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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
When Kristen Villebrun heard the City of Hamilton recently discovered sewage has been flowing into the harbour for the past 26 years, she was upset. Villebrun said she and other Indigenous water walkers have complained about sewage in the water there for years. "I'm sick of talking and it falling on deaf ears,"said Villebrun, an Anishinaabe woman who is also known as Wassode nibi kwe (Shining Water Woman).
Zahra Tootonsab is in the second year of her PhD program in the Faculty of Humanities’ Department of English and Cultural Studies. Her research focuses on water pollution in Canada and Iran, and how Indigenous knowledges in both places can help inspire environmental activism and promote water security. This year, Tootonsab received a Wilson Leadership Scholar Award, which is part of a leadership development program launched at McMaster by Chancellor Emeritus L.R Wilson. Here, she shares her thoughts on her research and the influences on her work.
A director at a Hamilton non-profit started a fundraiser on Friday for a charity that supports Indigenous women and families, as a response to the Freedom Convoy that has heavy coverage over several news cycles. Robyn Knickle, the director of development at the Neighbour 2 Neighbour Centre in Hammilton, wrote in a social media post that seeing the tally for the trucker convoy climb past $6 million (much of which has originated from outside of Canada), caused her to wonder why there was no similar groundswell of support for Indigenous communities. Within six hours, the GoFundMe campaign she created to support the charitable foundation linked to the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) had raised $700, toward a modest goal of $5,000.
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.
