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.
A First Nation is working alongside a B.C. tech company to learn more about how climate change is affecting the waters it harvests food from. In an effort to preserve and even build up capacity for seafood harvesting, the T'Sou-ke First Nation on southern Vancouver Island turned to Victoria-based MarineLabs, which collects real-time data about the ocean, about 18 months ago to better understand what's going on in the Sooke Basin and other areas it uses.
Investment supports BioAlert Solutions, a growing Canadian cleantech company, and will help Canada minimize the risks of pathogens in industrial and commercial water systems. Canada's cleantech entrepreneurs are proving their power to take on today's environmental challenges. Working in partnership with innovative companies, the Government of Canada is supporting the growth of a greener economy. Today, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and Élisabeth Brière, Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke, announced an investment of $900,000 in Sherbrooke-based BioAlert Solutions through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). This is the first SDTC investment in BioAlert and part of a partnership that will help the company advance its water safety monitoring technology to minimize the risks and costs associated with Legionella contamination.
