I am a septuagenarian nature lover and, like many of my fellow citizens of all ages, I like to stroll in ecological parks, which makes me, in the eyes of the Laval authorities, a pure delinquent. Under the pretext of wanting to preserve tranquility, the City of Laval saw fit to vote in May 2003 by-law L-10519, which decrees that it is prohibited to loiter under penalty of a fine of $50. We are reminded of this regulation insistently at the entrance to Bois de l’Équerre and other city parks. In the text of its regulations, the City of Laval defines “strolling” in these words: “to walk, wander or find yourself in a place, aimlessly, at random”.
But strolling is much more than that. In a broadcast of Green week, journalist Carine Monat praises it: “Strolling under trees or on a park bench is beneficial for physical and psychological health, as Indigenous people have known for millennia. To reconnect with nature, people go so far as to take “forest baths”. This practice has been recognized since the 1980s in Japan as preventive medicine. In Canada, health professionals now have the right to prescribe time in kind. »
In the same regulation, article 3 stipulates that it is prohibited to organize a gathering of two or more people or to participate in it in any way, which is contrary to the fundamental and legitimate right to socialize or demonstrate, also both our joy and our disagreement, in a democratic society. Thus, it is theoretically forbidden to organize a family picnic or between friends on the tables provided by the City, although I am convinced that there is, in the mind of the legislator, a certain targeting left to the discretion of the police which leaves souls of good will in peace.
And that’s not all, the City has entrusted its natural parks to the Canopée network, which adds more with its own restrictions. Firstly, it prohibits free movement in the forest, theoretically to protect the flora, which is questionable since it is the repeated trampling of many people in the same place which can have a negative effect on the roots of plants in the long term. . “Repeated” is the word that Canopée did not want to retain. It is not the occasional passage of rare people in search of knowledge or driven by curiosity that can have a negative effect on the forest. Plants are much more resilient than you imagine.
To top it all off, the picking of mushrooms or any other biomass is subject to a formal ban on the part of Canopée, whether it is to study them to better understand the fungus of Quebec or to pick them in small quantity for a family dining experience. I understand very well that we must protect ourselves from the abuses of the marketing of wild mushrooms, but there is a margin between a citizen who wants to reconnect with nature and one who wants to make it a business.
In June 2023, I began a process to obtain special permission from Canopée for a single day to study and inventory mushrooms, on behalf of the Cercle des mycologues de Montréal, a renowned organization in mycology. It was refused to me on the pretext that it would set a bad example for people who travel on the trails.
Gentlemen of the Green Police, I would like to point out to you that we cannot protect what we do not know. Following this refusal, I contacted your environment department and I received great open-mindedness from one of your employees. We even considered a meeting with your department to discuss the terms of a possible agreement, but it seems that a person in a position of authority intervened to put the kibosh on it.
In your capacity as mayor, I would like to remind you, Mr. Stéphane Boyer, that you and your team are the elected officials and not the Canopée organization. Theoretically, the only thing allowed in Laval’s nature parks would be to stroll along the trails, but unfortunately, we cannot do that too. Mr. Mayor, I therefore ask you to take the time to think about all this and to give back our living space, at least to those who only want to help you get to know your natural environments better.
* Co-signed this letter: Éric Parent, Fabreville; Ludmila Sonic, Laval; Richard Hébert, Paton Island; Marie-Chantale Nolet, Vieux-Sainte-Rose; Mikaël Berthelot, Vieux-Sainte-Rose; Philippe Weltz, Laval-des-Rapides/Marigot.