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

deaths

Two people dead after Nova Scotia floods, two missing

Two people dead after Nova Scotia floods, two missing

Two of the four people missing after floods ripped through the Canadian Atlantic province of Nova Scotia over the weekend are dead, Premier Tim Houston said on Monday. Police earlier confirmed the death of a 52-year-old man who was reported missing after his car became submerged and said they had found a second body most likely to be one of the four people who disappeared as waters rose. "I extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the two people who passed away following floods," Houston said in a statement confirming the second body was one of the four people who went missing in the region of Halifax, the province's largest city.

Cyclist riding across Canada to raise awareness of youth mental health crisis in Manitoba community

Cyclist riding across Canada to raise awareness of youth mental health crisis in Manitoba community

“It’s not just a suicide crisis, but it’s also a water crisis that they’re facing and that they have been facing out there for years. They’re on a boil water advisory. They’re surrounded by water they can’t touch, swim in or drink and they rely solely on water bottles. So, there’s a lot going on.”

Canada’s farmers brace for new heat wave as scorching summer leaves cherries roasting on trees

Canada’s farmers brace for new heat wave as scorching summer leaves cherries roasting on trees

As devastating heat waves sweep swaths of the globe, farmers in Canada are facing a crippling phenomenon: Crops are baking in fields. Cherries have roasted on trees. Fields of canola and wheat have withered brown. And as feed and safe water for animals grow scarce, ranchers may have no choice but to sell off their livestock. “It will totally upend Canadian food production if this becomes a regular thing,” said Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.

Bad water sickens First Nations, but government doesn’t track the toll

Bad water sickens First Nations, but government doesn’t track the toll

The true toll of the water crisis in First Nations communities across Canada can’t be known because the government has failed to track and study water-related illnesses. That stands in the way of tackling the problem, experts told the Institute for Investigative Journalism as part of “Clean Water, Broken Promises,” a year-long investigation conducted in collaboration with universities across the country and a consortium of media outlets including The Tyee. Some critics charge the “black hole” of information is intentional because it allows authorities to duck responsibility. A disproportionate number of illnesses that occur as a result of contaminated drinking water are in First Nations communities with substandard water systems, but the data needed to map the reality are missing.

A century of water: As Winnipeg aqueduct turns 100, Shoal Lake finds freedom

A century of water: As Winnipeg aqueduct turns 100, Shoal Lake finds freedom

The taps to Winnipeg's drinking water were first turned on in April 1919, but as the city celebrated its engineering feat and raised glasses of that clear liquid, another community's fortunes suddenly turned dark. Construction of a new aqueduct plunged Shoal Lake 40 into a forced isolation that it is only now emerging from, 100 years after Winnipeg's politicians locked their sights on the water that cradles the First Nation at the Manitoba–Ontario border. "The price that our community has paid for one community to benefit from that resource, it's just mind-boggling," said Shoal Lake 40 Chief Erwin Redsky.

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