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, November 29, 2021

Wilderness Tours has announced that will will be waiving the river access fees it has been charging paddlers for the past few years.



Katie Kowalski announced:
Following the last 6 years of pay-per-use takeout access, Wilderness Tours is removing access fees for private paddlers to provide a more equitable opportunity for all to experience the Ottawa River.
Starting in 2022, a simple check-in at our entrance reception office is all that will be required for takeout access.







Monday, July 12, 2021

COUNCIL DEFERS DECISION on Ottawa River Egress Access Road


Copyright © 2021 Ottawa River Access Project
All rights reserved.

COUNCIL DEFERS DECISION

Like many of you, we anticipated that Council would be voting on our proposal for a legacy of free, public access on the Ottawa River on July 7th. However, Council has made the decision to defer voting on our proposal at this time. 

We would like to sincerely thank Council for taking the time to speak with us and for their review of our proposal. We acknowledge that this is a complicated matter, and understand their decision to take time to thoroughly consider this issue before voting on this issue. 

Whitewater Ontario is committed to partnering with the Township for the long term to provide the best outcomes and protection for residents, paddlers and adjacent stakeholders. We encourage the Township to continue their work on collaborating with various stakeholders to ensure this project can move forward. 

We will continue to provide updates here and through our social media accounts over the coming weeks and months, so please stay tuned and engaged as we await the next vote - we will need to carry this momentum forward and will need your ongoing support. 


HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you haven’t done so already, please fill out the survey on our website and let us know how you can help.

The cost of building the road could come down substantially if people volunteer/donate their time to this project. Here are the big ticket items that would help us bring our costs down with the help of volunteering:

  • Rock/tree stump removal
  • Tree cutting
  • Gravel and Heavy Equipment Use
Please indicate on the survey how you are able to help, or reach out to us directly by emailing info@ottawariveracces.ca
 
Fill Out the Survey

JOIN WHITEWATER ONTARIO

Whitewater Ontario is a volunteer-driven organization uniting, supporting, and sustaining the inclusive development of the whitewater paddling community and resources.

If you haven't already, please consider joining Whitewater Ontario, the backer of this project, where you and family can join a club, support the whitewater community in multiple ways AND a portion of your membership goes directly to river advocacy projects like this one. 
Join WO

SHARE YOUR STORY

#MyOttawaRiverStory

We’ve been collecting your stories about why public access to the Ottawa River is important to you and we’re proud to continue sharing these stories on our Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Tag us (@ottawariveraccess) in your posts on Instagram about what free, public access on the Ottawa River means to you and use #MyOttawaRiverStory to be featured!

If you have already submitted your story via our website, please feel free to follow up by email and let us know you're happy to have your story shared publicly. Please remember to include at least 1 photo to accompany your story!



FOLLOW US
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Website

REACH OUT

If you are a local landowner/taxpayer in Whitewater Region, please be sure to reach out to your local councillors and let them know why free, public access is important to you. A full list of Council members is below:

Mayor Michael Moore

Reeve Cathy Regier

Councillor Charlene Jackson

Councillor Dave Mackay

Councillor Darryl McLaughlin

Councillor Neil Nicholson

Councillor Chris Olmstead


We continue to be blown away by the support everyone has shown us throughout this process. 

The emails, messages and phone calls have been overwhelming, and we will continue to advocate for a legacy of free, public access on the Ottawa River. 

With gratitude, 
Ottawa River Access Committee

Dan Kirvan
Dave Gillespie
Shawna Babcock
Graham Kent
Chris Goodall
John Mason
Sierra Stinson
The Rocher Fendu section of the Ottawa River has been paddled since time immemorial. These waters run through the unceded homelands and unsurrendered traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg and Algonquin Nations.
We recognize the Algonquin people as the customary keepers of the Ottawa River watershed and its tributaries. Today, many of us have the privilege to paddle the river's waters and walk the land that surrounds it. We are grateful for the opportunities to learn and connect to the land that this river provides us.*

Follow Us

@OttawaRiverAccess
Facebook
Facebook
Instagram
Instagram
Website
Website
#OttawaRiverAccess
#MyOttawaRiverStory
*This acknowledgement is an important Indigenous protocol. Respect the water and please take the time to honour the river and land where we paddle. It gives us rich experiences and access to beautiful natural spaces. Our commitment is to gain a deeper understanding about the history of this land, the original inhabitants, be responsible users of the river, and show respect.
Copyright © 2021 Ottawa River Access Project
All rights reserved.


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Friday, June 18, 2021

The proposal for public access to the Ottawa River River in Whitewater Township

https://youtu.be/UT_lpWYsTX8






The common access road exists in an undeveloped state. Whitewater Ontario has petitioned to open up this road for public use (hint: they do not have to).  https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90r34





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