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

water shut-off

Wet winter needed to feed next years' crops, say Alberta irrigators amid early water shut-off

Wet winter needed to feed next years' crops, say Alberta irrigators amid early water shut-off

Lake Newell, a reservoir south of Brooks, Alta. that helps feed water to farmland as well as various municipal, industrial, wildlife and recreational areas, is less than half the level it should be heading into winter. The lake is a part of the Eastern Irrigation District (EID), an area east of Calgary bound by the Red Deer river to the north, and the Bow River to the south. On Sept. 25, EID shut down its irrigation season roughly two weeks ahead of when it normally would, due to dry conditions throughout the summer that have strained water supply. 

Former Neskantaga contractor accused of cutting corners in other First Nations

Former Neskantaga contractor accused of cutting corners in other First Nations

“They cut corners every day, every day,” said Justin Gee, vice-president of First Nations Engineering Services Ltd. Gee said he encountered these recurring problems while overseeing the work of a construction firm, Kingdom Construction Limited (KCL), building a water treatment plant 10 years ago in Wasauksing First Nation, along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay, about 250 kilometres north of Toronto. “You have to be on them every step of the way,” said Gee, who was the contract administrator on the project. “You can’t leave them on their own.”

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