Meech Lake reckless development

What can I say about this man, we're lucky to have this dedicated conservationist around. I have always looked up to Ian's activism and doing the right thing at the right time, not for personal glory and certainly not for money, but because someone has to do it. Hats off to you my friend. By Ian Huggett We bring nothing into this world. It is also certain we carry away nothing with us. Nevertheless, we have no shortage of enthusiasm to recklessly transform, modify and disfigure the earth before our departure. No more evident is this than along Meech Lake Road in Gatineau Park. The latest monolith under construction at 777 Ch. Meech Lake could dwarf the O’Brien House once completed. Massive concrete pilings have been cemented into vertical rock up a slope only a ski-hill gondola could scale. Old homes come down. New homes go up. While the National Capital Commission (NCC) has abandoned its role as a landlord for rental properties, left boarded up to culture mushrooms, the Municipality of Chelsea is issuing permits for home construction inside the park. Meech Lake in Gatineau Park almost rivals Lake Louise at Banff in reckless development. Last month, I advised Mayor Caryl Green that a specific bylaw be drafted to modify Chelsea’s existing zoning for private residential construction inside Gatineau Park. The objective would be to place constraints on building standards to better integrate new homes by reducing their visual and physical impacts on the park. Ideally, these lots should be purchased by the NCC. But the willingness of private property-owners to sell to the NCC is not always forthcoming. I suggested a meeting with the municipality’s urban planning director and the mayor to devise construction standards appropriate within a park setting. Standards would involve reducing the width of laneways, increasing setbacks, retaining visual buffers and prohibiting access up unstable slopes over a certain grade. Architectural standards would reduce size, height and specify exterior siding such as wood or log. The normal process is for a proponent to draft these revisions with the insight of urban planners. The bylaw amendment is reviewed by the urban planning committee and presented to council for consideration. At the final stage, the revision is vetted by the public for comment. But Mayor Green chose to deflect this idea. No doubt, she anticipated a slippery slope of potential lawsuits by ruffled property-owners. Having comparative constraints imposed on their rights with neighbours outside the park could spark a debate over equality. She suggested the idea be left for the public to raise during the Master Plan Review next year. As wealth continues to be funneled from the many to the few, conspicuous real-estate built in exclusive venues will continue. Meech Lake, sadly, has evolved as a target for the financially elite. Unless some authority intervenes on behalf of Gatineau Park to filter inappropriate development within the park’s private enclaves such as Meech Lake and Kingsmere, future private homes will threaten to overshadow existing historical landmarks. I believe it’s part of our culture’s bid at immortality. Better to recall the old adage: “We enter this world with clenched fists – anxious to grasp everything within our reach. We leave this world with open hands – everything we once owned has slipped away.” Leaving massive buildings in a park as a legacy against our own mortality represents the extreme in human egotism.

Mr. "Free parking"

OK, my fellow shit-disturber friend and lovely neighbor has boldly made her rant public and invited me to share it with those like-minded shit disturbers!!!! Folks, I have rarely waxed political on this newsfeed, but excuse me. I am not terribly reassured by Mr developer JP Poulin's reassurances that a new condo development in the heart of the village will, don't worry little village people, be tastefully done. Are we supposed to believe that he who brought us Giant Tigre (the first tree to fall--which now seems slated to fill in surrounding wetland and be expanded into a full on stripmallplex for our so called convenience) and bought us off with globe style parking lot lighting and cheap socks can suddenly morph into friendly protector of quickly disappearing quaint, quirky, and humble villagy-ness? I doubt it. Giant Tigre was protested as a symbol of what we didn't want to come. Many saw that as a gateway battle, and they turned out to be right. They slipped Styro Rail in the side door just in time for the giant highway expansion made of oh! coincidence! giant blocks of Styrofoam. Mayor Bussiere and Mr Poulin I'm sure are shooting darts in the man lounge together, clinking glasses and chuckling as the steamroll their development agenda through the rows of protest lines, huge rises of Canadian shield, ignored environmental concerns and really sincere engagement and input by a very thoughtful, sincere, and educated contituency. Meanwhile someone's vision (not the PPU's!) of a village turned suburban town with a sterile, 'cutesy' Merrickville-like core accessible only to the solidly middle class or richer, flanked by a Gatineau type strip and industrial sector and fed by a giant vein of pavement so we can all barrell back and forth to the city a few minutes faster, chained to the race race and high on cheap drivethru cups of coffee with a gut rotting Subway sandwich to feed our delusions that life is better this way, quickly manifests. I am not one to hug trees or oversimplify complex civic matters, but still I am sincerely heartbroken as tree after tree falls, citizen engagement and protest become a moot point, and this very unique and precious place becomes just another battle lost to big money and shortsighted development agendas. Meanwhile gentrification takes its toll on the funkier and poorer part of our population as well as long-time locals, seniors, etc etc etc. What could be a seriously cutting edge example of a different kind of bike path into the future is quickly becoming just another painted and paved paradise. But don't worry little village people, this won't hurt a bit. Papa developer has your concerns in mind, and will make this next part so much 'nicer'!! Never mind that nobody who already lives here and needs housing will be able to afford to live in those buildings. So pop that antidepressant, bend over, and drop your drawers, this won't hurt a bit. The next municipal election is coming up soon, thank god. I hope that the troops rally and someone steps forward to attempt to re-democratize this process. Its probably too late but nevertheless. I would like to believe that yes, we can. But can we? Finally I am deeply grateful to all those fine people who have given their time and energy to try to ward off the bullydozing, have indeed brought so much creativity, heart, open-mindedness, patience and intelligence to the table of public engagement, and persisted in knocking politely on the door of the back room where these development deals are being made. Maybe its time to start kicking it down. GT sells some cheap plastic army boots that could probably do the job. I'm just sayin'. Heather Horak

Commercial success sucks!

I walk along a narrow sandy trail between the Hall’s cemetery fence and the great pit below Me not believing that they could expand this quarry to the very edge of this burial ground The place where our ancestors and families carved the land into farms that lay in rest now This is sacred ground I say to myself as I vainly look around for a broken skull or crossbone For there is danger here for what is and has been done to this sacred land of our ancestors Their bare bone monuments remain within a couple of meters of the yawning sand pit hole What about the many too poor to afford a tombstone and lay scattered in the cheap seats? I whisper angrily to the wind if not for the decency of protecting the important spring aquifer Then at least stop the digging and reclaim the land for respect of the dead who rest in peace Ominous signs of a time when commercial success is put ahead of respect for life and death

Cell towers and radiation

I have my own little story about cell phone towers. When I moved to this paradise I could see the blinking red light of the Mt. Cascades cell phone tower. Now 22 years later, I've noticed the trees on the mountain ~10 kms away have grown enough to obscure the view from my window. Maybe I'm losing my signal too but I don't need it because I have little interest or need for a cell phone. But what do I see one night from my deck over the river? A new cell tower suddenly sprouted like a mushroom over night. I wonder how long it will take for this one to be overtaken by the trees that are now allowed to grow tall and free? The question is more likely, how many more towers will we see out here as the city sky congestion moves it's way up here. So the latest debate out here is the proliferation of these towers, dotting the cup-caked hills of the Gatineaus, this is the letter or rant of the day, that somehow, managed to remain anonymous in the Wakefield News. I say thank you to my friend who continues to give their honest reaction to all things a changin'... ...Please ...GOOGLE-..EXPOSURE-FROM CELL TOWERS...lots of info....NOT GOOD!!!-cell tower workers- on them-frying & dying--wake up people THIS IS RADIATION EXPOSURE...AND TOWERS ARE GOING UP EVERYWHERE-FOR OUR 'CONVENIENCE'-to have moment to moment communication contact...RIGHT NOW!!!-INSTANT FULFILLMENT...HERE IT COMES ...HEALTH HAZARDS INSTALLED ABOVE OUR . ..HOSPITALS-SCHOOLS...OVER NIEGHBOURS HOUSES... ON OUR HILLS...MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCES-I've seen them in the middle of no-where-georgian bay-whats up...oh ya ...instant gratification thru communication & entertainment...ON IT GOES...ranting am I ...about these 'towers of mordor'- the most serious 'installments' ever made so far???---------TALK TO ME ABOUT MY FRIEND KENNY-1ST EVER CELL PHONE USER...loved it-used it in the car for his business in the east bay ca.-early 90's-LOVED IT!!!... told me he when he was dying -of brain cancer -he knew the cancer was from his cell phone-ANOTHER- lady before she demised made a DVD..called 'Exposure'...ps. i don't have a cell phone anymore-gave it up going on 5 yrs ago....havn't missed it-or the monthly bill...////ps-anybody checked out the new mortality rate in Toronto of young adults dying of brain cancers...

Changing face of the Gatineau River

Now that our beautiful heritage river, the Gatineau has been "saved", we should wake up to the changing face of this river. When I moved here in 1989, the river log boom was still in full swing and those CIP tugboats ruled these waters. I journeyed out in my little canoe at my own peril, more than once I ventured out too long into one of the ponds across the way, and came out ambushed by an armada of logs that quietly surrounded me by the thousands. Less than two years later it was all over. Seems one of the last acts of those sneaky tupboaters who always glared at me when I tried to venture out in my canoe, was to come under my deck and take away the 40 or 50 logs that I had beachcombed from the river over the previous two years. Fast forward 20 years and I have nticed another significant change from the authority that now owns and rules much of this stretch of the Gatineau, Hydro Quebec. They have not informed anyone over the years of sudden and frequent water level fluctuations. This of course has caused probems for the ever expanding number of river sideish people who have built docks along the river. Another thing I have noticed in my 20 year observation of this river is how consistent the freeze up and melt break up times has been up until the last 5 years. Over the last five years the river break up has been much less dramatic than it used to be. I think this more gently breakup is likely a result of climate change displaying itself in our backyard, but also in part, due to new sensor stations that HQ has installed over the recent years and improvements to the upper and lower dams. This summer I have never noticed the water levels so high (about 6 inches higher than last year)but mostly, I have never seen the water levels so consistent. Again, the people who are monitoring the river flows seem to be getting much better at keeping water levels nice and high so boaters can have their fun. Never have I seen such a great hot summer and it was a record year for pleasurecrafters. I still cringe when I see little children being towed along in a rubber inner tube behind a speedboat going flat out for that extra squeel of wonderland zeal. I hate to tell people this, but there's still countless thousands of sunken logs at the bottom of the Gatineau that occasionally resurface. Not to mention the growing drift of yard junk and junk I see floating by. I must say that it's disheartening to see this river becoming ever polluted with Tim Horton cups and to see people cutting trees and putting in big docks along their properties to afford maximum river exposure. Don't get me wrong, I have a reasonably big dock myself (careful how you write that eh?) and I often swim naked just to piss off the Ex-Senator who lives across the way. But really, many of these people, have erected big ass fences so they alone can enjoy their river view. Why should riverfront property owners respect the municipal laws to not cut down river edge trees and vegetation when Hydro Quebec can get away with sending in the big buzz saw every year around this time, to cut away most of the crucial vegetation holding the bank (and road) from eroding into the river? Of course they do it to take proactive steps to stop tree obstructions to their power lines. One is for the individual good and the other is for the greater good right? My thinking is that Hydro Quebec should set an example to the public about good stewardship as the land around us becomes more populated. I think the time has come for bringing in more responsible regulations and guidelines for managing our impact on the Gatineau River. Wakefield is a river village and what happens on and around the water is as important to our future happiness with living here as is the new highway, StyroRail and Giant Tiger/Tim Horton or the dreaded condofication of Wakefield! It's true, the price of swimming naked and freely in the Gatineau is eternal vigilance!

Long live the Gatineau River!

The environmental war zone continues on the edge of Wakefield, as the A5X blasts through the stubborn Precambrian bedrock shield. But last night we didn't hear the daily 5:30 blast echoing through the hills, we heard people shouting in joy and relief that the proposed Gatineau River septic facility has been cancelled. As Tamara says in her last blog (for now), there are a lot of people to thank and congratulate in this unanimous decision by the MRC. This may even include our Mayor and our environmentally minded Councilor, Louis Rompre, who may have stepped back from this decision. This may be due in part, to the recent election of a PQ government, and their realization for provincial funding support for this project may be a no-go in this region...

I think that Tamara is worthy of some kind of environmental stewardship award as recognition for her brilliant mind, her leadership and persistence throughout this long campaign. It gives hope and energy to many others out here who are concerned about other environmental issues such as a source protection strategy for our Wakefield spring and, who like me, are feeling a little burnt out.

Way to go Tamara!


Breaking News: Chelsea Quebec, September 20, 2012

MRC des Collines de l'Outaouais

Septic Sludge Lagoon project CANCELLED



By unanimous decision the Mayors of the MRC des Collines de l'Outaouais cancelled their plans to build a septic sludge lagoon on the banks of the Gatineau River.
Instead, they will be arranging treatment of septic sludge at a privately run / higher technology facility at the former Smurfit-Stone plant at Portage du Fort, Quebec.

This will be our last email for a while.

We will now focus on gaining recreational zoning for all parts of the Gatineau River and making sure that no other man made incursions threaten the health of the river.
However, should any new threat emerge we will reactivate our campaign.

Thank you to everyone who signed the petition, sent a letter, phoned an elected official, filed an access to information request, attended a fundraising event or came to a meeting.

Each and every one of you has contributed to the cancellation of this project and now it's time to celebrate.

Wakefield spring history

Well it took a while, but I had fun putting this together and thanks to Phil and Alise, I rose to the occasion to finish it in time for inclusion with the Low Down's running of the final SOS campaign to try to ... wake up people people who rely, and love the spring. We need to work together to stop the kind of environmental onslaught on our village and especially our spring - which continues to this moment. The Couillard bastards have now bought the quarry from my slippery friend Albert, and continue to dig down til rock bottom, or until the aquifer for the spring is proven and destroyed at the same time. Apart from ex-Senator Lavigne, I haven't seen such a blatant disregard for the environment as this. This same company who was reported in the news recently to have dumped over 500 litres of hazardous liquid wastes into a river, is deciding the fate of Wakefield's water supply. I find this unbelievable! Phil says the price of living in Wakefield is eternal vigilence, he may be right!On a lighter note...
  

The History of the Wakefield Spring

The present day Wakefield spring was originally part of the Jack Brown Farm that was sold in 1925 to James Marshall Brown (P. Cohen). No one really knows when people started drinking the spring water, but Irma McGarry Nesbitt remembers “cattle regularly coming down from the McClinton farm to drink from water bubbling out from the hill” (1920s).

In the early 1940’s this bubbling water was embedded into a simple wooden box that served to water Marshall Brown’s cattle.  When Marshall began working at the Farm Point Alcan plant after the war, he met George Walsh who was the Mechanical Superintendent at the “Wakefield Works” plant. Seems the workers were not happy with the chlorinated taste of the drinking water and staged a protest when someone discovered a dead animal in the grates of the water intake line to the plant.

Marshall and George hatched a brilliant plan to use the Wakefield spring for the plant.  According to his son, Bob Walsh, George had plant employees install a 40 foot long Galvanised 3 inch diameter pipe with a steel brace at the end. The pipes were welded and initialed by Lyle Doherty and the wooden bucket was upgraded to a hose for easier filling.

George was assigned to collect water for its 70+ employees and an Alcan truck would often be seen stopped at the spring collecting water.  When Hans Geggie’s popular hand crank well became in-door plumbing, the community came to rely more on the Marshall Brown “spring-in-a-box”. Wakefield Councillor Ray Daly and Jack McGarry even proposed that the spring be piped to nearby houses but were promptly turned down by Council.

Some said it was lucky the spring was not covered up and diverted by the first improvement of the narrow “Side street” dirt trail in 1944 or when it was paved between 1945 and 1952. According to his wife Shirley Shoudice, “Lorne raised proper hell” when he discovered that the paving of Valley Drive in 1986 would result in the loss of the Wakefield Spring. “There is no way we are going to let this happen,” she remembers Lorne saying.  

Highway workers were supplied with materials needed to divert the water and install the pipes at the spring’s current location. The water flow even became stronger afterwards.

When Anita Rutledge suggested a plaque be erected to honour Lorne in 2004, an extensive renovation of the site was championed by Bill Gonzales. On September 9, 2005, a plaque was placed at the spring in Lorne’s honour and promptly stolen and appropriately, replaced soon after.  This echoes the resolve of Lorne that for any threat to the Wakefield spring “There is no way we are going to let this happen”.

Stop the madness!!!!

Village spring under threat

The MTQ has hired a construction firm from hell called Couillard Construction, to supply sand for the A5X highway. Problem is, they decided to excavate the sand from what myself and many others believe to be the source and filtration zone for the aquifer that feeds excellent water to our spring (yeah, just like Sarah Harmer's song about the Niagara escarpment). I talked with our councilor to make sure we were all on side, especially after talking to the owner who claimed he didn't know anything and our local councilor was a coconut! After a solid week of protests, letter writing, police and media, the good guys (SOS and friends) seem to be making some progress with getting the authorities (MDDEP) to close this illegal quarry. There's still a long battle over the "grandfather" clause that the owner likes to think he has, but many people are seeing the logic of the proponent paying for an INDEPENDENT extensive hydrology study  I think it’s absolutely imperative to investigate the hydrology and “link” to the aquifer that supplies our water. The onus should be on the owner (and partners) to show due diligence that such excavation activities are not doing damage to the aquifer. My hope and guess is the owner has made lots of money already on the sand taken and will not want to pay for hydrology studies, and just keep the site closed. So not necessarily so the quarry can continue to be used via the grandfather clause (let’s face it, it’s a lousy place for a quarry!) but to serve the greater and logical need for a source water protection strategy. Now Ian Tamblyn has recorded a protest song and we're taking back what's left of our beleaguered village.

My letter of the week goes to me for alerting townspeople to this activity in early May. No, I haven't been arrested yet but if I am, I feel this is a cause worth fighting for and being arrested if necessary...

"Has anyone noticed the excavation or is it a mining operation going on adjacent to the Rockhurst quarry and Hall’s cemetery? I watched yesterday as a digger scooped up fine brown red sand and filled truck after truckload. At first I thought someone had discovered rare earth elements and were mining it as fast as they could. I hear it’s not for more houses our condos but they’re using it for the highway cause it’s slightly cheaper than bringing it in from elsewhere (Edelweiss). I also hear they’re planning to fill in the hole with something else (clay tailing) that is not of use in the highway construction. I hope that this peculiar sandy stretch of land is not critical to the aquifer that feeds our spring with good clean water.  I wonder if this activity was part of the original MTQ plan and covered in the environmental assessment? I wonder why someone is filling in the south end of the beautiful little valley behind Giant Tiger?

I for one would like to see such environmental issues (that are chipping away at Wakefield) covered in a coherent final PPU document. Mostly I would love to see a final PPU document!"

Run out of town --

The Low Down to Hull and Back headline "Wakenet, a local Internet company, is being run out of town --" got my attention. I'm an avid supporter of Wakenet and the valuable service they provide in providing high speed to people who can work from home. My house was "triangulated" by two of the nicest guys who easily persuaded me to beam a signal to people near-by who were shut out for high speed internet. I've been helping people work from home (like myself) and getting free high speed internet for over five years now. Don't get me wrong, I'm no internet junkie and no flunky when it comes to understanding what it's all about. I'm not a full-blown Luddite, but I'm skeptical of embracing too much technology, too quickly and without adequate redundancy. And then there's those bloody towers everywhere, don't get me going on that! So I thought I'd include this letter of the day to demonstrate the logic of having a local response to a problem be considered over the dubious might of Quebec trumped up companies like Xittel. Let's keep the choice ours and slow those techno wheels down a tad eh?



Letter of the week:


On March 2, 2012 Rapide-O-Web (run by La Pêche and Vals-Des-Monts; President
is Mayor Bussière) published a request for proposal (RFP) to spend $1.3 million on high speed
in La Pêche. Wakenet is a non-profit organization which has been providing high speed
Internet since 2004.

We were shocked to find out that they designed the RFP such that we can't
bid on it! The RFP targets large corporations.  GIVING all of this money to a large
company (such as Xittel) to build towers here will likely put us out of business.

If only the problem was that "simple": In the RFP, Rapide-O-Web has asked
bidders to build towers in the areas already covered by Wakenet!  It gets worse:
Rapide-O-Web is also asking bidders to build towers in Edelweiss and other areas already covered by
Bell-DSL! And this is almost 2 years after they made a public announcement (posted on
the La Pêche website) that "Bell DSL was soon coming to the Edelweiss area".
What??!

Tax payers take note: A whopping 44% of the homes targeted in the RFP for La
Pêche already have Bell-DSL. This is over 1/2 million dollars of your tax money being
wasted!

We, at Wakenet, are making an appeal for justice and transparency with
regards to this RFP. If this plan goes through, it will not only be an enormous waste of public
funds, but will also unfairly threaten a local organization.  We have worked very
hard for the past 8 years to provide high speed Internet to rural areas around
Wakefield (we cover about 1/3 of La Pêche, in area), and we did it without receiving
one single cent of government funding!

To find out more, and to support Wakenet: http://justice.wakenet.ca

Smart car vrs Dumb bike

I went for a walk last Sunday, a beautiful day to show off the carnage of the tree cutting and bulldozing. There's been plenty debate over the last hours effort made by the tree protestors

IT IS QUITE CLEAR TO ANYONE  FOUR LANE HIGHWAYS ARE SAFER   ...CHECK OUT THE AMOUNT OF DEATHS AND ACCIDENTS  ON HIGHWAY 5  COMPARE IT TO 105 . May be you should try joining the flat earth society they might listen to your warped logic.Two people got killed on the 105 2 weeks ago  why not do  some research your self and find 1 death on highway 5 .  Your   group could not even  sit in a tree without calling in the  ambulance  to save you ....

Twinning of the 101 in Nova Scotia has been a hot topic for a number of years also.  Safety is often cited as a number one concern for proponents of the twinning.  In this report they talk about accident statistics using a measurement of number of accidents per hundred-million vehicle kilometres.  According to this paper, the transition from a single lane head-on highway (such as the current 105 and which is a class 5 highway in Nova Scotia) to a twin lane divided highway (such as the current 5 and which is a class 1 in Nova Scotia) reduces the accident rate by 46% from 72.3 accidents per hundred million vehicle kilometres on a class 5 highway to 33.2 per hundred million vehicle kilometres on a class 1 highway.  This statistic is apparently substantiated by another paper called Final Report Environmental Assessment Screening Report The Twinning of Highway 101 … that notes the effects of reducing / increasing the speed limits have on fatalities.  Another important observation is the environmental implications as a result of higher speed limits which results in lower fuel economy and higher tail pipe emissions.  I would be willing to bet that Transport Quebec likely has similiar kinds of statistics available for Quebec roads and highways and would be interested what their numbers indicate.  For your consideration. 

Happy Earth day

I caught the film "LAND AWAKENING"last week at the Black Sheep. It was a good film because of it's honesty and simple message that it's title captures well. For me it was like a ray of hope on a cold wintery day (like today April 23, with over an inch of snow on the ground! ).
There seems to be a revival around Wakefield for environmental causes and issues lately which is great to see.  I'd like to thank Eco Echo for expanding their planting of fruit trees and new planted crops that softens the visual blow we receive from the Styro Rail, for Juniper farms for the healthy organic local food they provide to Wakefield and so many others.
Maybe the A5X is a symbol of what could be in store for us in our little laid back bohemian village where not much has changed over the last 30 years until now... Maybe Wakefield's environmental revival is responding to these threats and forced changes by adapting in creative and positive ways?
A bit like the peace movement that sprung out of the Vietnam war.Whatever's going on, this film and it's maker are a good example of this ground swell of hope and courage. Happy Earth day everyone, let's make this a 365 day event!





to the BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF THIS GREAT COMMUNITY OF WAKEFIELD, A big THANK YOU for your generous support Thursday Night at the Screening of my film "LAND AWAKENING".

To all of those who came to the "Land Awakening" screening at the Black Sheep in Wakefield last night a BIG THANK YOU for your generous support and amazing response to the film. Once again it was a FULL HOUSE calculating approximately 150-170 people that packed the place!

I feel humbly thrilled for your encouragement and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your emails and personal comments about it.
It is truly an incredible feeling to see that after so many years of work the ideas expressed in the film resonate and trigger such positive responses from you.
I pass along some of the written feed-back I've received:

"...Truly inspirational film. Refocused our own vision..."
"...Thank you so much for your film. It was truly an eye opener..."
"...It was very inspiring..."
...and so many other similar verbal comments from the audience at the end of the screening!

Please stay tuned to the website and Facebook pages for more news about future screenings, DVD release and hopefully engaging a TV Broadcast license.

One more time a special thank you to the sponsors and supporters who facilitate bringing this screening:
François Oligny, Chantal Plamomndon and Jay Sinha of LifeWithoutPlastic.com , Paul Symes of the Black Sheep Inn , ArtEngine , and Christopher Minnes from Eco Echo

Castles in the sand

I returned from a week away in Toronto a couple of days ago to witness the crews efficiently taking down, delimbing, and neatly stacking the trees around Brown's Lake entrance to the Gatineau Park. Must say, it didn't look much like a park. I noticed someone had hung my handpainted sign: "Save ther Pines - Redesign" over the road closure sign which certainly trumped my piddly, naive sign. I wasn't so concerned because I knew this highway could not be stopped or redesigned, I just thought someone should say something as the cause celebre 300 year old pine lays broken and smashed on the ground. A sacrifice to the highway gods of progress? How many trees or farmland were lost for the constructing of the 401 highway to Toronto, how many lives saved and how much money generated for our economy. These metrics of change are not comparable of course, but I for one, am glad that those brave hardy souls took the time and effort to make this vigil here on sacred ground. Maybe it won't make a difference to this highway or it's timetable for construction, but I'll never forget those beautiful people a couple of weeks ago, who one by one, took the eagle feather in their bare hands and spoke from their heart to what was real and dear to them.  This story is not over, in fact, for those souls who put their asses on the line to make this statement, it's only the beginning. May their journey make a difference and may the rest resist indifference and cynicism as our natural world erodes like castles made of sand.

The letter of the day:


There is nothing 'state of the art' about the A5 highway design. In fact, there is nothing 'state of the art' about any highway design or about our addiction to fossil fuels, and our voracious sense of entitlement.
Super highways have always, and continue to create great chasms in our connection to communities and the natural world. They are notorious for bypassing and killing small towns and spitting us all out into huge hubs of alienation (concrete jungles usually built on prime agricultural land). I'm sure if our government put brilliant engineering minds to the task of connecting communities, enabling transportation and respecting natural ecosystems and resources (ie. drinking water etc.etc.etc.), we could come up with something way better.
This recent wave of pro highway, anti-protester sentiments is as blatantly destructive as the 'lord of the rings' style clearcutting we get to witness in our backyard. Protest the protesters and cut out your own tongue! Careful, you may want to use it one day when you decide to voice convictions to an overwhelming power structure. Let's be sure our right to do that remains in place, and that we teach each other how to do it effectively.

Idiocracy is here!

Democratic debate is good, division and conquering nature is bad. I've been involved in environmental issues for a long time now and it saddens me how we keep going around the mobeus strip - relearning then conveniantly forgetting the hard fought lessons. We are inundated with change and conflicting views and opinions about what to do about things we are uncomfortable with. I try to give thanks to the trees every time I throw another log on the fire to warm my bones. I try to nurture a balance between the black and white when choices are not easy or clear to make. I must admit, the more I know the less I understand...
I plan to be at tomorrow's smudging ceremony for the ancient trees slated for demolition, not because I'm neccesarily for or against the highway or it's ridiculous design that was forced on all of us, but because I'm trying to retain my sense of sanity from all the wanton destruction of things we value but feel powerless to do anything about. It's never too late to care and reject the pulling tides of idiocracy.

Here's my letter of the day:



Good people of Wakefield are outside at Lac Brown every day now from 5:30 am all this week, to all-night long now. We are together, in the cold, in the trees, at the heart of life, culture and beauty. We are people who know that we don't what what we are getting from the global business-owned-state regime. We get massive, unpredictable, unreliable and outdated trails of wreckage of the good life. The movements for change that are rising fast today are movements of sense, of restoration, recovery, reconciliation and truth. That is the change back to wellness and quality of life and environment that we desire for our children. We are taking the high road for a better road plan.

The writing is on the wall for this region unless protest is finally successful. We have witness another takeover and makeover of NCC-Ottawa Valley-Algonquin land from Orleans, to Kanata, Ottawa South, to boxstore central in Carleton Place. We have witnessed this despite a land claim and before we have been allowed the opportunity to reconcile and listen to the truth about Canada and her past from first nations.

Instead we are marching ahead with maladaptive destruction of beautiful, creative, rural, sustainable land and culture to give it over to suburban sprawl. A change from the good life to worse and worse job satisfaction, higher and higher stress-disability claims, and yet worse income to quality of life ratios for anyone who has fallen out or never made it into the public service and high tech. Traditional Ottawa industries are demoralizing, shrinking and turning everyone into an unhealthy person first and then if lucky, a freedom-loving freelancer still struggling and angry half the time. Serving all of us are the service industry who goes without benefits, job security or good income, and still we want them to smile when we're angry. Artists and art entrepreneurs are cropping up everywhere, freelancing as consultants or working in the service industry to get by. That's why there is immigration to Wakefield of people who like the people that are here already, a move home to a slow pace of life and social time.

Like many of the towns in the region we are proud of our distinct character. Wakefield is progressive rural creative capital. Many Wakefielders are here because we reject the death march of the droning mainstream and together we are book-smart, heart-smart, woods-wise, hard-working, bilingual, autonomous and produce the full spectrum of the Arts. We are the Black Sheep of the Valley, Rivers and Hills. We build our own houses. Some of us build passive solar recycled straw bale genius houses. We are not powerless or foolish. We kick ass.

Idiocracy is coming and landing flat on top of in the form of a badly designed highway extension. It predicts the inevitable multiplication of boxtstores, car lots, Timmy's and gas stations (one would be enough). Just look everywhere in this region where the cause has been pushed back, and where wetlands, trees, birds and their supporters were scoffed at by savvy suits with dollars in their hands, and the devil in their brain. They extend a golden handshake to hapless and demoralized municipalities and use their business school manners to butter-up elected officials look good if they cooperate. What happens? Eventually even the locals scoff at the dirty, grimy tree-hugger as the realist is then labeled, and tell him to clear off! The culture is lost, people move away, many get stuck in suburbia, with better times forgotten and remembered. If that is that - more cynical tears, less friendly beers. We will sit on plastic Timmy's benches instead of Molo furniture, and we will stop talking to neighbours.

The tragic short-sighted sellout and false message that the battle is a lost cause are more government and big business lies. It depends on YOU and I. That is why I at A5X I protest submarginal development plans hoisted on a people who have all the tools to create better given the chance. This plan is pushy, faulty and divisive just like colonialism - straight through what is sacred, and creating conflict of interests between the good people who want a good road, and the good people who want a better road.

People with different economic and values interests here are all good and can win-win together. This particular style of development is bad, not all development is. This should not be a place of divide and rule. This is Wakefield and we are wiser than all that. Come and do ceremony here at Lac Brown on Saturday, or just visit anytime with an attitude of respect for the land and all her people, speak with the knowledgeable and hearty. Maybe we can find out what kind of Tree Wakefield is? What kind of roots we can lay down here together?

The Price of Living is Eternal Vigilance

I heard the heavy machinery rolling into the Brown's lake parking lot yesterday and decided to take a gander. All I witnessed was some guy in a digger eating his lunch while the behemoth machine sat idling. So I walked down to the lake thinking it might be the last time I could enjoy the silence that nature intended. I watched a woodpecker flittering around trying to find a snack on parasites living in the trees. For some reason, I felt sorry for the woodpecker, maybe because it reminded me of us?
Like many others, I have lent support in peaceful protests, making up slogans and posters that read: "Save the Pines - Redesign" but I must admit I don't know what to do anymore except wring my hands.
The weight of the bulldozer of change cannot be easily shifted, yet I refuse to accept defeat. It is somehow personal. A common question I hear from people is "I care deeply for the environment, but what's the best way for little me to make a difference? Years ago, I coined a trite little aphorism: "making a difference by avoiding indifference". My then girlfriend loved this but doesn't give a shit whether I live or die anymore. Yes, life can be harsh and cruel, mostly confusing.  Confusing because we constantly change our mind on everything simple and sacred. An example of this comes from a dear friend of mine, who recently told me it was a waste of time for protesters to fight the current A5X design because it was a done deal and there were better things to do. I could never discourage someone from taking on a noble cause, no matter how silly or insignificant their actions may turn out. I'm beginning to wonder if that's true or if we're all a bunch of lazy cop outs? The verdict is out on this, just as it is for the human race; but the evidence does not look good...

Here's the letter of the day:


As you are aware, our Wakefield has an emergency fund that village members contribute to to help out members of our community when they are in financial need. People, including me, who contribute to this fund do not ask what the money is going for. We just know that it is going for the betterment of our village, of people in our village who are in need of help. When we help out these people, we do not ask why the recipients of this fund are in this situation, we just act for their betterment and trust the judgment of our fellow citizens who are running the fund.


And so to it is for me with the A5X protesters. Perhaps they are not in financial need but they too are faced with a severe problem and are in need of our support. And, just as with the Emergency Fund, I think it is my duty, our duty, to act in their behalf.

I think that most members of our Village,like me, are concerned about global and local environmental degradation but feel powerless to act and, in some cases, have justified their inaction by making up reasons for their inaction. As I understand it, what the protesters are arguing is that the A5X is being built without sufficient public consultation and that there are feasible, more environmentally friendly, alternatives to the presently planned destructive swath. I may not know all the nuances of the arguments that are going on, but, based on my experience, I am sure that there is much more than a grain of truth in the protesters concerns. For this reason I support their plans and actions for bringing these concerns to the attention of our Village and the builders of A5X. I think you should support the A5X activists too.-The Price of Wakefield is Eternal Vigilance

In memory of Bety

Bety was our driver last winter on my trip to Guatemala to help build cook stoves. Man was she a good driver, she had a wonderful smile and laugh. The new President of Guatemala has promised an iron fist response to such crime and senseless brutality. Let's hope he's successful and gets the real criminals and Guatemala's beautiful flower is not wilted by the senseless murdering of courageous women like Bety.
Andre


From Tom Clarke - Guatemala stove project

I am very sorry to be telling this horrible story but feel you all should know.

When Jose picked me up at the airport today he let me know the terrible news that Bety has been killed.

On Tuesday morning at about 8 am, Bety, Daniel, and a friend were walking in front of COFA in Zona 3 (close to CEDEC's office)

when three armed robbers held them up and stole their money. As they were leaving Betty said I will recognize your face.

One of the men turned around and shot Betty twice in the head and she died within ten minutes. Her funeral was today in Cantel.

Betty who was 25 years old, leaves behind her two year old son, Alan David and her 5 month old daughter, Daniela Jazmin, her husband Daniel, her mother and her two brothers.

She has worked for CEDEC for the last five years, often as a driver. She was well known for her wonderful smile.

Jose is going to arrange that we have a police car escort us to and from San Francisco el Alto where we will be building stoves.

Jose says the volunteers should avoid using the bank machines in the Parque Central, we will take everyone to the ATM at Hyper Pais.

I think we should hold a memorial service in her memory once the volunteers are together in Xela. Tom.

NIMBY Wakefield Blues?

Ah yes, who can forget the main "platform" that got our local candlemaker in as our councillor. I bet he misses making candles, playing hacky sack and volleyball... I wish you good luck my friend, you're going to need it!

"I would like to applaud Councillor Louis' goals for the remainder of his tenure. While I am not from his ward, I appreciate his desire to do good work.


The boardwalk along the waterfront and making the river more accessible are greatly needed. My question is though, how feasible will this be if there is a sh!t factory only a few miles up stream?

The river is just as, if not more so, important to the livelihood of Wakefield as it is to Alcove and Farrellton. If the river becomes polluted people will be forced to stop using it. I think this would be a grave travesty on our parts to allow this to happen. I feel Wakefield businesses are really going to have to work at making Wakefield a tourist attraction. The name of Wakefield needs to be fought for. The town, its beautification, its businesses, need to become a high priority. We can get bogged down with the small picture items, or we can focus our energies on the BIG ones. The septic treatment lagoons proposed for Farrellton is a HUGE issue. We cannot forget this. Please get informed. Get involved. Savethegatineau.com"  (anonymous)

NIMBY Highway blues

Here's my pick of the day for a reasonable perspective that sees through the trees of the NIMBY equation...




I'm pretty sure that the 'Tree Huggers' are not trying to stop the


highway. We all want to arrive safely. I can guarantee that there

isn't a single 'Tree Hugger' who does not share this sentiment.

The people who are protesting the project are trying to delay the tree

cutting until it is absolutely necessary - government has delayed the

highway project before. Who knows what the future holds? So let's not

cut the trees until the project is a definitely going through... until

it's weeks not years away. Remember what happened in the Meech Creek

Valley when all the farmers were expropriated because they were going

to build a zoo? That was in the 1970's and there is still no 'zoo'

Additionally, from what I understand the 'Tree Huggers' were trying to

convince those in power that we don't necessarily need such a GIGANTIC

clover leaf just outside Wakefield. Those making the decisions stand

to make a great deal of money or gain influence through executing this

project. There is the issue of the mega dump and proposed sewage

treatment plant. Are these the REAL reasons why we need such a huge

cloverleaf - so more big trucks can move more quickly through our

beautiful hills? Please don't be naive enough to believe everything

the 'experts' tell you. Just coz they're are the ones making these

decisions doesn't mean they have OUR best interests at heart. It

doesn't even mean, in my opinion, that they are trying to save lives.

And they sure haven't got a track record of giving a rat's ass about

the environment.

Regardless, how about just slowing down and driving the actual speed

limit? How about practicing mindfulness while driving? How about

asking the experts and politicians that this be enforced? Anytime MY

life has been jeopardized on that highway it's been because someone is

following too close, passing in a stupid place and/or driving too

fast. Yes, I know the truckers are on a clock; people have to get to

work in the city; skiers have to make it to the hill by opening;

cottagers have to get home to Ottawa on Sunday night.....

At what cost?

NIMBY Low Down Blues

OK, here's my pick of the day. Many people out here have more courage than I - daring to speak out about things and decisions taken that are based on faulty thinking or information, and continue to be staunchly defended like a bone...

"Me too! I wanna know why these anonymous peoples are asking for a gym in the Community Centre, a space for their children to throw a ball around, a loaded full on Gymnasium where teenagers could throw some hoops. The nerve!


Hel-lo? where have YOU been during the last 7 years of P l a n n i n g

Who do they think they are anyways- casting such a sour note into a brand New Year.

As for the organizers of the Project- a tad defensive don't you think- didn't you know that along with every architectural erection comes architectural criticism???

Where were all these Complainers when Exhibits of 'The Alternative Plan' were being aired to the Public, the Design which put Children and Senior's as the most important Clients of a Community- the rest of us facilitating their needs?Hmmm????

Good Architecture lasts the test of time and re-appropriates itself to other uses. Too bad the way Buildings are built these days- they barely make it through to the giant mortgage 25 years from now.

Buildings of wood and plaster and fitness fads come and go but Mountains don't. The REAL ca-tas-trophe is waiting up top. A rethink for the design of the interchange and a re-route is a last chance to save the Brown's Lake Access and OUR Geography.

The recent statistics posted by the Surete are once again testament to Man's behaviour behind the wheel and more lanes will not end the black ice, liquored-up AH's and reckless youth- not to mention mistakes made by old men in Hats and women with cigarettes.

If you wish the new highway is some kind of emblem of progress and prosperity- you should have lived in Sherbrooke or Trois Rivieres in the 1950's in a pumped-up post war economy because THAT is the aesthetic. It is Wakefield 2012 and the Mountain in a Land of Zen cannot be re-assembled. As a wise sometime Wakefield Plumber once reminded me: "People don't like to admit when they're wrong".

This time they've really got it all wrong.

NIMBY Blues - IS possible to save lives AND trees?

IS possible to save lives AND trees. It is not an either OR situation.


It is possible to have safe roads AND protect majestic old growth for future generations. It IS doable. The call is to RETHINK a DECADES OLD plan. Would you want to have a medical procedure that was designed in the 80s?

The idea is simply to WAIT on the clear cut: use the time wisely... Wait till the Chelsea part is finished (8-12 months) before clear cutting the Wakefield section. Hopefully a solution can be found. Please consider the thinking and info at http://www.a5x.org This growing group is aimed at helping, AND there IS TIME. Hope is a good thing! Respectfully

-or shall i say 'reality'...some need to have a 'reality-bite'....-re.posted #18 about... 'jealousy on my part!...yikes....and TO... BILL R. POSTED #20-your 'plain ignorance is outstanding'----not proved to be 'man-made' are YOU OUT OF YOUR SKULL-OBVIOUSLY YOUR GOD MADE YOUR BOEINGS AND THE JET FUEL TO RUN THEM...-IF YOU'D JUST CHECK INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC -& 'DO THE MATH'-i'd think there is... no need for further scientific research for your part...sincerely

Today's winners and whiners...

Low Down Nimby Blues

I've decided that the real education - the real environmental story concerning Wakefield is what people have the courage to put up their two cents. So, for a while, I will profile a few of these stories that hopefully provide some insights into environmental issues of the day concerning Wakefield and the world...

Ilike this one, so honest and so clued out, this is what it's all about eh?


AIR-POLLUTION...-MY CONCERN...-it seems that ALL THE BLAME FOR AIR QUALITY IS GOING TO THE WRONG PLACES...LOOK UP!!!-our skies-the 'whole wide world' is at any given time-full of planes-60,000 - over NORTH AMERICA..IN 24 HRS.....149,854,347 TOTAL FLTS. IN DATABASE...thats 149 MILLION!!!---------REALLY! WE CERTAINLY HAVE OUR HEADS IN THE SAND...ARE LITERALLY HEADING FOR THIS...SAND-DESERTS-EVERYWHERE!!!...I have clear sights to the skies and the plumes of fuels are CLEARLY SEEN!!!-...I am in shocked how much of these deadly fumes are spewing into my atmosphere-OUR ATMOSPHERE !!!-AND FALLING ON US...every minute!!!!...I CAN CLEARLY SEE HOW THIS WOULD AFFECT OUR VERY EXISTENCE!!!-...does anybody else..cuz i do not hear any concern or REAL AWARENESS TO THIS DANGER THAT SEEMS TO BE INVISIBLE TO US...THE 'SMOKE SCREEN' IS WORKING!-...THE TALK OF 'CON-TRAILS' -ANOTHER 'REALITY' TOO SCARY FOR SOME-OVERWHELMING TO OTHERS-ANOTHER 'CONSPIRACY THEORY'-MET WITH SILENCE... THIS IS 'SECONDARY' PLIGHTS TO THE FLIGHTS- I BRING UP...THE MAIN ISSUE-TOO MUCH TOXIC FUELAGE EXHAUST...EVERY SECOND EVERY MINUTE EVERY HOUR EVERY DAY- ALL THE TIME!!!...AND WE STILL WONDER WHY WE ARE GOING TO 'ELL IN A HAND BASKET?!?...-----MY account is first hand observation..driving all over this continent for the last few years-i am whitness to the climate changes that are rapidly excelerating-beyond comprehension-changes beyond my imagination-from the same travels i have journeyed over the course my life time... sincerely