Working Hard to Safeguard Paddling Assets for All Canadians

All about Whitewater

All about Whitewater
A Blog about River Preservation and the need to protect our free flowing whitewater resources

Monday, May 26, 2008

Proposed changes to NWPA



IMPORTANT NOTICE
Harper Government
Wants to De-Water the Navigable Waters Protection Act
While locked in a legal struggle over navigation rights with a grassroots river
advocacy group, the federal government is attempting an end-run on that legal
case by proposing changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act that would
render this historic act completely irrelevant.
As the minutes of the March 11, 2008 meeting of the parliamentary Standing
Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, clearly show that the
Government of Canada wants to change the NWPA to make it easier to put
dams, bridges and other structures on Canadian Rivers without giving any
consideration to the environmental impact of loss of navigation.
What this mans is that the people who navigate rivers in this country will no
longer have a say in accessing the environmental impacts of development.
WHAT THEY WANT TO CHANGE?
The Canadian Government wants to remove the following from the Navigable
Waters Protection Act:
- minor waters
- minor works
- dams, bridges, causeways and booms
These proposed changes to the NWPA will gut this historic legislation, erase our
heritage right of navigation, and will have a serious impact on the environment
in Canada.
WHAT DOES “MINOR WATERS” MEAN?
Here’s how Shirley Anne Scharf of Infrastructure Canada answered that
question for the parliamentary committee March 11: “The way it (the NWPA) is
constructed right now—and I believe David Osbaldeston made this point—minor
waters are such that I believe if you float a canoe in a body of water it is
considered a navigable water. From that point of view, streamlining the act
and excluding things of that nature would be very advantageous.”
WHAT DOES “MINOR WORKS” MEAN?
The government is not clear on that. Infrastructure Canada says minor works
would include “micro-hydroelectric projects” among other things.
Another reference says “minor work” means when a project has a minor impact
on navigation.
What this really seems to mean is that project proponents and federal
bureaucrats will decide what is a minor work and what is a minor impact. They
will decide what will be exempt from the navigation protection provisions of the
NWPA. And that is very scary.
DAMS BRIDGES CAUSEWAYS AND BOOMS?
Eliminating these “four named works” from the NWPA would gut the Act and
render it irrelevant.
These are the projects that have the greatest impact on navigation. That is why
they are specifically named in the act in the first place.
WHY DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WANT TO SCRAP THESE
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARDS IN THE NWPA?

We don’t know. It makes no sense. At a time when Canadian Rivers are under
serious threat from all directions, we don’t know why the federal government
wants to make matters worse in orders of magnitude.
When we protect navigation rights, we protect rivers.
Les Amis de la Rivière Kipawa — Canadian Rivers
www.kipawariver.ca — www.canadianrivers.net

Canoe the credit

Canoe the Credit

organizer: Credit Valley Conservation Foundation
info link: http://www.creditvalleycons.com/foundation/canoethecredit.htm
date: Sunday, June 1, 2008
type: race
difficulty: novice
Just a reminder, the first annual Canoe the Credit event is only 7 days away.
There is still room in the 24 Km event . The water on the river is at 4.54M, which is higher than it was last year. We have plenty of prizes for high pledges and free food for all.

Participants will have an opportunity to canoe down the Credit river at their own pace from Credit Meadows to Port Credit. Boats will be started at intervals from 9 in the morning. A 5 km paddle is available for less experienced paddlers. Guides and canoes are available. Collect a minimum of $50.00 in pledges to enter. The event will finish with a celebration at the MCC. You will have an opportunity to meet Larry Cain and John Wood. All money raised will go to the Conservation Youth Corps.

Check out www/creditvalleycons.com/foundation/canoethecredit.htm or email foundation@creditvalleycons.com for more information.

We hope we'll see you there.

Link to vvcc event page for this event: http://vvcc.ca/calendar/info.php?trip=377

Canadian Rivers

Canadian Rivers
I speak for river users too!

The Queen is not amused!

The Queen is not amused!
http://www.ispeakforcanadianrivers.ca/

The Damned Dam - 2005 -

The Damned Dam - 2005 -
22nd Annual Kipaw Rally has modest turnout. - 23rd does better

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

Whitewater Ontario

Whitewater Ontario
Working Hard to Protect Canada's Paddling Resources

Whitewater Ontario - Mission Statement

It is Whitewater Ontario’s mission to support the whitewater paddling community through the promotion, development and growth of the sport in its various disciplines. We accomplish this through the development of events, resources, clubs, and programs for personal and athletic development, regardless of skill level or focus, to ensure a high standard of safety and competency; We advocate safe and environmentally responsible access and use of Ontario’s rivers. Whitewater Ontario is the sport governing body in the province, and represents provincial interests within the national body Whitewater Canada and the Canadian Canoe Association http://www.whitewaterontario.ca/page/mission.asp

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican
If Hydro Quebec is not actively pursuing Tabaret what is that bite out of Opemican for?

Kipawa Dam: After

Kipawa Dam: After
Laniel Dam at 2006 Rally

Where is the Kipawa

Where is the Kipawa
Kipawa flows into lake Temiskamingue, running from Kipawa Lake, under hwy 101 in Quebec

Kipawa Dam

Kipawa Dam
laniel dam at 2004 River Rally

Tabaret is a Bad Idea

About the Kipawa



The best thing paddlers can do to help the cause of the Kipawa:

1. attend the rally and bring others including non paddlers to attend and buy beer and have fun

2. write your MP /MNA and raise the issue and post your objections -1 letter = 200 who didn't write

3. Write Thierry Vandal the CEO of Hydro Quebec strongly opposing the 132 MW standard decrying the use of "diversion" as the most environmentally inappropriate method of power production

4. Write Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec protesting that either the algonquin or the tabaret project will eliminate all other values on the Kipawa River by turning it into a dry gulch.

5. See if you can get other allied groups interested by showing your own interest, ie the Sierra Defense Fund, Earthwild, MEC, and so on.

6. Demand further consultation

7. Currently we are at the point where we need to sway public opinion and raise awareness.

However, if all else fails, don't get mad, simply disrupt, foment, and protest . The Monkey Wrench Gang.

Have you read Edward Abbey?

Important Addresses
CEO,Hydro Québec, 75 boul René Levesque, Montreal, P.Q., H2Z 1A4Caille.andre@hydro.qc.ca



Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Two)

Les Amis de la Riviere Kipawa is poised to use an application to the Federal Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus to ensure the Minster does what he is supposed to do, protect the public's right to navigate the water control structure at Laniel, Quebec using the Navigable Waters Protection Act. (see http://www.kipawariver.ca/)

In the now gutted Navigable Waters Protection Act lay the means by which the Minister of Transport could keep the public right of passage down our great Canadian Heritage, our rivers and streams which are threatened especially by resource corporations and power brokers such as Hydro Quebec.

These powerful entities continue to petition that 'this' river or 'that' stream is not navigable and therefore not protectable.
I don't say that dams and bridges should not be built, only that if they are, historical navigation rights should be considered and preserved by making reasonable accommodations for recreational boaters.

It is the Minister of Transport, in exercising the right to allow or disallow work on or over a navigable waterway is what keeps boats and recreational boaters plying our waterways.

To many recent cases launched in the Federal Court concerning the Navigable Waters Protection Act, most recently the case of the Humber Environment Group of Cornerbrook Newfoundland versus the Cornerbrook Pulp and Paper Company indicates that the important oversight is not being faithfully performed. Have we really come to the point now where we must say "such and such a stream is one foot deep, possessing so many cubic feet per second flow and so on?" The answer to this is... YES!

The honourable Mr. Justice John A. O'Keefe, ruled that it had not been shown that the river was navigable. How convenient was that to the Minister? But either the Minister of Transport acts to protect our rivers and streams as a public right or he does not and that means rivers and streams currently enjoyed by kayakers and canoists.

Enough of the cheating, and double-talk. Canadians! our rivers and streams are our own, lets urge the Minister of Transport and the our government to protect them.

Peter Karwacki

Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Three)

10 Reasons WhyTabaret is a Bad Idea1) Tabaret is too big. The station is designed to useevery drop of water available in the Kipawawatershed, but will run at only 44 percent capacity.We believe the Tabaret station is designed to usewater diverted from the Dumoine River into theKipawa watershed in the future. 2) The Tabaret project will eliminate the aquaticecosystem of the Kipawa River.The Tabaret project plan involves the diversion of a16-km section of the Kipawa River from its naturalstreambed into a new man-made outflow from LakeKipawa. 3) Tabaret will leave a large industrial footprint on thelandscape that will impact existing tourismoperations and eliminate future tourism potential. 4) The Tabaret project is an aggressive single-purposedevelopment, designed to maximize powergeneration at the expense of all other uses. 5) River-diversion, such as the Tabaret project, takinglarge amounts of water out of a river’s naturalstreambed and moving it to another place, is verydestructive to the natural environment. 6) The Kipawa River has been designated a protectedgreenspace in the region with severe limitations ondevelopment. This designation recognizes theecological, historical and natural heritage value ofthe river and the importance of protecting it.Tabaret will eliminate that value. 7) If necessary, there are other, smarter and morereasonable options for producing hydro power onthe Kipawa watershed. It is possible to build a lowimpactgenerating station on the Kipawa river, andmanage it as a “run-of-the-river” station, makinguse of natural flows while maintaining other values,with minimal impact on the environment. 8) The Kipawa watershed is a rich natural resource forthe Temiscaming Region, resonably close to largeurban areas, with huge untapped potential fortourism and recreation development in the future.Tabaret will severely reduce this potential. 9) Tabaret provides zero long-term economic benefitfor the region through employment. The plan is forthe station to be completely automated andremotely operated. 10) The Kipawa River is 12,000 years old. The riverwas here thousands of years before any peoplecame to the region. The Tabaret project will change all that.

Problems on a local River?

  • There is more to do as well but you have to do your research and above all, don't give up.
  • IN the meantime prepared a document itemizing the history of navigation of this spot and its recreational value. Use the Kipawa river history of navigation as a guide: see www.kipawariver.ca
  • Under the Ministry of Environment guidelines you have a set period of time to petition the change under the environmental bill of rights, you may have limited time to take this action. But it involves going to court for a judicial review of the decision.
  • 4. contact the ministry of natural resources officials and do the same thing.
  • 3. contact the ministry of the environment and determine if they approved the project
  • 2. determine if the dam was a legal dam, approved under the navigable waters protection act.
  • 1. research the decision and timing of it to determine if an environmental assessment was done.

Minden Ontario

Minden Ontario
Gull River Water control at Horseshoe lake

A History of Navigation on the Kipawa River

Prior to the environmental assessment there was no signage at the Laniel Dam

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!
Send $25 and a stamped self addressed envelop for the Tshirt, and for the bumper sticker, a stamped and self addressed envelope with $5.00 for the bumper sticker to Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa, 80 Ontario St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1K 1K9 or click the link To purchase a Les Amis "T" contact Doug with the following information: Number of shirts:Sizes: Ship to Address: Method of Payment: cash, cheque and paypal, Shipto address:

Bumper Stickers Now Available

Bumper Stickers Now Available
Get your bumper sticker and show your support for the Kipawa Legal Fund ! - send $5.00 in a Stamped, self addressed envelope to: Peter Karwacki Box 39111, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 7X0