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.
John Barker has been volunteering with the West Vancouver Streamkeeper Society for more than 20 years and says he's never seen anything like it, dozens of coho salmon, pre-spawn and silvery, looking fresh from the sea, dead at the mouth of Brothers Creek. "When you have a loss like this, it's devastating,'' said Barker.
Officials are investigating after raw sewage started spilling into the Capilano River, one of the largest rivers flowing through Metro Vancouver's North Shore. The Squamish Nation, whose territories encompass much of North Vancouver, first reported the leak publicly on Friday. B.C.'s environment ministry later said it first heard about the sewage four days earlier, flowing out a storm drain outfall pipe from a private property near Fullerton Avenue in West Vancouver.
