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

black water

Canada's new cruise ship rules don't fix major pollution sources, critics say

Canada's new cruise ship rules don't fix major pollution sources, critics say

The federal government says some new cruise ship pollution measures are now mandatory, but environmental groups say the move still doesn't plug gaps that permit the ongoing contamination of some of Canada's most sensitive coastlines. Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra announced Friday that voluntary measures established last April on the discharge and treatment guidelines for sewage (black water) and grey water - which includes kitchen water, laundry detergent, cleaning products, food waste, cooking oils and grease as well as hazardous carcinogens and other pollutants - will be mandatory immediately under an interim order.

Proposed rules for mobile home parks in Halifax come as a relief to residents

Proposed rules for mobile home parks in Halifax come as a relief to residents

On a summer morning two years ago, Susan Doyle turned on the tap to run a bath — and was greeted with a splash of dark water. "It was black as tar, the water. And I'm like, 'Oh my goodness,'" Doyle said in a recent interview at her Woodbine Park mobile home community in Beaver Bank. After 13 years of winding its way through city hall, a proposed Halifax bylaw would outline construction requirements and service standards for so-called "land-lease communities" like Woodbine Park.

Water on the agenda

Water on the agenda

Two water-related notice of motions are slated to come before Chatham-Kent council for discussion and voting May 29. At a recent planning meeting, South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle announced he is bringing forward a motion on the Aqua City inflatable play park proposed for Erieau beach. The motion involves approvals on storage facilities for Aqua City on municipal land, profit sharing with the Erieau community, as well as the federal and provincial parameters that must be met. As well, North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville is bringing forward a motion to encourage the municipality to revisit the water wells issue in Dover and the former Chatham Township, coming on the heels of recent independent well testing that found heavy metals in the sediment that may be bio-accessible to humans and harmful to health.

Mobile-home park faces multi-day water outage, persistent dirty water problems

Mobile-home park faces multi-day water outage, persistent dirty water problems

Lacey Phillips, another Tamarack resident, said she got her water back Monday after losing it more than 48 hours earlier. She said the residents all pay lot fees which include water. Hers is around $350 each month. Phillips said it's not unusual to have a boil notice in effect for Tamarack, but she said it's also not unusual to have black water coming out of her taps — boil order or no boil order.

Indigenous TikTok creator spreads awareness for Canada’s First Nation water crisis

Indigenous TikTok creator spreads awareness for Canada’s First Nation water crisis

After living on the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve in southeastern Ontario for nine months, he wasn’t looking to use TikTok to copy the latest dance routines. He wanted to highlight some First Nations reserves where clean drinking water remains impossible to find. So last January, from his account called @slapppps, Mcguire showed black water spewing from the pipes of his home. The video went viral, racking up 2.5 million views.

Follow us