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

private land

Amendments to provincial anti-trespassing law aimed at federal employees

Amendments to provincial anti-trespassing law aimed at federal employees

Federal government employees who enter private land without the owner's consent face fines of up to $200,000 under an amendment to Saskatchewan's anti-trespassing law. "This formalizes and reinforces the change to trespass regulations, made earlier this year, that requires federal employees to comply with the Act, which prohibits individuals from entering private land without the owner's consent," Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre said in a news release about the Trespass to Property Amendment Act, 2022.

Russell Wangersky: Water testing? Provinces asked feds to do it

Russell Wangersky: Water testing? Provinces asked feds to do it

It’s about the reaction to a photograph taken of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) inspectors taking water samples near Pense — the workers said they thought they were working on public land next to the highway, while a landowner claimed the work was being done on private land. It should have stopped right there — as a misunderstanding about whether the land was public or private, with efforts to do better in the future. Instead, it became the latest federal/provincial football. Some people have got in touch with me after I wrote about this issue last week to point out that I haven’t lived here long enough to understand the way Saskatchewan residents feel about private land.

Sask. government amended its trespassing act ahead of dispute with Ottawa

Sask. government amended its trespassing act ahead of dispute with Ottawa

The Government of Saskatchewan amended its provincial trespassing act ahead of its ongoing dispute with the federal government. The amendment changes the definition of a “person” within the Trespass to Property Act to include “the Crown, in the right of Canada.” “There’s references to various persons, and all that this order in council does is it says that person can include an agent, essentially the Crown in the right of Canada,” Martin Olszynski, a law professor at the University of Calgary, said.

Are climate activists heroes? Or are they terrorists?

Are climate activists heroes? Or are they terrorists?

On Aug. 11, 2021, Jessica Reznicek self-reported to a U.S. federal prison to begin her eight-year sentence. Her crime? One count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility (to which Jessica had pleaded guilty), plus a domestic terrorism charge added by the judge during Jessica's sentencing to deter others from taking similar actions. You may not have heard of Jessica. I hadn't, until I saw a petition asking President Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress to repeal her terrorism charge. It was the petition's title that really caught my attention: "Protecting Water is Never Terrorism."

Follow us