What was the most precious moment of the day?
The most precious moment of my day is when we got out of our canoes and we kind of floated along the river for about an hour, just chilling there in the water without the canoe.
What was the biggest obstacle of the day?
My biggest obstacle of the day was when we were canoeing and paddling against the wind.
What did you learn new about the river today?
I learned that the river can get very windy and when it’s windy it’s very hard to paddle on this river.
What would you like to tell to the decision makers about what you seen today?
I like to tell them that this river is very beautiful. There are a lot of places that they may not know about. I had no clue there was a little drift spot where you could just float around. Actually, that made the highlight of my day yesterday. I would like to tell them that this river is big. There is so much unexplored and that is one of the reasons why we need to save it.
What was the most precious moment of your day? The most precious moment of the day was when we were coming down one of the smaller channels and half way through we just decided to jump out of our canoes and float down and that was the most fun I had on the river so far. What was the biggest obstacle of your day? The biggest obstacle of the day was definitely the wind. We had strong head winds coming our way when we were making our way over here. The gusts went up to 20-30 kilometers sometimes. That made it a little tough to paddle over. Yes that was an obstacle and we were able to overcome it. What did you learn new about the river today? What I learned today is just how much fun you can have. We had so much fun fishing and doing a lot of other things, like swimming and travelling. We didn’t do it in any different way than what we had done before and I just learned how much fun the river is today. What is your message to the decision makers at the end of your day today? After today, I could say you have to experience the river. I don’t think you really understand it until you travel on it. Then you get a connection. You understand what all these people are talking about. I feel that today I was really able to make more of a connection with the river. I recommend the decision makers do it to.
What was the most precious moment of the day?
For me, the most precious moment was probably at the beginning, half way through the day where we got out of our canoes. We were on this nice little thin part of the river and we actually just floated with the currents. We swam and we floated with the current. We really didn’t have to do anything. I was just with my cousin and my brother. To me that was just fun.
What was the biggest obstacle of your day?
By far the biggest obstacle was the head winds. When we reached the point when we were on open waters and we had a lot of wind coming towards us and we had to paddle hard and we couldn’t stop. It was pushing us back. So for me doing that continuously while your arms are cramped-up was pretty intense.
What did you learn new about the river today?
One of the things actually I learned today is that there is a lot of sand bars I didn’t know existed on the river. I believed it was a big, deep, wide Canadian river but you end-up going paddling away in the middle and your canoe stopped and you have to get out and really walk across these huge sand bars and it was cool, it looks like you’re walking on the water. You could pull a Jesus and just stand there. That was really interesting for me; it showed that this river isn’t just a generic river you picture in your head. It has some character to it.
If you had to tell something to the decision makers, what would you tell them today?
Today I was really happy. We didn’t do too much. Technically we just enjoyed the river and so my message today would be to try to enjoy the river. After this experience, I really want to go canoeing again with my family. It is an experience of a life time and I’m happy I did it.
What was the most precious moment of the day?
Probably when I went down the White Water rapids. It was very fun because you go from slow to fast paced manoeuvering around the rocks. It was a lot of fun. That was probably my precious moment of the day.
What was the biggest obstacle of the day?
My biggest obstacle of the day was probably to canoe 15 kilometers and it was very hard work. It took maybe 5 or 6 hours. It was painful but at the end I felt so proud of myself that I was able to make it here into this camp site.
What did you learn new about the river today?
I learned that the river is actually huge. It is a lot bigger than I thought it was. First I thought it was actually a lake then I found out it is actually a river. So I find this incredible. It is just huge.
What would you like to tell to the decision makers about what you have seen today?
All I have to say is that they need to help because this amazing place is a lot of fun and I would like to keep it that way. They need to invest in this place.
What was the most precious moment of your day? The most precious moment of my day was the barbecue we attended that was set for us on the New York Camp site by some of the locals and just hearing their stories and how warm and welcoming they were. That was pretty special. I could say that was the most precious moment of the day. What was the greatest obstacle of your day? The biggest obstacle of the day was probably the distance we had to cover in canoe. Fortunately we were lucky we got a hand with some boats that were able to come and bring us a little sooner. That was the biggest obstacle of the day. What did you learn new about the river today? I learned that the rise and fall of the water level is extremely detrimental to the fish here and that is caused by the dams. The issue nowadays is the controllers of the respective dams aren’t communicating as much and that means there is a lot of fluctuation in the water levels which is destroying the spawning habitats for many fish such as pike and pickerel. What is your message to the decision makers who have the power to change things? I say you have to meet with the members of the community and just listen to their stories. I picked-up so much from talking just about the state of the river, things that need to be improved. I mean they knew what needed to happen and I feel like if the decision makers were able to speak with them, they would have a new perspective on these things and they would realize that the solutions are simple.
What was the most precious moment of the day?
I would say I had 2 precious moments today. One was when we went down the White Water rapids. It was really fun. The other is when Aidan left and the others went fishing and it was just me, my brother and Collin. We were doing some rigorous canoeing and I reached the point where I was so tired I laid back in my canoe and I looked at the sky for about 5 minutes. It was really relaxing, I was at peace.
What was the biggest obstacle of your day?
The biggest obstacle was when I was canoeing at 10k. We had to keep with a pace of 6.5 km an hour. That was really hard. My muscles were sore but I was really happy. I decided not to give-up and we made it and for me that was really good.
What did you learn new about the river today?
I learned how huge the sturgeon can be. We were talking to this lady whose family used to fish on the river. They once caught a 165 pound sturgeon. Usually you could catch a 100 pound sturgeon but these days that is extremely rare. Back then, all you had to do was put a line in the water with some hooks attached and you get several in one day. To me it is crazy how a fish this big is becoming rare.
If you had to tell something to the decision makers after 2 days on the river, what would you tell them?
After 2 days on the river, I suppose I could talk about something that we discussed yesterday and that was the eel ladders. These eel ladders are being made to help eels that were once hugely abundant in this river and now are rare. They swim to these dams and get killed as they are sucked in back to the turbine and there is only one eel ladder up so they can’t go back down. These eel ladders are pretty much being made just to show that we are helping the environment even though it’s not making any difference. I think we should focus on putting regulations in the new dams being made and dams that are being built to help animals cross without blocking the path.
I think the highlight of my day was simply being with these three kids on the river.
We’ve had all kinds of adventures in all kinds of weather, rain or shine, but it was very gratifying to finally embark on this expedition that we’ve been planning for so many weeks. So we were very pleased. I learned a ton of new things about the river: that it is absolutely magnificent, glorious, and precious, and that we don’t really take proper care of it. We saw a pulp and paper mill pouring staggering amounts of chemicals into the water. That has to change. We also learned that several types of fish, the eel especially, are on the verge of extinction and that the eel is a very important food for First Nations peoples. The dwindling eel population has been terrible for them, but the damage could be reversed if we were to set up migration ladders on dams for the fish. Most dams owned and operated by Hydro-Québec and Ontario Power Generation are not equipped to protect fish, and the toll has been devastating.
My message now, and the lesson I’ve learned today, is that we really can change things through understanding, pursuing, and acting on our values and beliefs. Our meeting today with the First Nations people was absolutely incredible. These are thoughtful, introspective people, very calm and in constant contact with nature. They have an immense respect for nature.
What I learned today is that we must, without fail, respect nature and give back what she has given us.
The fourth generation of the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, accompanied by director Dominique Monchamp, went on its first canoe expedition on the Ottawa River to conduct water-quality tests.
Over four days – from August 4 to 8, 2013 – the grandchildren of Philippe II and Nan-B de Gaspé Beaubien will ply the river, collecting water samples that will help them determine the current state of the river.
They will then prepare a complete action plan for cleaning and protecting the Ottawa River. They will also devise awareness-raising activities for the general public, and primarily young people.
During the expedition, Philippe IV, Louis-Alexandre and Aidan Matrick were followed by a film crew, which will make a documentary about their experience.
To learn more, follow the mission’s progress on Facebook and Twitter!
What was the most precious moment of the day? The most precious moment of the day was probably the Natives’ ceremony. Being here and listening to what the elders had to say about the water and its importance to the community. We all are interconnected and the water is kind of the life blood to the earth just as blood is what gives us life. That kind of really connected with me. What was the biggest obstacle of your day? Probably the rain today. I didn’t pack or didn’t dress correctly and it was a good lesson for tomorrow. What did you learn new about the river today? Just the amount of pollutants going in is unbelievable. It was my biggest shock. 14 tonnes of ammonia had been dropped in and 36 kilograms of lead. Those are just outlandish numbers. That was kind of the biggest thing I learned today. If you had to talk to your generation about what you are doing and about the lesson learned today, what would it be? it is just the fact that we are not taking care of our water sheds and this is something that is perpetuating and if we don’t start changing it now, the effects will become deeper than they already are, which is currently devastating and could be potentially threatening to the community.
What was the most precious moment of your day?
For me the most precious moment of my day was by far coming to the Native reserve on Victoria Island. It was amazing. I was very impressed by the presentation they gave us and the welcoming ceremony. They received us with open arms. Even the food was great and to me it was an eye opening experience.
What was the greatest obstacle of your day?
It wasn’t really an obstacle, more of the force of nature on our ride on the pontoon on the way to Ottawa. The weather was constantly going back and forth, switching from rain to sunshine. Although it was a little bit irritating, we got to where we had to be at the end of the day.
What did you learn new about the river today?
Actually today it was amazing as we saw the pulp and paper industry. As we approached the site, we just started to smell the sulfur and see the impact, it has on nature. Testing the water was really cool and seeing how it is different from other places among the river.
After your first day what would be your message to your generation?
My generation? It’s interesting, I’m learning a lot. It’s more than I could hope for.
