Human beings around the world must deal with immigration and the St. Lawrence wildlife is no different. There are more than a hundred species of fish and close to 2000 marine invertebrates that live in the river. To make things worse, there are no borders on the St. Lawrence. On a regular basis, we learn … Lire plus
Montreal is not the only municipality to have used the St. Lawrence as a garbage dump. Old dumps can be found all along the river. One of my readers commented on one of my blogs. “I spent part of my childhood between Varennes and Vercheres; there was no garbage collection in those days. The river … Lire plus
I was 13 when I began crossing the St. Lawrence to go to downtown Montreal. I was starting high school at Collège Sainte-Marie, an institution run by the Jesuits, located at the corner of de Bleury and Dorchester (now René-Lévesque). We are in 1959, there was no metro and we had to take a bus … Lire plus
For the past few years, politicians, in an attempt to convince us that the St. Lawrence waters are now clean, announce the opening of beaches on its shore. This is way too premature. Beaches are often closed because of the quality of their waters. You are entirely free to go swimming there but I will … Lire plus
A few years ago, when the city of Montreal dumped 8 billion litres of sewage into the St. Lawrence, I read an article that reported that the event would have gone unnoticed had it not been for a nautical association who made the information public. It took a private group to attract the attention of the … Lire plus
On a regular basis I read horror stories about the poor quality of the waters in the St. Lawrence River, stories that should raise the ire of the population but that seem to fail to attract attention. The St. Lawrence is a beautiful river but only on its surface. Its waters are polluted to a … Lire plus
Part #6: CONCLUSION? The coroner then questioned a number of first respondents including Gerard Tobin, the fire chief of the city of Sillery where Bois-de-Coulonge was located. He described some of the difficulties encountered with incompatible fire hydrants, lack of water and low pressure. He admitted, however, that even without these problems, they could not … Lire plus
Part 5: CORROBORATION? The next two witnesses described the circumstances surrounding the finding of the body among the still smoking ruins. Doctor Richard Authier explained that he was called to the site to examine a torso with no arms, no legs and no head. Brian Turpin, the fireman who found the body, went on to explain … Lire plus
Part 4: The CORONER and the WITNESSES. The next step in my search was to obtain a copy of the coroner’s report. After an initial demand at the coroner’s office, I was directed to the Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec and within a few days I received the report, all 300 pages of it. The … Lire plus
Part 3. CAUSES? The state funeral for Paul Comtois was held on Thursday and the press coverage was extensive; hundreds of political personalities were in attendance including Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and opposition leader John Diefenbaker. Most papers reproduced the eulogy of Cardinal Maurice Roy, the Catholic Archbishop of Quebec. Again no mention was made … Lire plus