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PETAWAWA – Residents were offered the golden opportunity this weekend to discover a piece of the Ottawa River, courtesy of the Ottawa River Canoe Brigade.
The self-described paddling arm of the Ottawa River Heritage Designation Committee was on hand at Petawawa Point Saturday and Sunday as part of Petawawa Civic Centre Days activities. People 12 years old and up were taken by canoe for a brief but memorable outing along the shores of the river, while also getting a history lesson from their hosts.
Larry Graham, chairman of the river heritage committee, said the idea was to expose families in Petawawa to recreational activities on the Ottawa River, and through this connect them to the rich heritage the river offers the region and its residents.
“This was an opportunity for people to participate in an activity they may not have been familiar with,” he said, which dovetails neatly into the canoe brigades purpose, which is to connect the public to the river, so they can share in its heritage and become invested in protecting and preserving it now and in the future.
The brigade was officially launched at the end of 2008, and is equipped with three 21-foot canoes, specially built for stability in the water. The vessels, named Kichi Sibi, L’Outaoais and The Ottawa, names for the river in Algonquin, French and English, are being used throughout 2009 and beyond to promote the river and its heritage values by taking people out onto its waters.
“We want to be able to give people a seat in a canoe, get them to dip a paddle in the water and make that connection to the Ottawa River,” Mr. Graham had said during the official launch of the canoe brigade last December.
Next week, the Ottawa River Canoe Brigade and its flotilla of three will be taking part in Heritage Rivers Day in Ottawa, which is held the second Sunday in June.
“We’ve been invited to participate in a National Capital paddle on June 14,” Mr. Graham said, which will take them and many other river enthusiasts the 22 kilometres from Victoria Island past Parliament Hill to Petrie Island. Among the paddlers joining the brigade will be youth delegates attending the International Rivers Conference, which opens 7 p.m. that evening at the National Arts Centre.
“This will be the official opening of the conference,” he said, “and at this point, the Ottawa River Heritage Design Committee anticipates the Ottawa river will be proclaimed a Canadian Heritage River.”
“This will finish more than six years of work initiated by Len Hopkins, who was the first chairman of our committee,” Mr. Graham continued.
“It is unfortunate he is not here to see this, but we’ll celebrate for him.”
Mr. Hopkins, a passionate supporter and promotor of Canadian heritage values and history, has been pushing for this historic designation for the Ottawa River for years. He passed away in Feb. 2007. Before falling ill, he was getting ready to present the case of the Ottawa River to another delegation of government officials.
Stephen Uhler is a Daily Observer reporter