Chris Scott on his run, the highway stretching out before him...

(Sept. 14th) Participants in the “Run for our Rivers” marathon have
covered 250 kilometers in five short days, relaying our important
environmental message from Matagami to Amos and Val d’Or.

Since the start of our journey on September 9th, we have been
following highways 109 and 111 past hills, lakes and boreal forest,
sharing perspectives with curious drivers, and with the general public
who have come out to attend our information sessions on the Rupert and
Romaine and other rivers.

Alliance Romaine is carrying a letter written by a Cree social worker
from Nemaska to describe the social trauma that has been occasioned by
four decades of unwanted hydro-electric development, and the
accompanying loss of trapland, on Cree territory.

In a public address delivered at the Aquarium Café in Amos, Alliance
Romaine runner and spokesperson Chris Scott emphasized that
free-flowing rivers are indispensable for healthy economies.

“Wild rivers irrigate our forests and provide nutrients to our
fisheries,” summarizes Mr. Scott. “They are the guarantors of jobs in
the silviculture and ecotourism and fishing sectors that are
threatened every time we destroy territory by building another
large-scale dam”.

Runner Nick Annejohn handing off the baton to Christopher Adlam and Rosemary Roberts, about to set off walking from La Corne to Val d'Or

Over the next five weeks, Alliance Romaine will be crossing Quebec to
demand a moratorium on large-scale hydroelectric development and to
promote investment in energy alternatives. We intend to use this
campaign to push for full protected status for the beautiful Romaine
River, located on the Lower North Shore, and also to stress the need
for a reform of the province’s environmental review process,
particularly the BAPE (Bureau des Audiences Publiques en
Environnement).

Alliance Romaine would like to take the opportunity to thank all those
people who have billeted us, financially helped us, participated in
our discussions, run, or supported us in some other way! Especial
thanks are due to the Native Friendship Centre in Val d’Or for their
warm welcome. We would also like to offer a word of gratitude for the
spectacular landscapes, clear autumn days and warm, star-studded
nights that have graced our trip so far!

Hoping to report back soon,
The marathon team,
For Alliance Romaine

Freddy Jolly hands off the baton, with message enclosed, to first runner Steve Leckman at the start of the marathon

(Sept. 9th) Alliance Romaine’s “Run for our Rivers” campaign kicked off in style Wednesday morning outside Matagami. A group of sympathizers from the Abitibi and James Bay Regions accompanied runner Steve Leckman to the junction of Highway 109, where Cree trapper Freddy Jolly offered a brief prayer before walking with us for the first kilometer. Our spirits were buoyed by the superbly blue September sky and the encouraging toots of passing vehicles as we followed Steve’s seemingly effortless stride for 42 kilometers along the road that stretches south to Amos.

Steve Leckman is the first in a chain of volunteer runners who will be
carrying a message from Freddy Jolly’s home town of Nemaska, located
near the soon-to-be-diverted Rupert River, north of Matagami. Cree
hunters who depend on the land for much of their food and livelihood
will be negatively impacted by the flooding of a wide tract of forest
once Hydro Quebec closes the gate at the Rupert diversion site later
this  fall.

Alliance Romaine has accepted the responsibility of relaying the
letter from Nemaska because we are aware of the threat that planned
hydroelectric projects comparable to the Rupert diversion pose to our
remaining free-flowing rivers across the province. Alliance Romaine
recognizes that large-scale hydroelectric dams are not green energy,
because they inflict severe and long-lasting harm on our forests,
watersheds, and commercial fisheries. As we carry this letter all the
way to the Romaine River, on the Lower North Shore, we will be urging
Quebecers to take a step back and realize that virtually all the large
rivers we will be passing along our 2000-kilometer route have already
been dammed.

As environmentalists, paddlers and activists we stand for the
protection of Quebec’s remaining free-flowing rivers, including the
Romaine. We will be using the opportunity created by this marathon
campaign to demand a re-thinking of Quebec’s energy strategy, and a
democratization of the relevant public consultation processes,  such
as the BAPE (Bureau des audiences publiques en environnement).

The relay which began Wednesday continues throughout the week, with
stops and public meetings scheduled in Amos (Sept. 12th, 8PM Aquarium
Café), and Val d’Or (Sept. 13th, 7:30 PM, Native Friendship Centre).

Alliance Romaine is counting on the financial and logistical aid of
sympathizers from across Quebec to help guarantee the continued
success of our run. If you would like to make a donation, or assist in
some other way, please write to us at info@allianceromaine.org

Thank you so much!

For the love of our rivers!
The Alliance Romaine marathon team
on the road

The Run for our Rivers marathon officially kicked off in Matagami on September 9th, with Steve Leckman of Alliance Romaine as the first runner. Keep checking back for updates from the road!

Steve Leckman, Chris Scott and Freddy Jolly in Matagami at the start of the marathon

Coming this fall..
The Fifty Marathons Campaign
Run for our Rivers

As a cornerstone of our political strategy, Alliance Romaine is launching an ambitious marathon campaign designed to physically and figuratively connect the fates of two separate rivers.

Starting in early September, a team of volunteer athletes will run 42-kilometer relays on a route stretching from James Bay to the Lower North Shore.

The event will kick off at the spectacular Oatmeal Rapids, where the historic and soon-to-be diverted Rupert River crosses the James Bay Highway.

Embodying the traditional role of runner as messenger, the marathoners will transmit the experiences and disappointments of the James Bay Cree communities which have been impacted by forty years of aggressive hydroelectric development on their lands. As we run through the communities of southern and eastern Quebec, we will showcase the struggles of local activists who have fought to protect wild rivers including the Dumoine, the Magpie and the Moisie. We will hold seminars and public presentations to discuss energy strategy, and we will expose the cumulative loss to biodiversity, fisheries, and recreational and cultural values that is occasioned by a policy that involves damming the majority of Quebec’s large rivers.

Divided into a set of approximately fifty marathons, the event will span two thousand kilometers, and last five weeks, before concluding on traditional Innu territory at the spot where the now-threatened Romaine River flows into the St. Lawrence.

This campaign’s aim is to mobilize and give a voice to the large numbers of Quebecers who believe that our rivers should be valued as something more than potential treadmills to produce cheap energy.

Our demands:
1. A halt to the recently-initiated hydroelectric project on the Romaine River
2. A moratorium on hydroelectric dam development, including the Little Mecatina
3. Protected status for the full length of the Romaine River
4. Good-faith land title negotiations with First Nations
5. Adopt a conservation based energy strategy with full public accountability
6. End energy subsidies to big business
7. A system of government grants and incentives to support small-scale renewable energies

Recently the French writer and Nobel laureate, Le Clézio, denounced plans to dam the Romaine River in an article published in the French daily Le Monde.  The article sparked this reaction from Jean Charest, as quoted in the Gazette…