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

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Water Forecasting Platform Soon to be Launched for the Pembina River Valley

Water Forecasting Platform Soon to be Launched for the Pembina River Valley

An exciting, high-tech modelling project led by Pembina Valley Watershed District (PVWD) and Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) that will have the ability to forecast and detail water resources and water movement in the Pembina River Valley for farmers and land managers is nearing completion and readying for public launch. With funding of up to $152,250 provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) AgriRisk Initiatives Research and Development stream via the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, PVWD and MFGA have partnered with Aquanty, a software firm from Waterloo, Ontario, to construct a high-resolution HydroGeoSphere (HGS) simulation model that encompasses the full area of the PVWD. The tool will have the ability to forecast water resources such as soil moisture, groundwater, and surface water flow within a decision support tool that farmers, land managers, and decision-makers can access via a portal at MFGA.net.

Green Party releases platform with promises to cancel pipelines, boost carbon price

Green Party releases platform with promises to cancel pipelines, boost carbon price

The Green Party is promising to boost greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, cancel all new pipelines and oil exploration, accelerate an increase in carbon pricing and ban the sale of all internal-combustion engine passenger vehicles. The environmental pledges in the party's platform, released Tuesday, are aimed at getting Canada not just to net zero emissions by 2050, as other parties have promised, but having the country get to "net negative" by then.

Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists

Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists

Activists in northeastern Ontario fighting for safe, clean water in First Nations communities across Canada are getting tired of broken promises. After five years and millions in spending, the Liberal government announced in early December that it would not fulfill its commitment to end all long-term water advisories on reserves by March 2021. Although some progress has been made – 97 advisories have been lifted since November 2015 – there’s still a long way to go. There are 59 active long-term water advisories in 41 communities across the country, and activists maintain that clean water should be a priority for the federal government, especially during a global pandemic. “Water is a basic human right, and nobody should have to beg for it. This is wrong, and it’s come to the point where I think it comes down to racism,” said Autumn Peltier, a teenage water-rights activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island.

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