Prince Albert

Saskatchewan River Water Walk group hopes to raise awareness of need to protect water source

Saskatchewan River Water Walk group hopes to raise awareness of need to protect water source

The Saskatchewan River Water Walk is continuing this week as the grassroots group heads across Saskatchewan and Alberta, raising awareness of the need for people to respect the water as a life source. The group were in the Delmas and Battlefords area recently, and will finish the walk east of Prince Albert, at the Saskatchewan River Forks. Organizer Tasha Beeds says the aim of the walk is to increase understanding of the value of the North Saskatchewan River in people’s lives, today and into the future. “It’s more about raising consciousness about the need to see that water as living, to see that all of life needs water,” she said.

First Nations workers in Sask. sacrifice wages, vacation to run underfunded water systems

First Nations workers in Sask. sacrifice wages, vacation to run underfunded water systems

Rebecca Zagozewski is the executive director of the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, a non-profit organization that works to build First Nations’ capacity to take care and control of their own water services. She says recruitment and retention of water treatment plant operators is a “real problem” on Saskatchewan First Nations, largely because they often can’t pay operators competitive wages.

Clean water shortage, COVID-19 outbreak puts northern Sask. Dene community in crisis

Clean water shortage, COVID-19 outbreak puts northern Sask. Dene community in crisis

"Our members don't have adequate access to clean water for basic hygiene and safety purposes, which is essential to preventing the spread of COVID-19 in our community," McDonald said. "At this point, we are experiencing an incredible strain on our essential staff, from our delivery drivers to our health-care staff who may have been in direct contact with the positive cases." She said 37 positive cases have been identified and 207 people were considered direct contacts with these people as of Monday. There are about 1,000 people living on reserve, meaning at least one-quarter of the membership are directly affected by the illness or by self-monitoring, according to the news release.