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.
The City of Thunder Bay is increasing its rate of testing wastewater for COVID-19 as cases of the virus in the community climb. Thunder Bay is one of a number of municipalities in the province submitting wastewater samples to labs for analysis. Water samples taken taken at the Thunder Bay's municipal pollution control plant go to the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor.
