Friends of the Rideau expressed their concern about the condition of the canal in a letter in November 2015 stating that “Parks Canada has been subject to major budget cuts in recent years that the organization has been left significantly constrained in its capacity to fulfil its heritage protection, preservations and presentation mandates.”
Friends of the Rideau, a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization working with Parks Canada to promote awareness about the Rideau Canal, has asked Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to help uphold the canal’s heritage and place in Canada’s history and also help preserve and protect the canal.
The Rideau Canal was constructed after the War of 1812 making a passage between Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River. It was engineered to provide a safe travel route from Montreal to Kingston.
“They wanted to build a military route away from the St. Lawrence River so they could get supplies to Montreal and over to Europe and vice versa,” Robin Etherington, executive director of the Bytown Museum explained. “Now it is a vibrant waterway for pleasure boats. It allows for great tourism in this part of the world,” she added.
The 202-kilometre-long canal was built in the early 19th century and is the only functioning North American “slackwater” canal system along its original routes with most of its structures still intact. It is one of the first canals designed for steam-powered vessels and is technologically outstanding for its time. In 2007 it was name a UNESCO World Heritage Site – like the Pyramids of Egypt – and separates Centretown from Sandy Hill and the Byward Market.
Hunter McGill, chairman of the Friends of the Rideau, said: “The budgets for Parks Canada have to be sufficient in order to maintain the canal. Some of the features of the canal, such as the gates, have to be replaced every 35 years or so, and that is not a cheap replacement.”
“In recent years the budget has been reduced quite a lot and this resulted in longer intervals between important maintenance being done.” Some of the main points of the canal that need to be replenished include the different dams throughout it, the bridges and many of the locks and their systems. McGill said, “Since most of the original infrastructure is still intact it needs to be taken of care of in order to preserve it and the Canadian history,” he added.
Chris Wiebe, manager of heritage policy and government relations at National Trust for Canada, said it’s hard to maintain all of the canal due to its length and the types of land that surround it. “The canal is incredibly diverse, it’s not just the lock stations. I was reading somewhere that it’s made up of 15 per cent wetlands and then 50 per cent farmlands. How do you manage all these different parts?”
Senator Jim Munson of the Ottawa/Rideau Canal designation said, “There’s always a cost of maintaining it.” He said people need to look deeper than just refurbishing the canal, “We should be making it assessable to everyone so they can experience nature, heritage and a waterway.”
Munson said the canal has a lot of economic value for Canada. “Instead of spending millions on television commercials we should be spending the money on the canal and preserving it.”
Parks Canada announced in June 2015 that it would be spending $40 million over the next five years to restore the canal. When the new Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was voted into office and its new officials were appointed, McKenna released a performance report stating the government would continue to invest in national historic sites, national parks and heritage canals.
“The Rideau Canal defines us as a nation just as much as parliament does and to see it decay would be a very sad day,” Munson stated.