file photo
Nathalie Lasselin discovered car windshields hidden in the deep water after just five minutes of scouting the waters around Kahnawake Marina.
This oddity may be just a glimpse of what happens when the Kanawake Environmental Protection Agency (KEPO) conducts its second Tekawita “cleanup operation” on Saturday. Last year’s haul included propellers, bicycles and manholes. cover.
“I can’t imagine what they will discover throughout the event,” said Julie Delisle, KEPO’s Environmental Education Liaison.
All Kahnawa’kehró:non are invited to come to the marina on October 15th to clean up the shoreline from 10am to 2pm and help remove debris from the land and water.
Land volunteers do not need to register in advance. Participants are advised to bring gloves and good shoes. All participants can enter to win eco-friendly prize packs worth over $100.
“I think it’s a really good way for communities to take direct action for the environment and get out there and do their work to help clean up this habitat that we’re here in,” says Derisle. said.
“It’s a never-ending story,” said Russellin, president of Urban Water Odyssey, who coordinates the dive. Last year his team pulled up trash from a section of the island near the bridge, so this year they are targeting a different part of the river.
“The territory is so vast that it would take years to go back there and pick up the trash and debris of the past,” Russellin said.
Kanawake divers can go underwater by registering in advance. “I’m really happy to share the experience with them,” said Russellin. “It’s going to be really, really great.”
Community member Gail Taylor brought her niece the last time she volunteered on land. This year we will continue to bring her niece and teach her about environmental considerations.
She hopes that more people will find out about this year’s event and get involved in volunteering.
“It made me feel happy,” she said. “I think a lot whenever I’m called upon to clean up or help do something in the community.”
Despite being positive about the experience, she is disappointed to see so much trash appearing around the island, including in the water.
“It was disturbing to see how much trash they took out of the bay[last year],” she said.
Last year’s event was part of the ‘Operation Clean-up 360’ initiative by the Group for Recommendations and Actions for a Better Environment (GRAME), an environmental organization based in Lacine.
The organization will be co-hosting again this year. This time it is part of his Allo Ruisseaux project, which focuses primarily on the creeks and streams that flow into the St. Lawrence River.
GRAME Communications Coordinator said: , Sandrine Tessier.
“Since we are just across the river from Kanawake, one of our goals is to have a closer working relationship with KEPO so that we can invest together in more projects in the future. ‘ she said.
For KEPO, the collaboration helps the organization pursue its larger goal of helping Kahnawa’kehró:non connect with and protect the natural world.
“Ensuring a clean environment and clean roads is of course important, but we are facing so much in terms of climate change and world change,” Delisle said.
“It’s a way for us to act responsibly and not just feel like we have no control.”
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