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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is repeating promises to update legislation that governs water use. Trudeau, while formally announcing the Canada Water Agency will be headquartered in Winnipeg, says his government will update the act around the use and development of the resource in Canada. Trudeau didn’t provide details about how the Canada Water Act would change.
The federal government says it's making Canada's largest investment ever in protecting the nation's sources of fresh water — including the Great Lakes. Commitments announced by the government during U.S. President Joe Biden's visit and in the recent budget bring the federal government's total investment to $750 million, said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Protecting fresh water is critically important to Canada's environmental, social, and economic well-being. One of the largest surface freshwater systems in the world, the Great Lakes help drive the local economy and provide drinking water for millions of Canadians. Today, Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced an investment of more than $3.9 million over three years in thirty-nine new projects in Ontario through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative, part of the Government of Canada's Freshwater Action Plan.
