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magazine / oct08
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October 2008 issue |
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Reverberations
River lords
While it did illustrate some of the issues surrounding the availability
and usage of water in British Columbia, your story “The
lost Eden of Okanagan,” (July/Aug
2008) showed just the tip of
the proverbial iceberg. Below the surface is a much larger story
that Canadians should be concerned about.
Now coming on line in British Columbia are privately owned
independent power producers that are turning publicly owned
rivers and streams into run-of-river power projects. They divert
river water from existing channels into a pipe, through a generator
and then back into the river somewhere downstream. Some
8,000 potential sites for run-of-river projects have been identified
in the province.
Also being identified around the country are dozens of lakes
that will be used by the mining industry as dumps for tailings.
Internationally, the Canadian government has failed three times
in the United Nations to have water recognized as a basic human
right, has amended the Inland Navigation Water Act to allow for
the damming of any navigable waters, has no official water-protection
policy and has agreed to the terms of the North American
Free Trade Agreement, which considers water a commodity to be
traded.
Kevin D’Eon
Campbell River, B.C.
The Okanagan is not short of water. In fact, the Okanagan has
an absolutely perfect amount of water to support its landscape
and environment. It is the human side of the equation that
believes more water might make it better. As it is, the current
trend to irrigate and to water lawns has increased the humidity.
Invasive weeds have moved in, and native species are threatened.
More water could easily destroy the very qualities of the landscape
that make the Okanagan so attractive.
Ian Moul
Comox,
B.C.
Parental courage
I have never been so impressed with a magazine. In your summer
issue, I was first touched by “Coming home,” the story of
Joy Kogawa and her childhood home (“Discovery,” July/Aug
2008). Then I was intrigued by the story of Kelowna, B.C., and
its ever-growing population.
I was born in Salmon Arm and raised in Kamloops in the
1970s and 1980s, so I understand the attractions of the
Okanagan. But I am saddened by the developments to accommodate
the rich. I sure hope that Kelowna doesn’t lose its natural
resources.
The piece I enjoyed the most in this issue was by far the story
of the Canmore, Alta., couple with two-year-old son and family
dog travelling the paths of one of my favourite authors, Farley
Mowat (“Following Farley”). How inspirational and warm-hearted
this story is. I am amazed by their courage. I, too, have a twoyear-
old, but I don’t think I could ever take her and my husband
on a five-month journey by a river, railway and ocean.
Coral Lee Schuld
Lethbridge, Alta.
Shotgun solution
Sometimes laws to protect species become antiquated and inappropriate.
Douglas Hunter’s article “Cormorant killers”
(“Discovery,” July/Aug 2008) fails to describe how the cormorants
have become pestilent in the Great Lakes. They wreck
shoreline foliage, devastate fish stocks and muscle out other
aquatic species and waterfowl. So far, egg-oiling programs and
open season for shotgunners to reduce their exploding population
have made only a minor dent in the prolific swarms.We need to
kill a lot more of them to restore a sane ecological balance to our
waters.
I look forward to a future article by Hunter scolding us for
swatting mosquitoes and deer flies that have been driven out of
their habitat by urbanization.
Robert McCaldon
Hartington, Ont.
Your story concerning the shooting of double-crested cormorants
stated that the bird is protected under the Migratory
Birds Convention Act. In fact, it is one of a handful of species
not covered by the convention. Birds not falling under federal
jurisdiction within Canada include grouse, quail, pheasants,
ptarmigan, hawks, owls, eagles, falcons, cormorants, pelicans,
crows, jays and kingfishers. Species that were introduced to
North America by humans, such as the European starling, house
sparrow and crested myna, are also excluded.
Linda Burr
Ottawa
Feeding the beast
As a lifelong Albertan I read the stories on the oil sands (“Scar
sands,” June 2008) and Flathead valley (“A
river to ruin,” June
2008) with great interest.What is happening with the development
in and around the Fort McMurray region is only part of
the story. Closer to Edmonton, in the Fort Saskatchewan-Redwater area, thousands of acres
of some of the best farmland in Alberta have been stripped or are threatened with being stripped
to provide land for the massive upgraders that are being built to turn the heavy bitumen
from the tar sands into synthetic crude oil. To provide energy to these upgraders, Sherritt
International, along with its funding partners, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension
Plan and City of Edmonton-owned power company EPCOR, is
proposing to build a coal-gasification facility to produce synthetic
gas to be used as an energy feed source. The Dodds-Roundhill
Coal Gasification Project lies less than 100 kilometres southeast
of Edmonton, and threatens my and my neighbours’ farms and
homes. This project would see one or more coal-gasification
plants and an accompanying strip mine. The mine would, over
its life, occupy 312 square kilometres (31,200 hectares) of prime
agricultural land. Along with these types of development come
pipelines, power lines and other infrastructures that interfere with
farming practices and have a negative impact on the landowners’
quality of life. The energy industry has a huge economic impact
in Alberta, but as the environmental and social costs of development
are becoming more obvious, a growing number of
Albertans are asking whether the long-term costs are not starting
to outweigh the short-term benefits.
Bill Sears
Tofield,
Alta.
First, thank you for not following the “windsock” journalism of
late and for bringing to light the very serious environmental
problems caused when an impotent government bows to
omnipotent energy companies. As a follow-up to the story, please
report on the 16 Canadian lakes (six of which are located in
British Columbia) that were recently proposed for reclassification
as tailings dumps for mining companies. This is possible because
of Schedule 2 of Metal Effluent Regulations under the Fisheries
Act, which allows the federal government to override the Fisheries
Act without a public review.
One further request that I would make is for you to give the
physical and e-mail addresses and phone numbers of any government
representative, that can influence the decisions regarding
what is currently happening in Canada. Your readers need to
remind these elected officials that they are supposed to represent
the people, and that they have been entrusted with a fiduciary
duty, which they apparently have no qualms about breaching.We
need good investigative journalism like yours, but without action
by everyone, it has no more import than the latest reality-television
episode.
Stephen Nash
Edmonton
The names and contact information for all Members of
Parliament are available online at webinfo.parl.gc.ca — Ed.
Rooted in Sawyerville
I was a back-to-the-lander (“Hippie
homesteaders of the Fundy Hills,” April 2008) who left Montréal in the mid-1970s searching, I
believe, for a slower and cheaper way to live than what seemed to
await me fresh out of McGill with a degree in architecture. After
four or five years of wandering, I finally settled in the village of
Sawyerville in the Eastern Townships of southern Quebec. Here, I
met my wife, we bought three acres, began building a house and
raised a daughter.
I grew up in a suburb and moved only once, but with that move, I
felt as if I had lost all sense of roots. In coming to Sawyerville, I was
looking for a place to set down some roots. I’m 59 now, and the
house is still unfinished. My daughter lives in St. Catharines, Ont.,
but my wife and I can, after 28 years here, certainly call this place
home. I draw and paint, and we’ve both been part-time teachers.
Since coming here, I’ve often wondered what we have added to
this community and how the locals really feel about us. Have we
changed the place, and if so, has it been for the better? I hope so. On
the other hand, I also wonder how this town and community have
changed me.
I came here from a good family that provided me with a good
education. Still, I think my most significant learning has happened
right here, my teachers being this community, the land, the seasons
and the weather.
Denis Palmer
Sawyerville, Que.
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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.
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