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.
"We can regulate building on stilts for example…the water can come in and go out without any impact on the property itself or human life that inhabits that property." "Water features or green features, trees, grass are considered nature based solutions that help us adapt to climate change and at the same time they work as carbon sinks," she says.
When Cyrielle Noël learned how to swim at the age of two, it was the start of a lifelong love of water and fascination with the waterways that surround the island of Montreal. That curiosity helped spawn a career in urban planning with a specific focus on the use of marine spaces. Noël works for Ocean Bridge, an organization that connects youths and young professionals across Canada and encourages them to create projects aimed at ocean conservation.
