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.
In Grande Cache, at a packed open house about the proposed mine held in July, questions about its environmental impact are top of mind for many in attendance. Maxim Power, the company pitching the new project, says that the mine will be underground, meaning local water will be more protected than in a surface mine.
The company is also seeking approval to store tailings in open pits that are no longer being used. The company says this would lower the ecological footprint since right now it removes water from tailings and stores the dry tailings at a tailings storage facility and then stores waste rock at a waste rock storage facility. "Storing tailings and waste rock in exhausted pits would reduce freshwater use and re-use spaces instead of impacting new ones," the company proposal says.
