CPAWS Lends a Voice In Support La Vase Portages
July 8, 2009
Mr. Vic Fedeli,
Mayor
City of North Bay
200 McIntyre Street
North Bay, Ontario P1B 8H8
Dear Mayor Fideli:
I understand that the City Council of North Bay is presently considering a proposal to develop on crown land an aggregate quarry adjacent to the west bank of a portion of the La Vase Portage, specifically beside a small lake that is part of the La Vase River watershed which includes wetland areas. I also understand from a recent article in The Nugget that the developer is requesting permission to operate up to 60 meters from the waterway while others, including city staff have suggested that this is insufficient and still others have recommended that a 200 meter buffer would be the appropriate minimum.
I am writing on behalf of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's (CPAWS) Right to Paddle Campaign to urge you and the Council to reject any application that would allow any new industrial activity closer than 200 meters to the La Vase Portage and its waterways. As you know, the Portage route has achieved Canadian Heritage River status from the federal government and forms a key link in the historic First Nations and fur trade route that defined the country that Canada has become. As such, it should be the duty of officials at all levels of government to ensure that our heritage is not despoiled. As you also probably know, the route has largely been restored in the face of many obstacles through decades of research, hard work and an extraordinary spirit of co-operation by a group of North Bay residents known as the Friends of La Vase. What a shame it would be to undermine the efforts they have made on behalf of the heritage of North Bay and all of Canada!
What you may not know is that of the entire fur trade route from Quebec to the Arctic Ocean, some 8,000 kilometers, the La Vase Portage is the only significant part of the traditional route that has been consistently under threat of impassable blockage from industrial activity or private ownership. I know that because Roy Summers personally guided our canoe over the La Vase in 2006, past highways, bridges, quarries, railroads and the explosives plant on the way to Lake Nipissing as I paddled across all of Canada. Everywhere else in this country, hydro dams included, it is relatively easy to trace the routes of the Aboriginal peoples and the European explorers who followed them. Rather than allowing the La Vase to be further compromised, consideration should be given by the Province to seeing that it is truly protected once and for all. In the meantime, the City of North Bay has a choice of whether to stand for this important piece of Canadian heritage or to facilitate its destruction.
The area of the proposed quarry is the only water section of the 11 kilometer Portage route that still has its original landscape largely intact. Dust, noise, destruction of vegetation and potential pollution of the waterway and adjoining wetlands would ruin that forever. The 200 meter buffer being proposed is a standard used by Ontario Parks for waterway class parks and is the minimum necessary for protection of the landscape. Properly managed, the La Vase, with walking trails as well as the water route, could be both an attractive recreation and historic destination. There are many places to find rock for aggregate in the North Bay area but there is only one La Vase Portage.
During the recent Senate of Canada hearings into the amended Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) at which I appeared as a witness on behalf of CPAWS and the interests of the paddling community, a new network of Canadian groups comprising virtually all of the leading environmental organizations, governing bodies for paddling, and hunting and fishing groups including the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and First Nations groups came together to oppose the threat embodied in the Act to the historic right of navigation on public waterways and the effective reduction in the protection of landscapes through environmental assessment of construction projects affecting waterways. In meetings with individual Senators and Members of Parliament, I was often asked to give examples of small but important waterways which could eventually suffer a loss of public access or environmental protection as a result of the new Act. Ironically my answer was, "the waterways that make up the La Vase Portage". Although the NWPA might not necessarily apply to the current quarry proposal in my limited understanding of it at this time, the principles of the right of navigation of public waterways and their protection from environmental damage should still apply. Therefore I have copied this letter to some of the concerned organizations as well as the Ontario Ministers responsible for Natural Resources and Culture as well as the Canadian Heritage Rivers Program.
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend your next City Council meeting at which this matter is scheduled to be discussed but I look forward to your reply and to the eventual disposition of this proposal. I would be happy to assist in any constructive proposals to protect the La Vase while meeting your development needs but of course the most knowledgeable people live right in North Bay: The Friends of La Vase who literally know every tree from Trout Lake to Lake Nipissing.
Sincerely,
Jay Morrison
Chair,
CPAWS Right to Paddle Campaign
Board of Directors, Ottawa Valley Chapter
Mr. Vic Fedeli,
Mayor
City of North Bay
200 McIntyre Street
North Bay, Ontario P1B 8H8
Dear Mayor Fideli:
I understand that the City Council of North Bay is presently considering a proposal to develop on crown land an aggregate quarry adjacent to the west bank of a portion of the La Vase Portage, specifically beside a small lake that is part of the La Vase River watershed which includes wetland areas. I also understand from a recent article in The Nugget that the developer is requesting permission to operate up to 60 meters from the waterway while others, including city staff have suggested that this is insufficient and still others have recommended that a 200 meter buffer would be the appropriate minimum.
I am writing on behalf of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's (CPAWS) Right to Paddle Campaign to urge you and the Council to reject any application that would allow any new industrial activity closer than 200 meters to the La Vase Portage and its waterways. As you know, the Portage route has achieved Canadian Heritage River status from the federal government and forms a key link in the historic First Nations and fur trade route that defined the country that Canada has become. As such, it should be the duty of officials at all levels of government to ensure that our heritage is not despoiled. As you also probably know, the route has largely been restored in the face of many obstacles through decades of research, hard work and an extraordinary spirit of co-operation by a group of North Bay residents known as the Friends of La Vase. What a shame it would be to undermine the efforts they have made on behalf of the heritage of North Bay and all of Canada!
What you may not know is that of the entire fur trade route from Quebec to the Arctic Ocean, some 8,000 kilometers, the La Vase Portage is the only significant part of the traditional route that has been consistently under threat of impassable blockage from industrial activity or private ownership. I know that because Roy Summers personally guided our canoe over the La Vase in 2006, past highways, bridges, quarries, railroads and the explosives plant on the way to Lake Nipissing as I paddled across all of Canada. Everywhere else in this country, hydro dams included, it is relatively easy to trace the routes of the Aboriginal peoples and the European explorers who followed them. Rather than allowing the La Vase to be further compromised, consideration should be given by the Province to seeing that it is truly protected once and for all. In the meantime, the City of North Bay has a choice of whether to stand for this important piece of Canadian heritage or to facilitate its destruction.
The area of the proposed quarry is the only water section of the 11 kilometer Portage route that still has its original landscape largely intact. Dust, noise, destruction of vegetation and potential pollution of the waterway and adjoining wetlands would ruin that forever. The 200 meter buffer being proposed is a standard used by Ontario Parks for waterway class parks and is the minimum necessary for protection of the landscape. Properly managed, the La Vase, with walking trails as well as the water route, could be both an attractive recreation and historic destination. There are many places to find rock for aggregate in the North Bay area but there is only one La Vase Portage.
During the recent Senate of Canada hearings into the amended Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) at which I appeared as a witness on behalf of CPAWS and the interests of the paddling community, a new network of Canadian groups comprising virtually all of the leading environmental organizations, governing bodies for paddling, and hunting and fishing groups including the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and First Nations groups came together to oppose the threat embodied in the Act to the historic right of navigation on public waterways and the effective reduction in the protection of landscapes through environmental assessment of construction projects affecting waterways. In meetings with individual Senators and Members of Parliament, I was often asked to give examples of small but important waterways which could eventually suffer a loss of public access or environmental protection as a result of the new Act. Ironically my answer was, "the waterways that make up the La Vase Portage". Although the NWPA might not necessarily apply to the current quarry proposal in my limited understanding of it at this time, the principles of the right of navigation of public waterways and their protection from environmental damage should still apply. Therefore I have copied this letter to some of the concerned organizations as well as the Ontario Ministers responsible for Natural Resources and Culture as well as the Canadian Heritage Rivers Program.
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend your next City Council meeting at which this matter is scheduled to be discussed but I look forward to your reply and to the eventual disposition of this proposal. I would be happy to assist in any constructive proposals to protect the La Vase while meeting your development needs but of course the most knowledgeable people live right in North Bay: The Friends of La Vase who literally know every tree from Trout Lake to Lake Nipissing.
Sincerely,
Jay Morrison
Chair,
CPAWS Right to Paddle Campaign
Board of Directors, Ottawa Valley Chapter