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.
Shane Philips, a local water activist and singer/songwriter, concluded the first stage of his “Ear to the Groundwater” tour on June 11 at BlueTriton Brands’ Hillsburgh well. Throughout the week of June 7 to 11, Philips walked to all three wells in Wellington County owned by of BlueTriton (formerly Nestle Waters Canada). “We still can’t see each other for the water in our blood,” Philips said. “I’m walking for the simple issue of dignity – human dignity to have clean water.”
A decision on how to proceed with water bottling permits is expected by early to mid-December, with a review nearly complete, Ontario's Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said Thursday. A moratorium on new and expanded permits to take water for bottling, which was put in place by the former Liberal government in 2017, and was extended last year by the Progressive Conservatives, is set to expire on Jan. 1. Yurek said his decision will be based in science, though if the government can't find a "conclusive way to go forward" he would extend the moratorium again.
