Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

plastic

Chipping away at our plastic habit, one water bottle at a time

Chipping away at our plastic habit, one water bottle at a time

Ziya Merchant’s multi-school campaign is using plastic water bottles to raise awareness about climate justice. Inspired by Mireta Strandberg-Salmon's campaigns to end bottled water sales at her own high school and at Simon Fraser University, 17-year-old Ziya founded Phasing Out Plastic Bottles (POPB), which in 2022-23 had 15-plus chapters in schools across British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and the United States. This year, POPB has interest from schools in other parts of the U.S. and throughout Canada.

Paper can't be a solution to plastic waste': Canadian environmentalists warn about the rise in single-use paper products

Paper can't be a solution to plastic waste': Canadian environmentalists warn about the rise in single-use paper products

The prohibition of single-use plastic products is crucial to Canada's plan of achieving zero plastic waste by 2030, but with the ban, environmentalists are growing increasingly concerned about the amount of paper packaging being used in its place. "We absolutely need to shift away from using plastics as much as we do, but trading in plastic pollution for deforestation and forest degradation is not the answer," Canopy founder and executive director Nicole Rycroft told CTV News. "We really need to make sure we do not create another environmental disaster."

23 Saint Johners trapped laundry lint for a year to keep microplastics out of waterways

23 Saint Johners trapped laundry lint for a year to keep microplastics out of waterways

Taylor Kormann didn't know what to expect when she signed up to collect the goopy leftovers of her laundry cycles for a year as a part of a citizen science project for the Atlantic Coastal Action Program. "It was almost shocking to see what's coming out of the laundry," Kormann said. Kormann and 22 other Saint John residents spent 2022 collecting the wet lint from their washing machines to measure the microplastics their wash cycles were contributing to the city's water system.

Illegal waste dump on farm near Cultus Lake stokes environmental worries among residents

Illegal waste dump on farm near Cultus Lake stokes environmental worries among residents

D'Arcy Henderson picks up pieces of plastic and trash strewn across her neighbour's yard. The Columbia Valley resident points to steaming piles of waste sitting on the other side of a blue fence as the source. "If you look at the plastic on the ground and the garbage blowing, that's 500 years that won't disappear," she told CBC News. Environmental concerns are mounting in the small community near Cultus Lake, B.C., about 101 kilometres east of Vancouver, after truckload after truckload of business waste was dropped at a farm without provincial approval, violating B.C.'s Environmental Management Act.

'There's no reason not to': More N.S. lobster plants get on board with pollution control

'There's no reason not to': More N.S. lobster plants get on board with pollution control

If you walk along one of Nova Scotia's many shorelines, you'll see rocks, shells, and mounds of seaweed. But some of those beaches are also riddled with colourful rubber bands, ropes and fragments of plastic. According to Angela Riley, founder of Scotian Shores, a local business dedicated to cleaning the shorelines of the province, the province's biggest industry is also behind much of the pollution found near the ocean. 

Plastic predicament: Federal group urges action on packaging legislation in Canada

Plastic predicament: Federal group urges action on packaging legislation in Canada

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.

There's a giant tap spewing plastic near Toronto's waterfront

There's a giant tap spewing plastic near Toronto's waterfront

A new art installation is taking aim at Canadians’ reliance on single-use plastics that end up in the world’s water systems. Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong created the three-storey tall tap. The installation is out front of Ripley’s Aquarium and will spew plastic all over the building’s entrance from May 10 to June 9. This isn’t the tap’s first public appearance. It was on display at the UN’s Nairobi headquarters and was initially commissioned by the Canadian Embassy in Paris.

Former Neskantaga contractor accused of cutting corners in other First Nations

Former Neskantaga contractor accused of cutting corners in other First Nations

“They cut corners every day, every day,” said Justin Gee, vice-president of First Nations Engineering Services Ltd. Gee said he encountered these recurring problems while overseeing the work of a construction firm, Kingdom Construction Limited (KCL), building a water treatment plant 10 years ago in Wasauksing First Nation, along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay, about 250 kilometres north of Toronto. “You have to be on them every step of the way,” said Gee, who was the contract administrator on the project. “You can’t leave them on their own.”

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