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.
“I think it is time for Indigenous leaders and communities to take a look at how much participation in resource extraction is too much and how to mitigate some of these things and push towards water conservation and other things we know will help to curb forest fires,” said Houle. A hot and dry spring has meant that there has been little precipitation to help firefighters battle the blazes.
Climate change, wildfires, and towns being built on former lakes played major roles in the flooding across British Columbia, says a climate researcher at Queen’s University. “We've really grossly underestimated what needs to be done to mitigate the flooding that is going to occur in the future,” Edward Struzik, a fellow at Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy in Kingston, Ont., told CTVNews.ca during a video interview on Tuesday. He urged engineers to team up with climate scientists and meteorologists to rethink infrastructure, such as bridges, railways, and roads, with climate change in mind.
