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.
Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
TD Insurance has teamed up with the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) to launch the latest iteration of a program that offers strategies to minimize risks associated with extreme weather events. The newest Showcase Home initiative coincides with the growing threat of urban flooding in Canada. According to data from CatIQ, basement flooding and water-related incidents from the past year resulted in more than a billion dollars in property damage.
All climate disasters are not created equal and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction recommends retreat in the face of only one type of threat. "In our opinion, retreat is not an option that is important for most climate hazards in Canada. The hazard where retreat is really important and quite viable and a critical option involves flooding," executive director Paul Kovacs said.
