by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

In July 2001, kayak guide Mikael Rioux helped save a man and three children from drowning in a river. Now Rioux is trying to save a river.

The 26-year-old lifelong resident of Trois-Pistoles, a 315-year-old village of 3,800 on the Lower South Shore, went from hero to refusenik last week when he showed up to accept a provincial heroism award from provincial cabinet minister Rémy Trudel. When it came time for Trudel to present the medal and $500 cheque, Rioux became the first Quebecer to reject such an honour.

“At first Trudel didn’t understand what was going on when I told him I was refusing it,” Rioux says. “He said, ‘Take it and we’ll discuss it later.’ Then I stepped up and said that I can’t accept this award in the name of democracy. I said that those of us living on the river’s edge have been trying to have our opposition to the mini-hydro plants heard for 30 years, but nobody has listened to our objections.”

Rioux opposes Hydro-Québec’s construction of dozens of mini-turbines on rivers throughout the picturesque countryside, particularly one being contracted to businessman Jean-Marc Carpentier. Carpentier signed a 50-year deal to run a turbine that would produce 3.5 megawatts. Hydro-Québec’s existing dams generate around 37,000 megawatts. Rioux believes there’s no economic justification to harness the Trois-Pistoles River.

“Hydro says we’re going to need more electricity, but Quebecers have actually been consuming less in recent years because of the mild winters,” he says.

In the last few years, Hydro’s habit of sprinkling new turbines on small rivers has met with opposition from environmentalists and nature lovers. Rioux notes that in the northeast U.S., authorities are dismantling similar plants, which they consider inefficient eyesores.

“Here, the government is still building them while defending the right of businessmen to destroy the environment and steal our children’s right to a pleasant environment,” Rioux complains.

Municipal authorities approved the Trois-Pistoles project without holding public consultations, while Hydro habitually avoids environmental impact hearings by subcontracting the work to private developers.

“The deal here has the developer paying the town $25,000 a year to run the thing for 50 years,” Rioux says. “That’s like giving a case of beer to each village resident per year in return for ruining their river.”

Three waterfalls will be sacrificed for the project, which also calls for the diversion of what Rioux calls “the prettiest section of the river.”

“If you kayak down there in the springtime it’s incredible. Once you go down this river on a kayak, then you start respecting it. The developer should consider doing it,” says Rioux.

“We’re in favour of promoting eco-tourism. There’s magnificent stuff up here, the mountain biking is incredible, there’s whale-spotting in nearby Tadoussac,” says Rioux, who further states that the power plant won’t bring jobs to the area and won’t do anything to stem the tide that has seen the population of small towns diminish in recent years. “We want to see people return to the regions. They won’t return to places like this to see dams.” :