Last fall, at the request of a CBC journalist, we met up with former Les amis member John Fretz and architect Peter Lanken who both lived and played along the St. Pierre River as youth.
We found out that John Fretz had actually asked the Ministère de la Culture back in 2004 to recognize the heritage value of the river. Can you imagine all the grief we would have avoided if the river had been classified back then?
As architect Peter Lanken so poetically put it: “We were introduced to how all of life starts in wetlands. We caught leopard frogs and let them go. We caught all the little insects, the water striders and the whirligig beetles and the diving beetles and the big diving beetles. And crayfish and little larvae for dragonflies and caddis flies and we started to learn how life starts there.”
Have a listen to Jaela Bernstien’s reportage https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-78/clip/16054351 and take a look at the fascinating maps that the CBC team has created: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/2024/daylighting-rivers/
We invite our followers to send in any photos or memories they might have of the river. We would love to hear from you!
Former Les amis member John Fretz and architect Peter Lanken reminiscing about their childhood and the St. Pierre River
