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

remote Indigenous communities

‘This is part of our job’: Obed wants to have the hard conversations

‘This is part of our job’: Obed wants to have the hard conversations

He admitted it can be difficult, pointing to the ongoing challenge of pressuring the federal government to provide drinkable water to Canada’s remote Indigenous communities. Obed said there were 298 boil water advisories between 2015 and 2020, including four that went on for more than a year and 50 that lasted more than three months. “This is part of our job,” he said of keeping Canadian government leaders accountable to fix these problems. “Our job is to articulate and quantify what it means to eliminate an infrastructure gap. These require billions of dollars, new relationships, and on ongoing effort where you tweak it over time.”

Global security and clean water part of new Canadore funding

Global security and clean water part of new Canadore funding

It took Craig McLellan one simple lecture at Canadore College to realize North Bay would be an ideal spot to relocate his business. "I spoke to 90 first year software development students and at the end of my 10-minute talk I said a show of hands how many of you want to stay in North Bay after you graduate, and over 75 per cent of them put their hands up," said McLellan, the president and CEO of ThinkOn.

Measuring the gaps in drinking water quality and policy across regional and remote Australia

Measuring the gaps in drinking water quality and policy across regional and remote Australia

Drinking water quality remains a persistent challenge across regional and remote Australia. We reviewed public reporting by 177 utilities and conducted a national assessment of reported exceedances against the health-based and aesthetic guideline values of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG). Four definitions of a basic level of drinking water quality were tested to quantify service gaps across regional and remote areas of each subnational jurisdiction in 2018–2019. At least 25,245 people across 99 locations with populations <1000 reportedly accessed water services that did not comply with health-based guideline values. Including larger towns and water systems, the estimated service gap rises to at least 194,572 people across more than 115 locations. Considering health parameters and the ADWG definition of ‘good’ aesthetic characteristics, the reported service gap rises further to at least 627,736 people across 408 locations.

Minister Wilkinson Announces $32.2 Million to Support the Atlin Hydro Expansion Project

Minister Wilkinson Announces $32.2 Million to Support the Atlin Hydro Expansion Project

Across the country, communities are identifying clean, reliable energy as key to fighting climate change while building a more secure and resilient future. The Government of Canada is investing in community-led clean energy projects with remote Indigenous communities to displace fossil fuels and advance reconciliation and self-determination. In Budget 2022, the Government of Canada made targeted and responsible investments to create jobs and prosperity today, and build a stronger economic future for all Canadians.

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