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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising a new version of the Canada Water Act – and one of the improvements, he says, will be in the area of Indigenous rights. What that might mean for Indigenous people and communities is the focus of APTN Investigates: Liquid Law. Earlier this year at the fork of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Winnipeg, the prime minister announced not just the updated Water Act – but a new agency to administer the regulation of water across the country.
He promised to end boil-water advisories in First Nations communities within five years. He said constitutionally guaranteed rights of First Nations are a sacred obligation. "I know that renewing our relationship is an ambitious goal. But I am equally certain that it is one we can, and will, achieve if we work together," Trudeau told the Assembly of First Nations in December 2015.
The British Columbia government has changed its tune on a long-requested investigation into contamination from mines flowing into U.S. waters, opening the door to progress on an issue that has drawn the attention of President Joe Biden. The province has confirmed to The Canadian Press that it would now welcome a role in such an investigation for the International Joint Commission, a body created in 1909 to resolve water-related disputes between the two countries.
Peltier’s work as an Indigenous rights and clean water activist was highlighted at this year’s Collision tech conference, which took place from June 26 to 29. As a speaker at the conference, Peltier discussed what the next generation of climate activists might look like. The 18-year-old has spent more than half her life speaking about the value of clean water to organizations such as the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. Although various long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted in recent years, nearly 30 warnings remain in place in 26 communities across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, as of June 19.
Canada's provinces and territories are on board to help the federal government in its goal to halt land and water loss across the country. Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault met with his counterparts in Ottawa today and said they're all on the same page about conservation targets. The Liberal government is leading a biodiversity strategy to protect 30 per cent of Canadian land and water by 2030. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the target in 2020 and Canada was among the countries which pushed successfully for more than 190 other countries to follow suit at a UN biodiversity conference in Montreal last December.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is repeating promises to update legislation that governs water use. Trudeau, while formally announcing the Canada Water Agency will be headquartered in Winnipeg, says his government will update the act around the use and development of the resource in Canada. Trudeau didn’t provide details about how the Canada Water Act would change.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated promises Tuesday to update legislation that governs water use while formally announcing the Canada Water Agency is to be headquartered in Manitoba's capital city. Trudeau said his government's first priority is to update the act regulating the use and development of the resource in Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday reannounced the new Canada Water Agency, which will protect the country's freshwater supply and be headquartered in Winnipeg. "This province is home to over 100,000 lakes and rivers, with water flowing in from the Rockies and the [United] States, all the way out to Hudson Bay," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, overlooking the convergence point of two of those rivers — the Assiniboine and Red — at The Forks in Winnipeg.
A trio of Conservative MPs called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government to be more responsive to attempts by Swiss-based Glencore to take over Canadian mining giant Teck Resources Ltd. through a shareholder deal. Kootenay-Columbia MP Rob Morrison was joined by Rick Perkins, MP for South Shore—St. Margarets and opposition critic for innovation, science and industry, and Foothills MP John Barlow, along with Elkford mayor Steve Fairbairn.
Today, as we join the international community to mark World Water Day, we are reminded of our shared responsibility to protect access to clean, safe water here at home and around the world. There is no resource more essential to Canadians and the Canadian economy than clean water. Water ecosystems, when managed properly, help alleviate hunger, poverty, and illness, fight climate change, and support biodiversity. This year’s World Water Day theme, ‘Accelerating Change’, asks us to speed up our action to keep our water safe, clean, and sustainably managed.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced $800 million in funding over seven years for large Indigenous-led conservation projects covering almost a million square kilometres of land. "Communities have been clear — safeguarding lands and waters will help build a strong future for generations to come," Trudeau said Wednesday. "As a government, our role is to listen and support that vision."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are set to sign a green energy agreement later this month in Newfoundland that could prove pivotal to Canada's nascent hydrogen industry. The German government on Friday issued a statement confirming the agreement will be signed Aug. 23 in Stephenville, where a Newfoundland-based company plans to build a zero-emission plant that will use wind energy to produce hydrogen and ammonia for export.
Peltier says world leaders are always shocked and surprised when they hear her describe the water situation for First Nations in Canada. She says Canada is viewed by the outside world as a safe, rich country but feels First Nations people are treated like “animals.” Peltier says it seems to be ok for First Nations to go 20 years without clean drinking water but if that were to happen in any Canadian city, it would result in a state of emergency, that would be handled quickly.
Autumn Peltier was just 8 years old when she saw a sign at a Canadian First Nation reservation near her own warning people not to drink the water because it was toxic. Her mother explained to her that it had become contaminated due to problems with the water system that range from waterline breaks and equipment failure to the presence of toxic heavy metals or parasites and bacteria. She learned that some Indigenous people have to boil their water to drink it, while for others, even boiling their water won't make it safe enough to consume.
"Today, we celebrate World Health Day and the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO). This year's theme – 'Our planet, our health' – reminds us that our health and well-being is fundamentally connected to the health of our planet. The crises of climate change and rapid biodiversity loss are health crises too. "Taking real action to confront the climate crisis and protect our environment will deliver clean air and clean water for Canadians – as well as their associated health benefits – now and into the future.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu hopes Canada will be able to lift its remaining long-term drinking water advisories by 2025 – the year a deal between the NDP and the Liberal government is set to expire. Hajdu has declined to put a firm deadline on the commitment since coming into the role last fall, saying there are many technical challenges with the task.
A new water reservoir system for Iqaluit and upgrades to the city's water distribution system will be built over the coming years, thanks to roughly $214 million in federal funding. "I feel like some of my grey hair might be turning back to brown," quipped Iqaluit Mayor Kenny Bell Friday morning, following an announcement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the funding.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his Liberal government remains committed to ending all long-term drinking water advisories that exist on First Nations, despite not setting a new date to do so. Trudeau discussed the work done up to now on the issue during an address Thursday to a virtual gathering of chiefs with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). To date, he says, the Liberals have helped lift 120 long-term drinking water advisories. A government website reports there are 42 such advisories still in place in 30 different communities.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced in Iqaluit on Tuesday his party intends to push the federal government to spend $180 million to address Iqaluit’s water emergency. “In any major [Canadian] city, if there was a problem with the water, if there were hydrocarbons in the water, what would the federal government do?” Singh said at a news conference at the Iqaluit public library. “They would act immediately to fix the problem.”
Canada's new minister of Indigenous services says she's considering what the new timeline should be to lift remaining long-term drinking-water advisories on First Nations. Patty Hajdu enters the role with 43 advisories still in place in 31 different communities mostly in Ontario, but also in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to end all drinking-water advisories by 2021 when the Liberals were swept to power in 2015.
