Paddle the Parallels –A Road Trip For Rivers Better than marching in
protest, or enduring a thirty- hour famine, Murray Somers and Brendan Haveman are off to paddle exotic whitewater rivers to promote river conservation. The for- mer Lakehead University biology stu- dents are leaving September 15th on their partially sponsored, partially self-fund- ed paddling road trip. Beginning in Ottawa they will drive their renovated van to paddle more than thirty ecologically or environmentally threat- ened rivers throughout the Western Hemisphere. The trip, aptly titled Paddle the Parallels, will take the conservationists on an eight-month transcontinental kayaking odyssey paddling rivers in Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. They will drive from country to country, from river to river, meeting with friends and local paddlers to produce two films. The first film focuses on the different river conservation practices employed by different countries including how the local populace, gov- ernments, and national media view river conservation. “We are setting out to show that the environmental regulation that we
are accustomed to in Canada is not universally widespread,” says Somers.
The other film will be a comprehensive documentation of a cultural paddling experience following the two on their 45,000 kilometre journey. Follow their adventure at
www.currenthorizons.com.
Trapper Fights for Ontario’s Highest Waterfall
A trapper from northern Ontario is going up against some heavy- weights at the Federal Court of Appeal. John Lavoie is taking on three Ministries of the federal gov- ernment, a power company and a First Nations group to protect Twin Falls—Ontario’s highest wilder- ness waterfall. Mr. Lavoie, who has trapped, fished and camped near the Falls for more than thirty years, alleges the federal government broke the law when it approved a hydroelec- tric project on the Kagiano River, north of Lake Superior, four years ago. The issue has been making its way through the justice system ever since.
Under the Canadian
Environmental Assessment Act, the government is obligated to provide the public with access to all relevant documents about envi- ronmental reviews.
other stuff The federal government stalled
Mr. Lavoie for six months, until he took legal action. By that time, the government had approved the project and Kagiano Power Company had started construc- tion.
The project is now operational.
It has reduced Ontario’s highest waterfall to a mere trickle, and destroyed thousands of square metres of fish habitat. The Kagiano River was a popular route for wilderness canoe trippers. The Federal Court ruled against Mr. Lavoie in July, 2000, leading to the appeal. The trial judge also ordered Mr. Lavoie to pay the legal costs of the power company and the government. Mr. Lavoie is asking the Federal
Court of Appeal to reverse the trial judge’s decision, and to throw out the federal approvals for the hydro projects.
—Environmental Defense Canada
fall2002 15
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