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

biology

Western volunteers use unique method to restore Medway Creek bank

Western volunteers use unique method to restore Medway Creek bank

Volunteers help restore the banks of the creek using live staking, a process of cutting new growth from mature trees and planting those pieces into the ground. The cuttings, called live stakes, eventually will grow into new trees and create a root network to prevent soil loss. Think of it like a house plant, Samuels said. “If you take a cutting from the plant and stick it in water, eventually it will grow roots. That’s kind of what we’re doing with live stakes but it is actually happening all along the watercourse,” he said.

Blue-green algae on the rise in St. John River, says UNB researcher

Blue-green algae on the rise in St. John River, says UNB researcher

An associate professor of biology at the University of New Brunswick is warning residents about blue-green algae popping up along the St. John River this summer. Janice Lawrence says mats of cyanobacteria will probably start lifting off the river bottom and washing ashore any day now. "That's when they become dangerous," said Lawrence, who has been studying blue-green algae along the St. John River for the past three years.

RUSSELL EASY: At the VG fighting cancer and for the right to clean water

RUSSELL EASY: At the VG fighting cancer and for the right to clean water

I am currently at the VG undergoing my third round of immuno/chemotherapy, and though I know I will be treated with outstanding care, I also know that I will be unable to simply go to the bathroom to rinse my flushed face with cool water from the tap. I will be unable to take a shower, even though the toxic drugs flowing through my body will cause shakes and shivers and night sweats. And I also know that the caretakers and registered nurses who do such a phenomenal job will be taking precious time out of their schedule to prepare clean and pathogen-free water for me and for others much worse off than I am, simply so these individuals who are ill can take a necessary sponge bath to ease the distress of their treatments.

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