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.
Water levels fell so low in key reservoirs during the depth of California's drought that boat docks sat on dry, cracked land and cars drove into the centre of what should have been Folsom Lake. Those scenes are no more after a series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs and bringing an end — mostly — to the state's three-year drought.
Research shows that Indigenous communities in Canada are at higher risk from climate-related disasters such as flooding. Myrle Ballard is setting out to make sure Indigenous people are also part of the solution to climate change. Ballard is the first director of Environment and Climate Change Canada's new division of Indigenous Science, a role in which she's tasked with raising awareness of Indigenous science within the department and helping the government find ways to integrate it into its policies.
All climate disasters are not created equal and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction recommends retreat in the face of only one type of threat. "In our opinion, retreat is not an option that is important for most climate hazards in Canada. The hazard where retreat is really important and quite viable and a critical option involves flooding," executive director Paul Kovacs said.
Plan 2014, which the International Joint Commission (IJC) uses to manage water levels and flows in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River is currently under review, however, any major changes to the plan are still a long way off. Criticism of the plan prompted an expedited review which began in early 2020. Wendy Leger of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee, which is carrying out the review, says the first phase of the review is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. Leger made the comments in a recent IJC webinar.
