Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
A B.C. Hydro power pole from the Interior of the province has washed up hundreds of kilometres away on the rocks of Boundary Bay in Tsawwassen, providing a sobering reminder of the catastrophic flooding that devastated parts of British Columbia two months ago . The pole was spotted on the beach by an off-duty B.C. Hydro employee on Christmas Day.
Delta will soon take part in a gathering of local and indigenous governments south of the Fraser River to see what can be done to improve water quality of the Canadian-US shared waters of Boundary Bay. Members of the Shared Waters Alliance, an international working group made up of representatives from government, First Nations and community groups from both countries, made a presentation to Delta council last week to discuss the ongoing shellfish harvesting closure on the Canadian side due to bacteriological contamination. Indigenous peoples, including the Semiahmoo First Nation, traditionally harvested the abundant fish and shellfish resources for their livelihood. The Alliance’s objectives include, among other things, a collaborative approach to monitoring and facilitating transparent communication among stakeholders to bring action-based objectives that will achieve measurable improvements in local water quality.
