part of the solution. Sol Mamakwa, who represents the riding of Kiiwetinoong in northwestern Ontario, said the provincial government could do more to help alleviate the suffering of communities on long-term drinking water advisories.
