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 take for granted the resources around us. Water, for instance, has a good case for feeling left out. As we agonize over how and whether we use our fossil fuels, while we explore the viabilities of solar and wind and contemplate how best to harvest our minerals in the ground, we are sitting on – actually, we are staged astride – arguably the most strategically important resource of all.
