What I Found at Stoney Creek
I've lived in Burnaby almost my whole life. Stoney Creek is my backyard.
This past May, hundreds of us stood in line — parents, kids, neighbours — to release young salmon into this creek. One of the best days of the year.
A few minutes' walk downstream, this is what I found: car batteries sitting in the water, oil, paint, piles of garbage — in the same stretch those salmon return to each fall to spawn. I carried out what I could, but I'm one person, and this needed more than one person.
This isn't about blame. Not the unhoused, not addiction, not mental health. It's about what keeps landing in a stream this community fought hard to bring back to life — and about what it takes to actually stop that cycle.
I don't have the full answer yet. Until I do, I'll keep showing up.
Comments