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.
Small groups of people have been taking to the new ice on Thunder Bay in recent days skating, biking ice boating and ice fishing. Yet this fun on the ice has been slow in coming this winter. And they are on thin ice. The ice formation on Thunder Bay has been slow to form this winter, due to above average air temperatures through December and into January.
Severe weather led to $2.1 billion in insured damages in 2021, making it the sixth costliest year in Canada's history, says the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). In tallying the cost, the national insurance organization said climate change is already showing just how expensive a world-dominated catastrophe will be. Last year, the most expensive single event occurred in November when an atmospheric river triggered widespread flooding across southern British Columbia and led to $515 million in claims.
The Municipality of Barrington has changed its Emergency Water Assitance Plan. In the past five years, the municipality has seen very dry conditions and according to CAO Chris Frotten explained the need for a change. “With extremely dry weather in the last five years, this is no longer an emergency. It is more of a new normal that we must all prepare accordingly for, ” Frotten said. Previously when homeowners in the municipality saw wells dry up they would be able to visit local fire halls that would provide them with potable water.
