This summer, The duty crosses the waters of the St. Lawrence River, this giant “almost ocean, almost Atlantic” that Charlebois sings, and its surroundings in order to feed a series. Today, we observe it from the position of the resident. A precious privilege, which comes with important duties.
Formerly a route of exploration, then a vector of economic development along which our cities were built, the St. Lawrence River is one of the central elements that built Quebec. It is part of our identity and many of us live near it. But many questions remain unanswered: are we really giving it the place it deserves? Are we taking advantage of all the possibilities it offers us? Are we protecting it enough?
Inaccessible, polluted or denatured for the benefit of unbridled urbanization, the St. Lawrence River seems to have lost its letters of nobility in the collective imagination. By its preponderance on the territory and the shared desire to access it, it nevertheless offers many possibilities, which are still under-exploited.
While space pooling projects have been pouring in in recent years (pedestrianization of arteries, installation of street furniture, creation of ephemeral and transitory projects in abandoned spaces), proving our collective desire to appropriate our environment, couldn’t the river and its banks, in turn, become fertile ground for the development of this type of initiative?
The Bathing People’s Society
We have to go back to the 1980s to observe the first signs of citizen mobilization in favor of reclaiming the shores of the St. Lawrence. We then dream of a beach at Bassin Louise, in the port area of Quebec City. Projects follow one another, occasionally receiving approval from certain levels of government, but never leading to concrete construction.
In 1996, about thirty people bathed illegally in the waters of the Louise Basin. A few hours after this act of protest, the words that will become the declaration of the Société des gens de bain will be laid down on a paper doily, in a pub located near the basin. The mobilization is organized and brings together citizens of Quebec, including Léonce Naud, geographer, and Michel Beaulieu, the spokesperson for this group. The objective: to have access for swimming in the Port of Québec.
It was then that the dream of a beach continued and was defended with various political authorities. In the early 2000s, the 400e anniversary of the city of Quebec becomes a pretext to breathe new life into this project, but this citizen mobilization finds itself with lead in the wing when a conservative government takes power in 2006. It will then be necessary to wait more than a decade before the project regained momentum and fire and passion fueled this initiative again.
It was finally this year, in July, that the dream of bathing in the waters of the St. Lawrence River was made possible, with the inauguration of a harbor bath in Louise Basin. Inspired by a similar project in Copenhagen, Denmark, the facility, equivalent to an Olympic swimming pool 50 meters long, will accommodate 300 bathers.
Reclaiming our shores
We must multiply this type of initiative in the most urbanized part of our magnificent river, between Quebec and Montreal, and be attentive to the demands of the residents. The more of this type of initiative there is along the river, the more people will be aware of the protection and preservation of this majestic waterway that crosses Quebec. Developing the shores to make them accessible to the population and allowing leisure, sports or educational activities to be held there helps to recreate a strong link between people and water, at a time when the preservation of this resource is a major issue and where concrete actions must be taken in this direction.
But how do we ensure that shoreline development is beneficial to both society and the environment? The cooperative The Committee reiterates: decision-makers and promoters must think about projects collectively, by mobilizing the various sections of the community upstream: citizen groups, NPOs, local authorities, universities, schools, cultural, artistic, and even the industrial. What is needed are more projects and more listening to the various citizen groups working to rehabilitate the shores of the St. Lawrence.
Let’s slowly reconstruct the imagination of the river by drawing inspiration from the ardor, but also from the patience of the members of the Société des gens de bain, who jumped into the water at the end of the 1990s, who dared to be brave by saying aloud what the others were thinking quietly: “Let us enjoy our river! » Long life to those for whom the dream is a raison d’être.