Google translate of email from Marc-André Pauzé of Les Amis de La Vérendrye...
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Hello,
I am taking advantage of this newsletter to wish you an excellent year 2025, filled with canoe trips on a territory that we hope to see remain as natural as possible.
Since the SEPAQ took over the management of canoe camping, the booking experience outside of rigid circuits and formats remains laborious.
Despite numerous communications with the SEPAQ - including a petition with more than 600 signatures - to make them aware of these difficulties, the loss of access to a unique territory and the increasing complexity of maintaining and developing a culture of backcountry travel in an autonomous and responsible manner, the organization has remained inflexible. Several cases have been reported in previous newsletters.
I explored the possibility of forming a citizen group, inspired by initiatives in Ontario such as "Friends of Temagami", "Friends of Quetico" and "Friends of Algonquin", which contribute to the maintenance of portage trails and collaborate with park managers. However, when I surveyed the interest in such an initiative, the feedback was very limited.
In Ontario, these groups benefit from a dialogue with Ontario Parks. However, the SEPAQ seems closed to any collaboration of this type. A former employee of the La Vérendrye portage maintenance teams even saw his volunteer initiative to reopen the backcountry portages of the Mastigouche Reserve blocked by the SEPAQ.
I came to the conclusion that I had neither the energy nor the resources to continually fight against this administrative rigidity. According to SEPAQ, their model meets 98% of their "clientele", and they have no interest in adapting their approach for a few traditional travelers. Thus, the territories they manage are no longer treated as natural public spaces, but rather as commercial products where citizens become customers of a government outfitter.
After careful consideration, I have chosen to refocus my efforts on the rediscovery of old canoe routes and portages outside the SEPAQ network, a project that seems more promising and promising to me. In addition, I will continue to produce reports and stories to publicize and promote traditional travel through my projects and publications, as well as on my website.
This raises an important question: what to do with this newsletter and its mailing list?
At the end of the month, the mailing list will be deleted, unless someone wishes to take over. In the event that this small community continues its activities, I will remain involved to lend a hand, if necessary.
If you are interested in continuing this initiative, let me know before March 1st. If you do not receive a response, I will close and delete the data.
For those who wish to continue to discuss traditional backcountry travel, I created a Facebook group a few years ago to promote traditional backcountry travel. This group includes 3,500 people. I have described it below with a link. It might be of interest to some of you, especially in the event that "Les amis de La Vérendrye" does not go any further.
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Hello,
I am taking advantage of this newsletter to wish you an excellent year 2025, filled with canoe trips on a territory that we hope to see remain as natural as possible.
Since the SEPAQ took over the management of canoe camping, the booking experience outside of rigid circuits and formats remains laborious.
Despite numerous communications with the SEPAQ - including a petition with more than 600 signatures - to make them aware of these difficulties, the loss of access to a unique territory and the increasing complexity of maintaining and developing a culture of backcountry travel in an autonomous and responsible manner, the organization has remained inflexible. Several cases have been reported in previous newsletters.
I explored the possibility of forming a citizen group, inspired by initiatives in Ontario such as "Friends of Temagami", "Friends of Quetico" and "Friends of Algonquin", which contribute to the maintenance of portage trails and collaborate with park managers. However, when I surveyed the interest in such an initiative, the feedback was very limited.
In Ontario, these groups benefit from a dialogue with Ontario Parks. However, the SEPAQ seems closed to any collaboration of this type. A former employee of the La Vérendrye portage maintenance teams even saw his volunteer initiative to reopen the backcountry portages of the Mastigouche Reserve blocked by the SEPAQ.
I came to the conclusion that I had neither the energy nor the resources to continually fight against this administrative rigidity. According to SEPAQ, their model meets 98% of their "clientele", and they have no interest in adapting their approach for a few traditional travelers. Thus, the territories they manage are no longer treated as natural public spaces, but rather as commercial products where citizens become customers of a government outfitter.
After careful consideration, I have chosen to refocus my efforts on the rediscovery of old canoe routes and portages outside the SEPAQ network, a project that seems more promising and promising to me. In addition, I will continue to produce reports and stories to publicize and promote traditional travel through my projects and publications, as well as on my website.
This raises an important question: what to do with this newsletter and its mailing list?
At the end of the month, the mailing list will be deleted, unless someone wishes to take over. In the event that this small community continues its activities, I will remain involved to lend a hand, if necessary.
If you are interested in continuing this initiative, let me know before March 1st. If you do not receive a response, I will close and delete the data.
For those who wish to continue to discuss traditional backcountry travel, I created a Facebook group a few years ago to promote traditional backcountry travel. This group includes 3,500 people. I have described it below with a link. It might be of interest to some of you, especially in the event that "Les amis de La Vérendrye" does not go any further.
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