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.
On a cool, damp evening, at a recent community meeting at a high school gym in northwest Washington, area residents voiced anger over inaction they believed had led to disastrous flooding. And they wanted to know from public officials what was going to be done to make sure it didn’t happen again. Residents pointed to the last major flood in 1990, which, like this one, had also driven devastating flood waters from the Nooksack River across the border to Abbotsford.
Leadership in a northern Alberta hamlet will be evacuating about 150 people after a chemical mix-up at the community's water plant. Vern Janvier, chief of the Prairie Chipewyan First Nation, said the First Nation decided on Monday to offer residents who rely on piped water the option of leaving their homes. There are 107 houses on the system, and Janvier said from one to six people live in each house. He anticipates there will be between 150 and 200 evacuees.
