Wealthy family to tour Ottawa River
Funds group to work on water quality
Efforts to preserve the Ottawa River for future generations are getting a cash infusion from a Quebec family.
The de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation made a $490,000 commitment to River Mission, a new partnership between the foundation, Ottawa Riverkeeper and Blue Legacy, after youth in the family decided they wanted to do something about water quality.
“One of the things that really scared us into actually getting involved was that most of the drinking water in Montreal comes from the Ottawa River, but it’s still being polluted,” said 17-year-old Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien IV. “People are still throwing their garbage, their sewage into the river. That really was a wake-up call.”
Awareness and education helped create the political will to change sewage policies in Ottawa, said Meredith Brown, executive director of Ottawa Riverkeeper.
“We need to do that in Gatineau,” she said, adding that change doesn’t happen overnight and someone will need to lead the efforts.
Some of the money from the foundation will go toward creating a permanent “director of operations in Quebec” position for Ottawa Riverkeeper. River Mission will also see the fourth generation of the de Gaspé Beaubien family take a fiveday canoe expedition along the river to get a first-hand look at what the problems are and who’s trying to solve them.
The trip will begin with the entire family taking off from the Chateau Montebello on pontoon boats to Ottawa, discovering the urban section of the river along the way. In Ottawa, they’ll discover the importance of the river to First Nations peoples’ lives at Victoria Island. Then Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien IV, his 14-year-old brother Louis-Alexander and their two cousins will take off in Cessnas and fly to Pembroke, giving the youths a chance to see the river as a whole. From Pembroke, the crew will paddles back to Ottawa.
Brown said she’s excited to accompany the youth on the trip, noting that there’s nothing quite like being on the river to really understand what’s going on.
“I think one of the things that they’re really going to come away with is that it’s a challenging situation. There’s not easy answers and there’s not quick fixes,” she said.
But the adventure will also give the youths an opportunity to meet several different people who are working to make a difference, Brown said. “One project at a time, one action at a time, we can work toward our larger goals.”