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 teenager was found dead Friday after he reportedly got caught in a storm drain tunnel in a Toronto park during heavy rain overnight, fire crews say. Toronto fire officials say they received a call around 1:20 a.m. reporting a person being swept into the water at Earl Bales Park, the site of a large stormwater management pond in North York. They say an 18-year-old who was with the boy at the time of the incident was able to get out of the water safely and was treated at the scene.
A trial began in Burton on Tuesday for a man accused of criminal negligence in the 2018 drowning death of a Fredericton teen, during a construction project at Fredericton's main wastewater treatment plant. Jason King was a supervisor for Springhill Construction, which is also facing charges, when Michael Henderson, 18, died at a sewage treatment plant on Barker Street.
Canadian Indigenous water activist Autumn Peltier, 15, addressed hundreds of international guests at UN headquarters in Manhattan on Saturday, where she urged the global community to respect the sacredness and importance of clean water. "I've said it once, and I'll say it again: we can't eat money or drink oil," said the activist from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. Peltier spoke at the Global Landscapes Forum, a platform on sustainable land use founded by UN Environment and the World Bank that's dedicated to achieving development and climate goals.
Thousands of Canadians hit the streets Friday demanding change to stop the effects of climate change. Canadians joined people all over the world in demonstrations sparked by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who started the global climate protest movement. Climate Strike Canada — a network of students, young people and activists spearheading the marches — put out a list of demands.
