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.
After initiating its own wastewater testing for polio last year, Canada has detected two samples of vaccine-derived polio virus type 2 (VDPV2). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)'s epidemiological update released on Dec. 30, 2022, the virus strain was found in two wastewater samples collected between Aug. 20 and Aug. 30 2022.
After new reports of polio cases abroad, and virus samples in the wastewater of several other developed countries, Canada intends to start testing wastewater from a number of cities "as soon as possible," CBC News has learned. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) already works to monitor polio activity around the world, a spokesperson said in an email response to CBC News questions.
Surveillance of wastewater data is suggesting that COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in Canada as provinces have eased public health restrictions. The resurgence is taking place in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and parts of British Columbia, according to an analysis by Global News. “The reality is that as all of the restrictions come off in terms of masking and the other measures which have been in place for some period of time, we can expect that more cases are going to be out there,” said Dr. Steve Hrudey, chair of the research advisory group of the Canadian Water Network COVID 19 Wastewater Coalition. “The next few days to weeks are going to be important to watch,” he said.
