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.
Blue-green algae has returned as the main suspect in the Grand Lake water contamination saga. “The National Research Council lab did confirm that there are what are known as … the toxins associated with blue-green algae that were collected on Friday,” Julie Towers, deputy minister of the provincial Environment Department, said at a news conference in Elmsdale on Tuesday afternoon.
