Riverkeeper Considers Legal Challenge to Save the Petitcodiac River

(Moncton - September 26, 2001) - "Ottawa and Fredericton are leaving us with no other choice than to reactivate our legal challenge in order to bring them into delivering the promised EIA project to restore the Petitcodiac River." These are the terms used by Petitcodiac Riverkeeper Daniel LeBlanc this morning as he met the media for a news brief.

Seven and a half months after Eugene Niles submitted his Final Report to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans recommending that "the federal and provincial governments proceed expeditiously with a joint federal-provincial EIA project based on replacing the causeway with a partial bridge in order to restore fish passage in the Petitcodiac River", nothing has happened. The Petitcodiac Riverkeeper is now putting into question the commitment of the elected officials at the federal and provincial levels who promised results for the Petitcodiac after the Niles Review. "You are either truly committed to beginning the project or you are not" said LeBlanc.

A letter sent yesterday by the Petitcodiac Riverkeeper to the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Herb Dhaliwal, stated the following:

"Our understanding from our discussions with your Executive Assistant Kevin Fram, Federal Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw, MP Dominic LeBlanc and Deputy Minister Byron James of the New Brunswick Department of the Environment and Local Government was that the project would begin this summer. With only a few weeks remaining before the field season ends, we are now faced with the real probability of the year 2001 going by without any field work having been done, no experimental openings nor any real progress made towards protecting or helping out the Petitcodiac River and its severally decimated fish stocks."

"(?) My Board of Directors has therefore asked me to inform you that we are now reactivating our organisational focus on the legal challenge with the intention of commencing action against you, the Government of Canada, to achieve the objectives of restoring fish passage and fish habitat in the Petitcodiac River, as the solution clearly known to your Department and recently confirmed in the Niles Review. The absence of any evidence from your Department or the Province to follow through with the recommendations of theNiles Review leaves us with no other recourse than to pursue this course of action."

In this early Fall of 2001, the Petitcodiac River is in its worst shape ever. The accumulation of silt in the Moncton area is now so severe (approximately 8 metres out of a 9 metres deep river - between 95 and 99 percent of the river is filled) as to impede fish passage by itself, the tidal bore and the tide which is not expected to reach the causeway in the coming days.

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INFORMATION :

Daniel LeBlanc (506) 388-5337
www.petitcodiac.org