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 bottling

Province grants Blue Triton 5-year permit renewals for water bottling

Province grants Blue Triton 5-year permit renewals for water bottling

The province has renewed the operating permits of Triton Water Canada Holdings Inc. for five years at its water bottling sites in Aberfoyle and Erin. The sites were formerly owned by Nestlé Waters Canada for years before they sold it earlier this year. The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks announced the permits on Monday. A moratorium on new water taking permits was lifted in April. The new permits allows BlueTriton to take 1.1 million litres of water per day from the Erin location and 3.6 million litres a day from its Aberfoyle location. Despite concerns raised over water extraction permits for years by local community members and environment activists who believe the removal of water could have detrimental effects to the local water supply, the province says otherwise.

Decision coming soon on water bottling permits in Ontario, environment minister says

Decision coming soon on water bottling permits in Ontario, environment minister says

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.

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