CANOEROOTS & FAMILY CAMPING MAGAZINE VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3—JULY 1, 2008

Paddlers protest changes to the Navigable Waters Act

As dusk fell the horde reached the hilltop citadel. Marchers in helmets and suits of rubber armour demanded that their leaders respect their Magna Carta rights, but there was no sign anyone inside the stone walls was listening. Waving paddles in the air, they vowed the fight wasn’t over.

National Rivers Day took on a combative edge on June 8 as canoeists and kayakers converged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for a vigil to protest proposed changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA).

Enacted in 1882, the law is one of Canada’s oldest and has its roots in Roman law and the Magna Carta. It entrenches each Canadian’s default right to use waterways for transportation or recreation. Presently, anybody wanting to impede navigation on a river needs to pass an
environmental assessment before being granted a permit by the government. The NWPA forms the core of the fight against a new dam on Quebec’s Kipawa River, currently under appeal in the Supreme Court.

“There will be radical and adverse implications for navigation if the current proposals go through,” warned Rodney Northey, an environmental lawyer leading the appeal of the Kipawa case.

Apparently the NWPA was creating headaches for Transport Canada. In February, Transport officials appeared before a House of Commons Committee and complained of a backlog of infrastructure projects—such as hydro dams—awaiting approval.

After hearing from 70 stakeholders the committee presented their recommendations to Transport in June. Committee Chair Mervin Tweed, a
Conservative MP from Manitoba, recommended that the government fundamentally change the law so that waterways are only considered navigable—and granted protection—if they are first nominated for designation and then assessed and approved by government.

The chances that coveted canoe rivers would be deemed navigable are slim, since the report also recommends excluding “minor” waters from the act.

Finally, the report urged that the new law delete specific reference to dams, since, according to stakeholders, dams are no longer significant obstacles, a move that Transport assistant deputy minister Marc Gregoire praised as likely to “provide some workload relief” to project applicants and ministry staff.

And what did paddlers tell the committee?

“I do not think there were any paddling organizations included in the [stakeholders],” said committee clerk Maxime Ricard.

When paddlers caught wind of the hearings and demanded a say the committee extended a last-minute invitation to Paddle Canada. Paddle Canada refused, protesting that they were given less than 48 hours to respond before the close of the three-month hearings.

“This could hardly be called public consultation,” complained Peter Karwacki, former president of Whitewater Ontario.

Paddlers may yet have their chance, however. The report is with the ministry now, and any changes wouldn’t be in Parliament as a bill until autumn. Paddlers are hopeful that between now and then they will have their voices heard inside Parliament’s thick walls.

As the Sierra Club’s Celeste Côté told the paddlers at the vigil, “Awareness is never enough. Action is what we need. Write your MPs. That’s what they are for.” —Ian Merringer, Canoeroots Editor