A City of Iqaluit worker fills a water truck at the Sylvia Grinnell River after authorities ordered the Nunavut capital’s 7,000 residents not to drink the city’s water due to suspected fuel contamination, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Casey Lessard)

Iqaluit confirms ‘exceedingly high levels’ of fuel in water supply

Water not safe for cooking or drinking, city says

Reuters –– The Canadian city of Iqaluit said lab results confirmed that fuel had entered its water supply, officials announced Friday. Analysis of samples from one of the city’s water tanks found “exceedingly high levels of various fuel components,” Amy Elgersma, Iqaluit’s chief administrative officer, said, adding it was likely diesel or kerosene. Residents in […] Read more

Making the best of a tough tomato harvest

Making the best of a tough tomato harvest

First We Eat: This summer was disastrous for growing tomatoes as well as many other crops

War contributes to the transportation and appropriation of goods around the globe. For instance, tomatoes were among the plants and animals that ended up in Europe in the unequal exchange of goods, disease, slavery, land theft, and genocide between New World and Old, beginning in 1492 and culminating in1650, called the Columbian Exchange. This event […] Read more


File photo of Mekelle, the capital city of Ethiopia’s Tigray region. (Yuzu2020/iStock/Getty Images)

U.N. urges Ethiopia to allow unhindered aid as hunger kills

'Ethiopian children are starving'

Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Ethiopia’s government on Wednesday to allow the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to millions in the country’s north “without hindrance” as U.N. officials report deaths from hunger. During a U.N. Security Council meeting, Guterres urged Ethiopia’s government to allow “unrestricted movement of desperately needed fuel, cash, communications […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan)

Canary seed prices rise as production drops

MarketsFarm — This year’s canary seed crop in Canada will be smaller than expected, according to Darren Yungmann, board chair of the Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan. “Overall, canary seed is one of the most susceptible to the drought when compared to other crops,” he said, noting it’s shallow-rooted and could not access any […] Read more



Meal ideas for a hot summer

Meal ideas for a hot summer

First We Eat: Get your meal preparation done before the day heats up and think ‘cold suppers’

Like many rural residents, Dave and I live surrounded by trees and shrubs: the double windbreak planted by my grandfather in the 1940s — caraganas, Manitoba maple, and linden — with ornamental crabapples, lilacs, blue spruce, white paper birch, fruit trees, highbush cranberry, columnar aspens. I love our trees. In the tough climate we live […] Read more


World Food Programme executive director David Beasley speaks during an interview with Reuters in Doha, Qatar on Aug. 24, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Alexander Cornwell)

Afghanistan ‘marching towards starvation,’ UN food chief says

Doha | Reuters — Millions of Afghans could soon face starvation due to a combination of conflict, drought and the coronavirus pandemic, the executive director of the World Food Programme said on Tuesday, calling on political leaders to act fast. “There’s a perfect storm coming because of several years of drought, conflict, economic deterioration, compounded […] Read more

Workers unload humanitarian aid from a U.S. military helicopter at the airport at Les Cayes, Haiti on Aug, 18, 2021 after Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake. (Photo: Reuters/Henry Romero)

Haitians grow impatient for quake aid as hungry crowd gathers

Victims say they still lack food, shelter, clean water; some major hospitals damaged

Les Cayes, Haiti | Reuters — A hungry crowd gathered outside an airport in southern Haiti on Wednesday as people left homeless by an earthquake that killed some 2,000 people voiced anger that government aid was slow to arrive five days after the disaster, leaving many without food and water. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. confirms will boost food stamps by record amount

Washington | Reuters –– The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) on Monday will announce revised nutrition standards dramatically boosting average food stamp benefits, the agency confirmed Sunday. The New York Times first reported the plan to unveil the largest permanent benefits increase in the history of the government’s primary anti-hunger program, saying the change would result […] Read more

When summer heats up what better way to cool down than eating ice cream

When summer heats up what better way to cool down than eating ice cream

First We Eat: Why not make your own? It’s really not that difficult and the varieties are endless

I love ice cream. I am not alone. In my immediate family, Dave and Mom perk up like hungry pups whenever we stop at our favourite ice-cream joint. A 2019 survey reveals that 25 per cent of Canadians eat ice cream two or three times a month, making us solid contributors to its global consumption, […] Read more