Les Amis Presents its view of Opemican Park Proposal

This Sunday June 10 in Temiskaming Sud Les Amis will be presenting at the Opemican Park Stakeholder hearings.

Tommy Allen will present on Sunday, Scott Sorensen will present on Saturday:

Some of our points...

1. The long running river festival
2. Les amis's legitimate right to be a stakeholder of record in all matters affecting the river.
3. Our demonstrated willingness to resort to legal means to secure our rights
4. Our service to the public: ie funding the kipawa river trail, public information website
5. Our ongoing arguments against turning the river into a dry gulch: you could mention the first paper I presented in Poland
6. Our support of extending the Kipawa river Trail across the river along the shores of Lake Temiskaming
7. The instance of no environmental assessement when the Bridge was reinstalled by TEMBEC: they destroyed the attainment eddy and the need to be consulted when changes to the river are planned or made
8. Our concern about power projects turning the river into a dry gulch
9. The opportunity that exists to use the dam at Laniel as a recreational resource

Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa and Opemican National Park 

Projet de parc national d’Opémican 

Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs Direction du patrimoine écologique et des parcs  

675, boulevard René-Lévesque Est, 4e étage, boîte 21  

Québec (Québec) ,G1R 5V7\ 

Titre du projet : parc national d'Opémican 

TITLE OF THE PROJECT : OPEMICAN NATIONAL PARK 

1. IDENTIFICATION: Présentez-vous 

Les Amis is a river preservation group. It is registered and incorporated in Quebec as a non profit organization. ie Groupe de citoyens  

LES AMIS DE LA RIVIÈRE KIPAWA, 

incorporated as 1162209036 QUEBEC INC. 

Les amis’s mandate is to promote and preserve the historical and ecological values of the Kipawa River waterway, in part, as a destination for recreational white water kayakers, canoeists and rafters. One of its goals is to ensure this Canadian river continues to be preserved for sustainable tourism and enjoyed by recreational canoeists, kayakers and rafters in an ecologically sustainable manner now and into the future unaltered and undiminished, by human activity. 

Les amis presented historical navigation of the Kipawa River pertaining to the Laniel Dam Refurbishment  Project, the safety record associated with that navigation, and  the potential detrimental effects to navigation and safety and detrimental socio-economic effects that would be caused by it, unless mitigation measures were adopted to preserve navigability and minimize safety risk to users of the river. 

This resulting court case, a judicial review of the dam’s refurbishment designs, was taken to the point of application to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Les amis membership is approximately 500 rafters, kayakers, canoeists and other recreational white water paddling enthusiasts, who regularly navigate the Kipawa river. 

For Les Amis protecting recreational values means the following: promoting the area’s rich history and natural heritage; recognizing the river’s recreational use; and protecting and promoting the future tourism and recreation potential of the river and the region. Les Amis maintains the following website: http://www.kipawariver.ca.  The website is a bilingual user-friendly website providing information about the Kipawa River as a destination for paddlers and a description of all of the rapids and a description of some of the threats faced by this river. 

2.Êtes-vous en faveur ou en défaveur du projet de parc national d'Opémican? 

ARE YOU IN FAVOR OR AGAINST THE PROJECT ? 

Over the years, Les Amis has become recognized as a legitimate stakeholder concerning issues affecting the Kipawa River and watershed. Les Amis is In favour in so much as the project includes the Kipawa River and serves to protect and preserve its ecological, heritage and recreational values which is also the mandate of Les Amis. 

Located in the municipality of Laniel, Quebec, the Laniel Dam sits at the starting point, or the headwaters of the Kipawa River. The Kipawa flows west from Lake Kipawa and drains into Lake Temiscamingue, running approximately 16 kilometers from Lake Kipawa to where it empties into Lake Temiscamingue.  

3.Êtes-vous en accord avec la limite de parc proposée? 

ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF THE PROPOSED BOUNDERIES ? 

Les amis are in favor of the proposed boundaries, in that they INCLUDE the Kipawa River and Exclude allowance for the Tabaret River Diversion Project. 

4.Avez-vous des suggestions susceptibles d'améliorer le projet? 

DO YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE THE PROPOSED PROJECT ? 

Les Amis suggests that the dam at Laniel be altered to allow navigation or alternatively a navigable sluice be created to preserve the navigable quality of the Kipawa at the site of the dam. 

Les Amis is in favour of continuing the Kipawa River Trail across the Kipawa and along the south side of the river and along the shores of Lake Temiskaming. 

We require that Les amis be registered as a permanent stake holder of the Opemican Park Project. All correspondence should be addressed to the following persons: 

Francois Diebolt, Treasurer 

5658 rie Beaulieu 

Montreal, QC 

H4E 3E3 

In English to 

Peter Karwacki, President 

Les Amis de la Riviere Kipawa 

80 Ontario Street 

Ottwa, Ontario 

K1K 1K9 

5.Quels aménagements ou activités souhaitez-vous proposer? 

WHAT DEVELOPMENTS OR ACTIVITIES WOULD YOU LIKE TO PROPOSE ? 

Expansion of the Kipawa River Festival 

Navigation of the Kipawa is promoted, in part, through Les Amis’s accessible website.  Additionally, river navigation is promoted through the organization of an annual river rally and festival, now in its 26th year. The rally attracts between 300 and 600 white water enthusiasts annually, principally from Ontario, Quebec and the United States. Passage around the Laniel Dam is the launch point for white water trips down the Kipawa River. 

The annual river rally is the opportunity for individuals to participate in commercially operated white water rafting trips on the Kipawa.  Individuals who are inexperienced white water kayakers or canoeists can still participate in and experience the exhilaration of white water rafting on the Kipawa with a safety-conscious, reputable and experienced white water rafting company, in commercially guided rafts.  Individuals who engage in rafting represent all ages, the oldest being 70-years-old. Commercial rafting trips are arranged, organized and run by Esprit Rafting, a commercial rafting company headquartered in Davidson, Quebec and operating principally on the Ottawa River. 

It is important to note that the Kipawa River Rally is solely run by Les Amis de la Rivière Kipawa. Les Amis takes and tracks all registrations, and collects all participation fees. The minimal involvement of the municipality in the rally has only occurred over the past four or five years. The regional municipality has never been involved in any way in the planning, funding or operation of the Kipawa River Rally, These organizations do not have the authority and are not qualified to speak for Les Amis or the paddling community in any way about the impact of denial of navigation rights on the Kipawa River Rally. 

Esprit Rafting provides rafting experiences to support the Applicant’s river rally.  Esprit Rafting has been taking rafters down the Kipawa river since 1988 without incident and this enterprise represents a significant economic activity for this Quebec based rafting company. The attraction of this river is growing, and in 2005, another rafting company, Momentum Outdoors began running commercial raft trips down the Kipawa, also starting out its trips, running the open sluice at Laniel. 

Les Amis seeks to preserve the navigation rights and heritage value of this navigable waterway. As a volunteer run not-for-profit  association Les Amis participates in good faith, in bringing forward relevant historical background to the responsible authorities to ensure that these values are preserved. 

6. Selon vous, y a-t-il des éléments de ce projet qui devraient être modifiés? Lesquels et comment? 

ACCORDING TO YOU, ARE THERE ANY ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT THAT NEED TO BE MODIFIED ? WHICH ONES AND HOW ? 

There should be no provision for Tabaret River Diversion Project. In addition, Les Amis strongly opposes diversion of water through the man made outlet at Gordon Creek or any other diversion that would cause the Kipawa River to become a dry gulch. 

PWGSC, the previous owner of the Laniel dame, historically enabled, facilitated and acquiesced in the navigation of the Kipawa River. This is evidenced by the 20-year history of annual negotiations between Les Amis and PWGSC to ensure sufficient water releases through the existing Laniel Dam for the holding of the festival although it did profess surprise during the consultation that the running of the river included passing through the Laniel Dam and denied any knowledge of river users navigating the Laniel Dam during the consultation process in March 2005. This chute was a Class III rapid that was runnable at all levels above 63 cms referencing Environment Canada (EC) flow data for 1997 to present, and above 90 cms referencing EC flow data for 1962 to 1996. 

As a result, Les Amis wants the managers of Opemican and the relevant Province of Quebec Ministries to be aware of the activities of Les Amis. That the Kipawa River is being navigated, that is it’s the site of the Kipawa River Rally, that there are a great many paddling enthusiasts and others that make use of the Kipawa River. 

Members of the white water paddling community, recreational and commercial, have been paddling the Kipawa River since 1968, including the chute through the sluiceway of the Laniel flood control dam up until its most recent refurbishment. 

Those who have run the Laniel Dam previously may be unaware of the increased risk now that the Laniel dam refurbishment Project is complete, or not understand the increased magnitude of the risk resulting from the Project.  The southern gate has a weir rising from the river bed. Currently, there is a re-circulating hydraulic formed on the river bed that would create an increased risk of drowning to recreational boaters. Prior to the Project there was no unacceptable risk of serious injury or death caused by navigation, evidenced by a perfect safety record in navigation by experienced white water enthusiasts.  But this final  Project changed all that. The bed of the river was altered.  The effective result of the Project was that should anyone attempt to navigate a craft through the southernmost gate after the Project, that person may, in fact, face  precisely the level of serious risk of injury and death, manufactured by PWGSC’s Project, which it claimed was unacceptable, but exists now the Project is complete.