Jun 25 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Tanya Ball began her career as a social worker for the Kaska Dene First Nation. Now she runs a land guardian program, working to monitor and protect a vast stretch of the band's northern British Columbia wilderness. But she's still a social worker, in a way. "Land guardians can help the land heal," she said. […]
Jun 25 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Tanya Ball began her career as a social worker for the Kaska Dene First Nation. Now she runs a land guardian program, working to monitor and protect a vast stretch of the band's northern British Columbia wilderness. But she's still a social worker, in a way. "Land guardians can help the land heal," she said. […]
Jun 16 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — You wouldn't think it to watch scenes of honking truck drivers or sign-carrying anti-vaccine protesters, but new survey data suggests Canadians have more trust in their institutions and their neighbours since the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Canada is a long way from a national "Kum Ba Yah" sing-along. Cary Wu, lead author of the newly published […]
Jun 4 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — The future of a lawsuit seeking to hold Canada accountable for the loss of Métis lands is in doubt after about a third of the plaintiffs asked to withdraw from the action when their legitimacy was questioned. The Métis Nation of Alberta says the move proves that it speaks for Alberta's Métis and that the […]
Jun 1 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Ottawa and Northwest Territories are in discussions with a large American charity about permanent funding for a program that puts First Nations people in charge of looking after parks and other conservation areas on their traditional lands. Representatives from all three groups have agreed to try to work out a way for The Pew Charitable […]
May 11 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Inuit hunters fear an upcoming ruling on an Arctic mine expansion could hasten the ongoing decline of a narwhal population that they rely on for food. Harvesters from Pond Inlet on the northern coast of Baffin Island say numbers of the iconic, single-tusked whale are already a small fraction of what they were before the […]
May 2 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — Thousands of Alberta cottagers and homeowners are waiting anxiously to see if a provincial regulator will allow a large cattle feedlot to be developed near a popular and environmentally fragile recreational lake. Pigeon Lake, about 100 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, is home to about 5,800 seasonal and permanent residents and attracts about 100,000 […]
Apr 26 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — The federal natural resources minister said Tuesday that concerns from the auditor general’s office about government plans to move to a more hydrogen-powered economy don’t mean the goals aren’t achievable. But Jonathan Wilkinson acknowledged Ottawa has much work to do to bring the provinces along with the government’s emissions reduction plan. And he […]
Apr 20 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Spending money now to avoid the worst effects of climate change later will literally pay for itself, according to a new analysis. "Investing now can pay off later," said Sean Cleary, head of the Institute for Sustainable Development at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. "The investment is less than the cost." Some analysis already exists […]
Apr 8 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has written a letter to his Alberta counterpart to correct what he calls errors in Jason Nixon's recent newspaper column. Earlier this week, an Alberta newspaper published an op-ed by Nixon in which he called the new federal plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "insane." In his letter, […]
Mar 23 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Days before the federal government is expected to explain how it will meet greenhouse gas targets, 90 prominent scientists have written a letter urging it to ensure that old-growth forests are a big part of that plan. "We are deeply concerned by the evidence of continued deforestation and degradation of primary forests globally and in […]
Mar 13 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Canada's mining industry is pushing back against proposed tougher federal coal effluent rules, saying the draft regulations aren't practical or backed by science. "We just do not see a path to achieving those limits," said Pierre Gratton of the Mining Association of Canada, which expressed its concerns in a March 2 letter to Environment Canada. […]
Feb 1 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Joni Mitchell was right — they really are paving paradise and putting up parking lots. Statistics Canada's first survey of urban green space shows that, just as the singer-songwriter warned, cities across the country are getting greyer and browner. "We did a see a decrease over the time period we looked at," said Jennie Wang, […]
Jan 28 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — Alberta's top court has rejected a request to appeal a regulatory decision that denied permits for the Grassy Mountain coal mine in the province's Rocky Mountains. In a decision released Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeal turned down the request from Benga Mining and two area First Nations. "The permission to appeal applications of Stoney […]
Jan 27 2022 — Bob Weber — The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — An Alberta mayor says he's concerned a massive public outcry over coal mining in the province's Rocky Mountains will be ignored after hearing Premier Jason Kenney tell him he remains an "unapologetic supporter" of the industry. "It's very clear to me that Premier Kenney is 100 per cent behind the coal mining companies," […]