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.
When a dike was breached and floodwaters started to flow across British Columbia’s Sumas Prairie a year ago, poultry farmer Corry Spitters said all he could do was let nature take its course. A feeling of helplessness gripped him as the encroaching water methodically engulfed his farm’s 21 barns, and 200,000 of his chickens drowned, he said. “You stand there and Mother Nature takes control,” said Spitters, 67. “What can you do? The water comes in and there’s nothing you can do.”
A Victoria County resident is speaking out about a road in his area that he said has been washed out since late November. David Stirling, 68, of New Campbellton spoke to the Cape Breton Post about the “ongoing” poor state of New Campbellton road, a 13-kilometre (km) stretch at the base of Kellys Mountain that he said is filled with potholes. “It’s been washed out since the 24th of November,” said Stirling. “It has two culverts running underneath the road and when they plug up, the water runs over top of the road. And of course gravel and water don’t get along together. Needless to say, the water wins and the gravel takes a hike.”
