Uncharted waters: Canada rolling back navigation rights, again

By Krystyn Tully, Waterkeeper.ca Weekly October 19 2012

The Canadian government introduced (another) sweeping omnibus budget bill on Thursday, changing as many as 60 different acts in a way that eliminates oversight from parliamentary committees.

One of those acts – the Navigable Waters Protection Act – is one of Canada’s most important and oldest pieces of environmental legislation. It preserved the age-old right of every individual to navigate Canadian waterways.

If the omnibus bill changes, the new law – the Navigation Protection Act – will no longer protect Canadian waterways. Transport Canada told the Globe and Mail that this better reflects the “historic intent” of the bill. Transport Canada is wrong.

The simple act of dipping one?s paddle into the water and pulling, propelling oneself forward – such is an act that defines “Canada”.

We use the word “navigation” because we have no other word, at least not in English, that captures the full meaning of the action. To “navigate” is to be constantly moving, coming from somewhere and moving towards somewhere else. “Navigation” is an act of faith that there will be some place waiting for you when you arrive. It is the gift of living near places of wealth and of being blessed with routes by which you may travel between them.

Navigation is not a recreational pursuit. It is not an economic pursuit. It is the act of converting the gifts of one?s physical surroundings into pleasure, freedom, wealth, or survival. Navigation is an act of citizenship.

For two thousand years, to navigate water has been considered an act of human freedom. The ability to move from place to place and to access waterways free from tyrants, dictators, monarchs, and other powers has been one of the most important hallmarks of a just society.

It has been roughly 500 years since European and First Nations customs met, 800 years since Magna Carta, and 2,000 years since Roman Times; yet, notions of navigation, access to waterways, checks on power, and the rights of all people are still relevant. Collectively, they are the foundation of Canada?s legal system. They influence both legislators and justice officials to this day. For this reason, we cannot discuss issues such as navigation without understanding the history of thought, achievement, and struggle that came before us.

The relentless assault on Canada’s Navigable Waters Protection Act turns a right into a privilege, politicizes decision-making, eliminates government accountability, and institutionalizes a system in which some organizations and individuals have greater access to our nation’s waters than others.

Waterkeepers have been working to inform and educate people about the roots of navigation rights in Canada for years. You can learn more about the history of this act and the first government rollbacks in our 2009 paper, Born with a Grey Beard.

 

Omnibus bill changes anger water keepers

Number of protected waterways would be limited to 3 oceans, 97 lakes, 62 rivers

CBC News  Oct 19, 2012

Those who monitor waterways in Ottawa and across Ontario are upset changes stated in part two of the federal government’s proposed omnibus budget bill do not protect navigable bodies of water in Canada.

The proposed legislation, tabled in the House of Commons Thursday, includes a change to the 130-year-old Navigable Waters Protection Act.

Ottawa River keeper Meredith Brown says she believes foreign industry is more protected than Canada’s waterways with the updates to the Navigable Waters Protection Act. (Kate Porter/CBC)

That act currently protects every waterway in Canada, but changes in the omnibus bill mean three oceans, 97 lakes and 62 rivers will fall under federal protection if the new legislation is passed.

Mark Mattson, president and water keeper for Ontario’s lakes, believes the government is choosing the rights of industry over the rights of outdoor enthusiasts, such as rowers and paddlers.

“It won’t be protecting our ability to travel on water. It’ll be protecting the ability for ships and shipping to use the water for navigation,” Mattson told CBC Ottawa’s Kate Porter.

“We’re going to lose our right to travel on our waters in Canada and we’re not going to know when those navigable routes are taken away.”

Getting rid of ‘red tape’

Transport Minister Denis Lebel explained the changes by saying the federal government is ridding itself of “red tape,” adding the “most basic footbridges over small streams” require paperwork.

Water keepers disagree, citing large bodies of water such as the Gatineau River, which flows past Wakefield, Que., into the Ottawa River.

While both the Ottawa River and Rideau River made the government’s list of protected waterways, the Gatineau River did not.

Ottawa River keeper Meredith Brown said she believes the act has been invaluable in triggering environmental assessments of waterways.

“As communities, we need to be a lot more vigilant in terms of what’s being proposed on our river,” Brown said.

Brown said she believes the amendments are covering developers’ rights, not protecting waterways.

 

By Olivia Chow NDP Transport Critic October 19, 2012

OTTAWA – The Navigable Waters Protection Act has protected Canada’s streams and lakes for 130 years. And now the Conservatives are demolishing this crucial law, exposing Canada’s waterways to risk from pipelines and other intrusions.

Passed in 1882, the Navigable Waters Protection Act is among Canada’s oldest laws still in effect. The last changes were made in 2009 after committee hearings and consultations.

Until now, the act covered all waterways deep enough to be navigable by canoe, in effect protecting hundreds of thousands of rivers and streams and more than 30 thousand lakes across Canada.

The changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act are embedded in the 457-page ‘budget’ implementation bill, tucked in between changes to the Mortgage and Housing Act and the Canada Grain Act.

Pipelines and interprovincial power lines are now exempt from the act and its review process for construction projects, as are so-called “low risk” works (undefined).

With the exception of a list of 3 oceans, 97 lakes and 62 rivers, the Act will no longer automatically apply to projects affecting waterways.  This will leave thousands of waterways not covered, meaning fewer environmental reviews by Transport Canada.

Of Canada’s 37 designated Canadian Heritage Rivers, only 10 are now covered. Those left out of the new Act include the Bloodvein River (Manitoba/Ontario), the Cowichan River (BC), Clearwater River (Sask/Alta), Main River (NFLD), Margaree River (NS), South Nahanni (NWT) and Tatshenshini (Yukon), Mattawa River (Ontario), Upper Restigouche (NB)

The bill removes “waters protection” from the name of the bill – now it’s just about “navigation protection.”

The risk of a pipeline accident is real: in 2010, an Enbridge pipeline burst in Michigan that released 3.8 million litres of toxic tar sludge into the Kalamazoo River.

Raw tar sands oil is thick and gooey, and needs to be mixed with lighter petroleum products like natural gas, benzene, toluene and xylene to be pushed through a pipeline. This mixture is usually called diluted bitumen.

Tar sands bitumen is 40 to 70 times more viscous than North American conventional crude oil. This high viscosity requires tar sands pipelines to operate at higher pressures than conventional pipelines, increasing the risk of damages and spills.