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.
A new report has been released by the International Joint Commission (IJC) for public review as part of the ongoing debate over Plan 2014, a controversial regulation plan to manage water levels on Lake Ontario. The phase-one report, the first of two to be released later, makes six recommendations on the road to helping better prepare for crisis high-water levels along Lake Ontario shorelines that wreaked havoc in 2017, 2019 and in early 2020.
On the campaign trail ahead of Nunavut's territorial election, Iqaluit-Manirajak MLA Adam Arreak Lightstone took aim at the territorial government's response to Iqaluit's water crisis. "I'd like to ask all my fellow Iqalummiut, MLAs, candidates, to join me in supporting the creation of a special standing committee with the objective of reviewing the government's roles and responsibilities and overall response to the water crisis that we're all in," he said at an all-candidates forum at the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre on Oct. 18.
