magazine / jun11
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June 2011 issue |
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Reverberations
Park perspectives
Nice article by Jerry Kobalenko
about Labrador’s Mealy Mountains
(“Birth of a park,” April 2011). This new
park has much hidden beauty and is a
magical place. I’ve seen it in winter and,
after reading this article, definitely want
to visit in summer … blackflies and all.
Bill Goodridge
Corner Brook, N.L.
Well, that is about as thoughtful and
carefully crafted and nuanced an
article about Labrador as I’ve read in a
while. Nice job, Jerry!
Stephen Loring
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C.
My family was expropriated in 1970
for the creation of Forillon
National Park in Quebec. If you knew
(or do you?) of all the harassment, grief
and sorrow we had to go through, especially
my 84-year-old father, maybe you
wouldn’t be so fond of Parks Canada.
You could not buy a decent garden shed
today with what we were paid for our
properties. We were not expropriated —
we were robbed under the name of the
Quebec and Canadian governments.
My dad, who was still living in our
house, witnessed its burning while sitting on his suitcase waiting for his
transport to Montréal. He lived another
10 years but never set foot in Gaspé after
that September day in 1971. Now, 41
years later, the park administration has
promised to deliver a free park pass to the
families who were expropriated. This
should repay for everything. But we
haven’t got it yet!
Maybe Jean Chrétien chose Forillon
National Park the same way he picked
Auyuittuq National Park — from an
airplane.
Jérémie Dunn
Saint-Hubert, Que.
My grandfather was quarantined
on Grosse Île (“Small island,
big plans,” April 2011), but thankfully
not during 1840s. Many Canadian
doctors and nurses gave their lives to
help out the new Canadians. Their
efforts weren’t in vain, as some patients
got better and went on to enrich this
great country!
David Lawrence
Manitoba
Your issue about national parks
includes lots of contents that promotes
canoeing, including the cover,
which shows an exquisite cedarstrip
canoe on beautiful Two Jack Lake in
Banff National Park. Now, I say to
myself, could anyone actually be using
this canoe, or was it just carried there?
Here is the problem: there are no life
jackets; there is no bailer; there are no
ropes at the ends of the canoe for tying
up or grabbing if tipped; the paddles
are balanced on the gunwale with the
hope that no wind will blow, instead
of being secured in the canoe or safely
on land; and the canoe itself is perched
precariously on a strip of land where
even a reasonable wind would send it
down the lake.
I really like realism in the content of
magazines such as yours, but unfortunately,
this photo failed to accomplish it.
Keith Gilmour
Edmonton
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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.
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