{"id":17495,"date":"2016-07-19T10:03:18","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T14:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=17495"},"modified":"2020-03-26T03:57:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T07:57:04","slug":"the-seaway-and-kouchibouguac-parks-displacing-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2016\/07\/19\/the-seaway-and-kouchibouguac-parks-displacing-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The Seaway and Kouchibouguac: parks displacing people"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Late<\/a>

Late in the day at the mouth of the Kouchibouguac River. Loggiecroft wharf is located on the other side. Photo by James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

Have you ever gone somewhere and felt like you were invading someone else\u2019s home?\u00a0 I get that feeling when I visit the parks on either side of the St. Lawrence River between the Ogdensburg Bridge and Cornwall\/Akwesasne.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Thousands of acres of farmland, along with homes, and entire villages were lost to flooding from the construction of the Seaway in the 1950s. Recently, when I visited Kouchibouguac (pronounced \u201ckoo-she-boo-gwack\u201d) National Park, on the Northumberland Strait coast in New Brunswick, I saw the same thing happened there but, unlike the Seaway which tamed and altered nature, the park was created to preserve it.<\/p>\n

The 92 square mile\/238 square kilometer park was created in 1969 to protect sand dunes, barrier islands, salt marshes, and coastal forests.\u00a0 Moose, black bear, and endangered shore birds inhabit the park.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A heron atop a spruce tree in Kouchibouguac National Park. Photo by James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

There was an economic and political agenda too.\u00a0 The park contained some of the most impoverished communities in New Brunswick.\u00a0 Officials thought the mostly French-speaking Acadian residents would benefit from relocating.\u00a0 For many, the relocation was compared to the expulsion of the Acadians by the British government in 1755.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, compensation offered for lost property was half of the market value in some cases.\u00a0 Farmers lost their land, fishermen lost their boats and licenses.\u00a0 Some fishermen ignored the closure of their wharves and used them anyway.\u00a0 One resident, Jackie Vautour, was repeatedly evicted from his property and faced legal action.\u00a0 He returned in 1978 and has quietly squatted in the park ever since.\u00a0 In total, seven small communities and 1,200 people were affected.<\/p>\n

\"Sand<\/a>

Sand and surf at Kellys Beach in Kouchibouguac National Park. Photo by James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

Parks Canada has done a better job in recent years at admitting the displacement was a mistake. There\u2019s a display at the visitor center and reunions of former park residents are held. \u00a0Residents of new national parks no longer have to relocate if they live inside park\u00a0 boundaries.<\/p>\n

The parks on both sides of the St. Lawrence Seaway were a by-product of the big canal and power project.\u00a0 Officials thought places like Upper Canada Village, the Long Sault Parkway, and Robert Moses State Park would bring in tourists.\u00a0 A 1960 history of Ontario Hydro talks about making the Ontario riverbank \u201ca playground.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget though that the buildings at Upper Canada Village are all from the Ontario villages inundated by the seaway in 1958.\u00a0

\"The<\/a>

The boardwalk to Kellys Beach crosses tidal pools and salt marsh to connect with a larger barrier dune system. Photo by James Morgan<\/p><\/div> Now we pay to walk through them and see how people lived in the 1860s.\u00a0 Campers on Barnhart Island and the Long Sault Islands set up tents and trailers each summer in former orchards and pastures.\u00a0 While this is going on, hikers and campers at Kouchibouguac National Park are vacationing on the land and sea that once provided a livelihood for the former Acadian residents.<\/p>\n

Parks generally exist to preserve nature and history.\u00a0 When we visit them, we\u2019re always reminded to treat the surroundings with respect.\u00a0 Parks like Kouchibouguac and those along the seaway command an extra amount of respect because our enjoyment of them is at the expense of those who used to call them home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever gone somewhere and felt like you were invading someone else\u2019s home?\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17495"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22061,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17495\/revisions\/22061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}