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.
Half the population of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 30 kilometres southeast of Montreal, have been without drinking water since a major water main break at the beginning of the week. The city declared a local state of emergency on Wednesday. The water cutoff affected more than 26,000 residential, commercial and industrial addresses in the St-Luc and L’Acadie sectors as of Wednesday afternoon, as well as part of the St-Jean sector, all on the western side of the Richelieu River.
