Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board

Lake Ontario saw third highest rise in water levels in October

Lake Ontario saw third highest rise in water levels in October

Unusually high levels of rainfall in the autumn led to the third wettest fall on record which created higher levels in Lake Ontario water levels, said joint U.S.-Canada regulators governing water levels. The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board said in a statement, “Lake Ontario is currently 34 cm (13.4 inches) above the long-term average (1918-2020) and 34 cm (13.4 inches) below the record high set in 1945 for this time of the year. “In terms of total water supply to Lake Ontario, September through November 2021 was the third wettest fall on record. As a result, Lake Ontario experienced the third largest rise in water levels in October. The lake rose 8 cm (3.1 inches) as opposed to decreasing an average of 11 cm (4.3 inches) typically experienced that time of year.”

St. Lawrence water levels could wash away more than $1B

St. Lawrence water levels could wash away more than $1B

Rising water levels in the St. Lawrence Seaway could cost the economy more than $1 billion, shippers and port operators say. A new study from the Chamber of Marine Commerce warns that opening the floodgates further at a dam in Cornwall, Ont., would wash away between $1 billion and $1.75 billion in revenue for businesses on both sides of the border. A board of control recently increased the flow at the Moses Saunders Dam — the only control point on the St. Lawrence Seaway, which includes the Great Lakes — to allow 10,400 cubic metres of water per second out of Lake Ontario.

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