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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Tomorrow is Earth Day, and there are plenty of activities that you can join across the country to help clean up your neighbourhood and find like-minded community members. And, of course, it’s also your yearly reminder that caring about the environment is not limited to a single day – it’s everyday here at Globe Climate.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Oil and gas: B.C. loosens net-zero rules for LNG proposals amid hydroelectricity uncertainty
- Science: Huge deposits of carbon-bearing rocks discovered on Mars
- Electricity: Manitoba looks to connect remote communities to power grid
- Lawsuit: Supreme Court says it won’t hear appeal on questioning ex-Alberta energy minister in coal mining lawsuit
- In-depth with The Narwhal: Canadian voters ranked climate change as a top issue – even during a pandemic. Has the U.S. trade war changed that?
A deeper dive
Empty water jugs hang outside a home on October 26, 2020, in Neskantaga First Nation, after the northern Ontario community was evacuated owing to a water crisis.DAVID JACKSON/The Globe and Mail
A decade later, some First Nations still wait for clean water
Nearly 10 years ago, Justin Trudeau promised safe drinking water for all First Nations, writes Thunder Bay reporter Willow Fiddler and water reporter Patrick White in their most recent story together.
But empty plastic bottles continue to pile up high in Neskantaga First Nation. The waste has been mounting since 1995, when the water in community, located 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, was declared unfit to drink.
Three decades later, it stands as the country’s longest-standing boil-water advisory and a reminder of a broken Liberal promise.
In 2021, Ottawa settled class-action lawsuits brought by First Nations affected by long-term drinking-water advisories for around $8-billion. The Liberals followed that up with the First Nations Clean Water Act. The bill died when Parliament was prorogued in January.
On October 26, 2020, Chris Moonias, Chief of Neskantaga First Nations, right, and band councillor Gary Quisess, were among the people who stayed behind to help.DAVID JACKSON/The Globe and Mail
Since 2015, Ottawa has invested $4.61-billion on water projects and lifted 147 long-term advisories. Yet new water issues seem to be arising faster than they can be addressed. In 2025 alone, four advisories have been added to the tally and zero have been lifted, leaving a total of 35 in place – colouring the Liberal record on reconciliation.
On the campaign trail, Liberal Leader Mark Carney has committed to enshrining First Nations’ rights to safe drinking water, while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has proposed a tax mechanism that would allow First Nations to fund water-infrastructure development through revenues from industry.
But even if the advisories are ever lifted, rebuilding trust in the taps will take time.
Meanwhile, Canada’s largest First Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River, is taking Ottawa to court over unsafe and inadequate water systems that don’t reach most homes on its reserve, demanding an immediate fix and at least $25-million in compensation.
Six Nations is situated within Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe, the most densely populated region in the country. But 70 per cent of the community relies on a patchwork of unmonitored wells and cisterns that have tested high for harmful bacteria and other contaminants, according to a statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court.
Election Day is in exactly one week. You can learn more about issues affecting communities across Canada before voting day with The Globe.
What else you missed
- B.C. First Nation launches challenge of province’s approval to raise Mount Polley mine dam
- U.S. fishers celebrate Trump’s seafood order while conservation groups fear overfishing
- Trump administration cancels $3-billion climate friendly farming program
- Majority of Ontario’s utilities don’t study climate risk to electrical grid, survey suggests
- As anti-tourism takes hold across Europe, Tofino, B.C., offers a lesson in sustainability
- B.C. researchers confirm footprints of three-toed dinosaur with club-like tail
Opinion and analysis
Jeffrey Jones: On climate, will the real Mark Carney please stand up?
Scott Franks: Land acknowledgments aren’t political. They uphold the rule of law in Canada
Green Investing
Wendy Berman named chair of the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board
The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board has named Bay Street lawyer and former regulator Wendy Berman as its chairperson as the group takes the next steps in integrating climate disclosures with financial reporting at public companies.
Ms. Berman takes over from Bruce Marchand, who held the post on an interim basis since the resignation of the group’s inaugural chair, Charles-Antoine St-Jean, in August 2024.
- California consumer group sues to block insurers from adding surcharge after LA fires
The Climate Exchange
We’ve launched the next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers’ questions with the closest answer drafted. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions.
Photo of the week
A buffalo approaches Wade LeBeau and Jake Hill, right, during the buffalo release at the Eastern Shoshone Buffalo enclosure on the Wind River Reservation near Morton, Wyo., on April 11, 2025.Amber Baesler/The Canadian Press
Guides and Explainers
- Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP29 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills – Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- Promising signs from whale calving season
- Nostalgic gardens make a comeback
- Great Lakes caught up in trade war
- Cleanup bill for oil and gas wells
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