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| The Kipawa Rally is back! |
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| The 2011 Kipawa Rally will be held on June 24, 25 and 26 in Laniel (Quebec) | |
| Click here to check out the Rally page | |
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-----------------------ARCHIVES---------------------
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Kipawa Navigation Rights Case
Heading for the Supreme Court |
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| On November 14, 2008, Les Amis de la Rivière Kipawa filed an application for leave to appeal the Kipawa River navigation rights case to the Supreme Court of Canada. This will be Les Amis' third venture into Canada's complex and costly legal system seeking something very simple—recognition of the right of every Canadian to travel the waterways of this country, and the right to be consulted fairly when those rights need to be impaired or impeded for any reason. The public, common law right of navigation in Canada pre-dates confederation. In fact the public right to navigate public waters dates back to Roman law and is enshrined in the laws of most developed countries. In Canada, the common law right of navigation has specific protection under the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) which became law when Sir John A. MacDonald was Prime Minister of this country. We are asking the Supreme Court to look at his case because we believe it is incredibly important. Lower court rulings on this case have muddied the waters on navigation rights in Canada. We need clean, crystal clear navigation law in Canada. Canadians need to understand where their navigation rights sit in a legal context. We are asking the Supreme Court to clarify navigation law at a time when Canadian rivers are extremely vulnerable to alteration and development. Everywhere we look, rivers are in retreat. A plethora of small, mini and micro hydro projects are under consideration on waterways across the country. No rivers are immune to the pressure of development. By affirming and protecting the common law right of public navigation in Canada, we ensure that development can only occur after careful consideration of the potential impact on the important, heritage right of access and free passage. Canada was discovered, explored and developed through navigation. The canoe is a distinctly Canadian icon. Navigation is part of our heritage. It is part of who we are. |
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22nd Annual Kipawa River Rally
June 21 and 22, 2008 |
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The Kipawa River Rally is Back!
After the troubles with PWGSC that marred our 20th anniversary festival in 2006, and after having to cancel the 21st annual festival in 2007, again because of problems with PWGSC...we are back, and very hopeful that we can once again host a trouble-free community river festival on the Kipawa in 2008. We have been in touch with PWGSC. They have given us some assurance that traditional water levels will be available for the festival and that they will co-operate in making our 22nd annual festival a success. |
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2010 Election of Officers
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| The new executive for Les Amis de la Rivière Kipawa, elected at our 2010 Annual General Meeting June 26 are: | |
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President: Pete Karwacki
Vice-president: Rick Isaacson Treasurer: Francois Diebolt Membership Chair and Secretary: Jean Dominic Mathieu |
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| Directors appointed by the new executive for special projects are: | |
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Director for Temiscamingue Region: Christian Belisle
Kipawa River Rally Co-ordinators: Wayne Donison Tommy Allen Director of River Protection: Doug Skeggs |
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Factum Filed in Federal Court
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| Les Amis de la Rivière Kipawa has launched an appeal of the December 2007 Federal Court decision denying an application for judicial review of the efforts by Public Works and Government Services Canada and Transport Canada to arbitrarily, without consultation, eliminate historic navigation rights on the Kipawa River.
We filed our memorandum of fact and law (factum) Monday April 21, 2008. For more information and for a copy of the factum and other documents filed with the Federal Court, visit our navigation rights page. |
