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.
Time may be expiring on the Columbia River Treaty but a stream of issues to continue workability between Canada and the U.S. won’t be water under the bridge just yet. Sixty years of Assured Flood Control is set to expire in 2024 but the two countries have been in talks to modernize the historical transboundary agreement since May 2018, covering a range of topics over the course of 10 rounds of meetings.
