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

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Innergex and the Kipawa

 Eagle Village First Nation and Wolf Lake First Nation, are 52% owners of this Hydro Electric Project.

They are in partnership with Innergex.
They have the support of the MRC which brings economic development not only for First Nations but the county as well.
They are waiting on the Quebec Government to announce their new program allowing small hydro electric projects to be developed in Quebec.

While the Small Hydro Program has been ready it has yet to be released.  On January 11th Hydro Project Strategic Meetings and Presentations were organized.  January 12th in Laniel, January 13th in Temiscaming and January 14th in Kipawa / Tee Lake.
4 people from  Innergex along with Chief St Denis promote the 47 Megawatts Project.
The Project proponents  solicited by  random phone survey feedback about the project's strategy.

contact: Health Centre (819)627-9060
davem@evfn.ca.
http://www.evfn.ca/

The project is designed to create a revenue source to the  Bands.For more information:

Eagle Village First Nation
P.O. Box 756
Temiscaming, QC J0Z 3R0
Tel: (819) 627-3455
Toll Free: 1-888-229-3224
Fax: (819) 627-9428

For further information contact: www.algonquinnation.ca (Including maps and backgrounder for download)
For further information:
Chief Harry St. Denis, Wolf Lake 819-627-6211
Chief Terence McBride, Timiskaming 819-629-7091 (English/Français)
Chief Madeleine Paul, Eagle Village 819-627-6884 (English/Français)
Peter Di Gangi, Algonquin Nation Secretariat 819-723-2019







The MRC has its own plans regarding hydro development.


CURRENT PROJECTS
Opémican National Park project
In the spring of 2009, the Service des parcs from the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs began intensive work leading to the creation of the Opémican National Park.

Kipawa Hydroelectric Project
This project involves the construction of two hydroelectric plants along Gordon Creek with the expertise of Innergex, an independent developer and operator of renewable power generating facilities. The First Nations communities of Wolf Lake and Eagle Village will be majority owners while substantial royalties will be distributed to the Témiscamingue MRC, the municipalities of Temiscaming, Kipawa and Laniel.

This hydroelectric complex was built around 1917 by the
International paper company for its own needs, it includes
three (3) buildings (the dam, the relay and the building housing the turbines) connected
between them through ducts that traverse the city over a distance of approximately
1 mile.

This project, which consists of two (2) power plants along the Creek
Gordon, adopts the principle of the former the exploited Gatineau Power plant
at Témiscaming until 1969.
With a total installed capacity of 42 MW, the Kipawa project will produce
220 Gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, which in addition to secure
regional electricity supply, generate direct revenues
Eagle Village First Nation and Wolf Lake First Nation, which will be
owners at 52% as well as substantial for economic benefits
the region.




Town of Témiscaming
20, Humphrey St., P.O. Box 730
Temiscaming (Quebec) J0Z 3R0
Telephone: (819) 627-3273
Fax: (819) 627-3019
Email: ville.temiscaming@temiscaming.net

 Note from MDDEFP
regarding Opemican National Park project. 

 “as you requested in your brief, both McKenzie Island and Pointe du Rocher au Corbeau peninsula sectors will be excluded from the Parc National d’Opemican project and that we are studying the possibility of assigning them the status of protected biodiversity reserve so that they can be withdrawn from the commercial exploitation of resources”. In addition they also stated that “The final decision to create the Parc National d’Opemican has not yet been made”.

but on March 21st, 2013 Premiere Pauline Marois an-nounced in Notre Dame du Nord that the Opemican Park Project was a go. McKenzie Island and Corbeau Peninsula will be removed from the boundaries. 

So the Algonquin Chiefs will be sending a joint letter to Premier Marois confirming their shared position on the creation of Opemican Park, which is the park can’t be legally created without an agreement with the Algonquin First Nations of Wolf Lake and Eagle Village since the proposed Park site is located within the territory where the Algonquins of Wolf Lake and Eagle Village assert Aboriginal Rights and Title.

source:http://www.evfn.ca/Newsletters.html

MRC Temiskaming

http://www.mrctemiscamingue.qc.ca
Nous joindre
21, rue Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Bureau 209
Ville-Marie (Québec)  J9V 1X8
Téléphone : 819 629-2829
Télécopieur : 819 629-3472


Mme Lyna Pine , mairesse d’Angliers
M. Luc Lalonde , maire de Béarn
M. Jean-Yves Parent , maire suppléant de Duhamel-Ouest
M. André Pâquet , maire de Fugèreville
M. Maurice Laverdière , maire de Guérin
M. Serge Larochelle , maire suppléant de Kipawa
M. Gérald Charron , maire de Laforce
M. Jacques Poudrier , maire de Latulipe-et-Gaboury
M. Daniel Barrette , maire de Laverlochère
M. Philippe Boutin , maire de Lorrainville
M. Michel Paquette , maire de Moffet
Mme Carmen Rivard , mairesse de Nédélec
et préfète suppléante de la MRCT
M. Mychel Tremblay , maire de Notre-Dame-du-Nord
M. Jocelyn Aylwin , maire de Rémigny
M. Damien Lafond , maire suppléant de St-Bruno-de-Guigues
Mme Claudine Laforge Clouâtre , mairesse de St-Édouard-de-Fabre
Mme Jacinthe Marcoux , mairesse de St-Eugène-de-Guigues
M. Bruno Boyer , maire de la Ville de Belleterre
M. Bernard Flébus , maire de la Ville de Ville-Marie
M. Yvon Gagnon, président du Comité municipal de Laniel
et représentant du territoire non organisé
M. Arnaud Warolin, préfet de la MRCT
M. Philippe Barette, maire de la Ville de Témiscaming








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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

http://www3.sympatico.ca/kayaky/comrechist.pdf

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

http://www3.sympatico.ca/kayaky/barrage.pdf

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