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

northern Quebec

Grade 5 science project leads to water quality testing at school in northern Quebec

Grade 5 science project leads to water quality testing at school in northern Quebec

"They did find that we should be filtering our water in the schools," she said, adding that the band office has agreed to carry out further tests. Roy said the quality of the water source, Mistissini Lake, is very, very good, but down the line in the school the water quality drops noticeably. The students also studied four different types of filtering options, including some traditional methods, such as using moss or a heavy cotton, as well as modern charcoal filters. In their evaluation, the students also took into account cost and environmental impacts of the different filtration methods. 

After all 3 water trucks in Kangiqsualujjuaq broke down, community rallied with pickup trucks

After all 3 water trucks in Kangiqsualujjuaq broke down, community rallied with pickup trucks

Many smaller communities rely solely on water trucks to deliver clean water to home. So when the trucks break down, it becomes a headache and even a crisis. That was the case for Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, in northern Quebec, where recently, all three water trucks broke down and were in disrepair for almost three weeks. "It was a difficult thing because all the water trucks were broken plus all the parts were being backordered from the company we ordered parts from," said Mayor David Annanack, adding that COVID-19 was also causing an issue at the factories where they get parts.

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