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 Ottawa is endorsing a sewer line insurance program, run by a private corporation, that raised alarms and caused confusion among residents and councillors last year. In a memo to the mayor and council on Wednesday, a director with Ottawa's Infrastructure & Water Services Department said his staff found there's enough interest in the program run by Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) that it would extend it for another five years.
