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.
A new human rights report released this week highlights Canada’s failures to address long-standing abuses, including the failure to provide clean drinking water to First Nations. The report published by the Human Rights Watch group outlines the lack of safe water access in indigenous communities across the country, despite the federal government’s promise in 2015 to end all drinking water advisories on First Nations reserves by 2021.
Shukin said power lines "can only carry a certain amount of power" and the IESO giving the green light on the turbines means the lines had room to transmit more power. He said Capital Power has done studies on "noise, air quality, storm-water management, natural environment, heritage, and socio-economic factors." Shukin said the company is "committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2045" and the turbines, which can be partially powered by hydrogen, support that objective.
Imperial Oil said it's going to start the process of renewing licences with the Sahtu Land and Water Board and the Canada Energy Regulator to operate in the Sahtu. The new permits would allow them to keep extracting oil in Norman Wells for another decade. An Imperial Oil representative declined to do an interview at the open house, saying staff were not trained to speak to the media.
The city of Montreal is looking to significantly reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions while vastly improving the St. Lawrence River's water quality by overhauling its wastewater treatment plant. As part of Montreal's 2023 budget (presented in November) the city earmarked $682 million over 10 years to replace the incinerators at the Jean-R.-Marcotte plant in Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles.
D'Arcy Henderson picks up pieces of plastic and trash strewn across her neighbour's yard. The Columbia Valley resident points to steaming piles of waste sitting on the other side of a blue fence as the source. "If you look at the plastic on the ground and the garbage blowing, that's 500 years that won't disappear," she told CBC News. Environmental concerns are mounting in the small community near Cultus Lake, B.C., about 101 kilometres east of Vancouver, after truckload after truckload of business waste was dropped at a farm without provincial approval, violating B.C.'s Environmental Management Act.
An environmental group in Nova Scotia says a gold mine is responsible for high levels of arsenic in waterways nearby. Members of Water is Life Nova Scotia have been doing regular water testing near the tailings dam at the Touquoy Gold Mine located in Moose River, about 65 kilometres northeast of Halifax. What they discovered in late August near Scraggy Lake, which is located next to the mine, prompted them to come back and take more water samples.
The City of Hamilton says roughly 59 million litres of sewage had flowed from 11 homes near Rutherford Avenue and Myrtle Avenue straight into Lake Ontario since 1996. "City staff developed this estimate based on the water meter usage data from the 11 properties connected to the combined sewer pipe," reads a release, which adds this method was identified as the most accurate way to represent the discharge. The city confirmed the sewage leak on Monday during a risk-based proactive inspection program prompted by a separate, 337-million-litre sewage spill discovered in late November.
There is currently no timeline for the restoration of water service at Wabaseemoong Independent Nations after accidental contamination forced the northwestern Ontario community's water supply to be shut off last month. The shutdown occurred on Dec. 23, after a water pipe burst in the building that houses the community's water reservoir, leading to a flood, said Curtis Bergeron, director of strategic water management with Indigenous Services Canada.
A B.C. company testing deepsea mining in the Pacific Ocean says the release of discharge directly into the sea was an accident and was quickly resolved. On Wednesday, The Metals Company said that video footage showing fouled water going directly from the company’s mining ship into the ocean, which was released by Greenpeace, was a “minor and temporary event.”
A chemical used in the production of toilet paper and 'forever chemicals' have been found in the bodies of orcas in B.C. , including the endangered southern resident killer whales. The Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries at UBC, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists analyzed tissue samples from six southern resident killer whales and six Bigg’s whales stranded along the coast of B.C. from 2006 to 2018, according to a recent study. They discovered that chemical pollutants are prevalent in killer whales, with a chemical often found in toilet paper one of the most prevalent in the samples studied, accounting for 46 per cent of the total pollutants identified.
A prominent human-rights group says Canada is failing to address long-standing abuses, delivering a rebuke of what it calls the federal government’s inadequate climate policy and violations of the rights of Indigenous people and immigration detainees. Human Rights Watch says more than two dozen First Nations remain under long-term drinking water advisories, despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to bring that number down to zero.
The Japanese government gave an estimation for when the water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant will be released into the sea, saying at a cabinet meeting held on Friday it could happen sometime "around this spring or summer." In April 2021, the government approved the release of more than 1 million tonnes of irradiated water from the site after treatment into the ocean. It said the release would happen "in about two years" at the time.
A designated location in Saskatoon for people to spread the ashes of loved ones along the river is one step closer to fruition. A city committee has recommended council move forward to plan and construct a dedicated scattering location, which could be at Meewasin Park near the north end of Spadina Crescent. Funding for the project would be part of the 2024-25 budget deliberations. If approved, construction on a new permanent site is tentatively set for 2025.
About 50,000 large dams across the world will lose 24-28 per cent water storage capacity by 2050 due to sediment trapped in them, a report by the United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health showed. These water reservoirs have already lost about 13-19 per cent capacity to sedimentation, the researchers mentioned. The loss will challenge many aspects of national economies, including irrigation, power generation and water supply, said Duminda Perera, who co-authored the study with UNU-INWEH Director Vladimir Smakhtin and Spencer Williams of McGill University in Montreal.
Nova Scotia's only gold mine is cutting dozens of jobs as it winds down operations after five years. St Barbara, the Australian company that owns the Touquoy gold mine in Moose River, N.S., said in a statement on Thursday that 44 positions are being eliminated. Ten other workers are being offered "alternative opportunities." Overall, the company said it's reducing the number of jobs in its Atlantic operations from 292 to 182, but 56 of the positions being eliminated are already vacant.
According to the City of Windsor's website, the project is in the pre-feasibility assessment phase, which includes natural and cultural research and analysis, looking at the governance framework, engaging stakeholders and holding public consultations. Duckworth said members held a ceremony at Ojibway Shores Wednesday to honour the Earth. Parks Canada declined an interview with CBC News, because it wants to have Caldwell's voice "amplified on this opportunity over our own." "It's a very spiritual time when we were out there, we were able to conduct a ceremony and recognize the water, understand the land, see the grandfather rocks that were there and ... we had two songs there," she said.
An Alberta conservation group is raising concerns about the potential for environmental damage from an approved oilsands mining operation on an important wetland in northern Alberta. The Alberta Energy Regulator approved Suncor's plan for work in the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex last year. The project is part of the company's current Fort Hills oilsands operation.
Watershed groups on P.E.I. have created education campaigns encouraging Islanders to use less road salt — and keep it out of waterways — because of the impact on animals and the environment. The Trout River Environmental Committee (TREC) launched its campaign last week, in partnership with the Wheatley River Improvement Group. "The purpose is mostly just to raise awareness of the issue. A lot of people don't know the impacts of road salt, so we wanted to get the word out," said Shayla Steinhoff, project manager for TREC.
Those taking in the views at a popular lake near Banff, Alta., will likely see a large amount of dead fish from the shore, according to Parks Canada. Fish in the second lake at Vermilion Lakes, directly west of Banff, recently died from winterkill said Mark Taylor, aquatic ecologist team lead in Banff National Park. Winterkill naturally happens when the fish don't get enough oxygen.
