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.
In its June 17 decision, the joint review panel said the mine’s likely selenium impacts posed too great a risk to southern Alberta’s water supply. It specifically cited the headwaters of the Oldman River in southern Alberta, which flows east from the Rocky Mountains and eventually joins up with the Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan River.