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Lara Van Loon has always loved being on the water. She sails. She paddles. And before being named Ottawa’s first Riverkeeper in 2003—a post she held until the birth of her twin daughters, Sophie and Dana, in 2004—she had always worked on River Projects. “It was my dream job,” says Van Loon. “Being the city’s first Riverkeeper really meant a lot to me.”
It’s no surprise, then, that Van Loon has been drawn back to an organization that she loves so much. In August she accepted an invitation from Meredith Brown, Ottawa’s current Riverkeeper, to join the organization’s board of directors.
Van Loon’s primary role will be on the fundraising committee. “We’re coming out of a time that’s been a little bit tight financially,” she says. “A lot of foundations are cutting back a little bit. We’re at a turning point where the organization needs to find a way forward with a consistent core of funding that’s not so project-dependent. I think that’s my role.”
From 2007 to 2009, Van Loon and her family lived in Halifax, where she worked for the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. Since returning to Ottawa last year, their family has grown—daughter Anneke, now 1, was born in September 2009—and Van Loon is energized by her renewed commitment to Riverkeeper.
“Back when the organization started, we had one paid staff member—me—and it often felt as though we were teetering on the brink,” she says. “Riverkeeper still doesn’t have a huge budget, but it’s really sticking to its vision. Meredith is always ready to fight the fight and take on the most important issues.”
While Van Loon believes more people in Ottawa are aware of the organization, the role of Riverkeeper in Ottawa has had to evolve. “It’s a pretty cool concept—this idea of the river hero going after polluters in court,” she says. “But in Ottawa, we have a relatively healthy river, so it’s more about Meredith being a visionary who can bring people together to look at policy and make the changes we need to see in the watershed. Sometimes people forget that we’re all part of the river. We drink its water, and all our waste water goes back into it.”
Brown’s vision came to life Aug. 27 at the 2010 Ottawa River Summit, which brought together, for the first time, representatives from many of the 300 communities who live in the watershed—from municipal mayors, councillors and First Nations leaders to the National Capital Commission—to discuss the river’s future. “It was a transformative event,” Van Loon says. “And it was really good to see. I’m so pumped to be part of it again. It’s inspiring.”