Ontario

Children play in Lake Erie at Luna Pier, Mich., in water green with algae during an active advisory in 2022 against “whole-body contact” issued by the Monroe County Health Department.

Great Lakes beach safety tests are often outdated and unreliable

By Amalia Medina

Aug. 15, 2024 7 min. read

Contaminants such as E. coli and the toxins in algal blooms are analyzed faster and...

Ring of Fire: an aerial view of a lake surrounded by wetlands and forest in the fall, with some of the forest green and some of it gold

‘These are not your lands to give away’: 6 First Nations take Ontario to court over mining law

By Emma McIntosh

Aug. 12, 2024 7 min. read

Indigenous communities in Ontario are flooded with mining claims that chip away at their territories....

An aerial view of a rural intersection in The Township of Wilmot in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Also visible are farmlands that the government is looking to expropriate for industrial use.

These Ontario farmers are losing the land they own to industry. But that’s all anyone will tell them

Aug. 8, 2024 8 min. read

In Waterloo, the regional government is threatening to expropriate over 320 hectares of farmland to...

Cottages and forest along Georgian Bay, south of the location of the proposed TC Energy Pumped Storage Project in Meaford, Ont.,

TC Energy executives celebrate ‘ground game’ for Ontario pumped storage project

By Fatima Syed and Matt Simmons (Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)

July 30, 2024 13 min. read

Internal call reveals TC Energy execs applauded their ‘tactics’ in Meaford, Ont., and discussed them...

Mimico Creek spill: families hang out on a rocky beach on a summer day with Lake Ontario and the Toronto skyline behind them

Missed calls, forgotten instructions: inside an oil spill cleanup on Toronto waterways

By Emma McIntosh

July 26, 2024 10 min. read

A provincial spill report details a list of issues that arose as crews responded to...

The old brick smoke stack at the Brick Works site towers over trees and a rooftop with floodwater pooled below

It could have been so much worse: flooding swamped a Toronto landmark designed to deal with stormwater

July 25, 2024 4 min. read

While a July storm wreaked havoc on the green community hub, its climate-ready design curbed...

An aerial view of the mouth of Mimico Creek at Humber Bay Park in the summertime, flowing into Lake Ontario

‘Containment breached’: how an oil spill in northwest Toronto made its way to Lake Ontario

By Emma McIntosh

July 25, 2024 19 min. read

Last summer, contaminated sludge from a fire at a chemical plant reached Lake Ontario. The...

Ontario's Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has only released largely redacted versions of handwritten inspection notes from a visit its official made to Industrial Plastics Canada's North Bay site days after a story by The Narwhal. Source: Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks

Emails show North Bay plastics company unclear on environmental permits

By Leah Borts-Kuperman (Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)

July 22, 2024 8 min. read

North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico assured residents a controversial factory was safe on the very...

Cars were partially submerged in flood waters in Toronto's Don Valley Parkway

Will a $1-billion flooding bill finally make the GTA take stormwater seriously?

July 19, 2024 5 min. read

Shoring up cities to withstand extreme weather may not be an exciting proposal, but the...

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