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

Attawapiskat First Nation

Walking 2 kilometres for clean water

Walking 2 kilometres for clean water

On Wednesday, students at Claude E. Garton Public School took part in a school-wide fundraiser to walk for clean water in First Nation communities. Classes took turns completing a two-kilometre walk inside the school to acknowledge the labour required by members of some Ontario First Nation communities to access clean water. The initiative emerged from a social studies unit in the school’s Grade 3/4 French immersion class studying the province’s access to clean water. The students learned that some Ontario First Nation communities, such as Attawapiskat First Nation, do not have reliable access to clean drinking water and require a two-kilometre walk to access it.

8-10 years to fix Attawapiskat water problems, chief estimates

8-10 years to fix Attawapiskat water problems, chief estimates

It's been one month since Attawapiskat First Nation declared a state of emergency over its poor water quality. The measure was taken in the northern Ontario community due to high levels of  trihalomethane (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) in the water the residents use for bathing and cooking. The fly-in community has a separate system for its drinking water.

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