By Kristin Morency
The Suburban
Grade 5 and 6 students at St. Remi elementary school in Beaconsfield unveiled their project, “Picture Clear Water” last Friday at a press conference attended by Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti, MP Francis Scarpaleggia and MNA for Lac St. Louis Geoffrey Kelley.
The 200 students, who displayed their art-work of the 78 species of flora and fauna present in the St. Lawrence River and Lake St. Louis, alined to create public awareness about the water’s contamination.
During a round table discussion at Centennial Hall, about 10 students asked the government representatives what they would do to clean it up. The students were particularly interested in ‘learning what could be done to improve the water in Meadowbrook stream, an offshoot of Lake St. ‘Louis, located just outside St. Remi. The students are currently raising money to naturalize the shorelines of Meadowbrook, where they will be planting shrubs and plants this spring.
The politicians thanked the students for bringing the issue to light.
“If you hadn’t organized this event, we would-n’t be here talking about this issue,” said Scarpaleggia. “Political engagement happens often through art and you proved that.”
“Planting shrubs and plants near the water is an excellent initiative, and sensitizing the public by inviting the media is very important,” Scarpaleggia said, also encouraging the students to write letters to elected officials.
“We have to respond [to your letters] and in researching our answers to your questions, we learn more.”
However, when asked if the government would put money towards cleaning up the water, Scarpaleggia would not say exactly how much will be spent.
“We have money aside to restore basins like Lake St. Louis. But we have priorities,” he said. “[The federal government] is not best placed to make decisions [on where to spend the money] so we give the money to the provincial government and organizations.”
Kelley said he would support the students’ project at Meadowbrook.
“I can help you purchase [the greenery.] We will help you find the funds this spring,” he told the students.
Benedetti said the waste that is being ejected into Meadowbrook is coming from homes in Kirkland, and the two cities have not yet identified the exact sources.
“We [Benedetti and Kirkland Mayor John Meaney] want to correct it but there’s a problem — it’s very expensive to fix. We’re trying to find the means, together, to’ research which homes are [polluting the stream] and how. Were close to finding a solution,” Benedetti said.
However, Benedetti encouraged the students to plant shrubbery around the stream, saying that it will help the stream “self-clean” by pro-ducing a natural buffer zone that will reduce shoreline erosion.
The project was guided by St. Remi teacher Carole Flexman and artist Maja Vodanovic, who aided the children in their artistic creations. Students were encouraged to pay careful atten-tion to the characteristics of their chosen species, and complemented their works with haiku poems to convey optimism and hope for the future.
The artworks were on display at Centennial Hall in Beaconsfield this past weekend. The exhibition will also be presented at the Biosphere March 22 to celebrate World Water Day.
The students are selling greeting cards fea-turing their artwork in order to raise money to buy plants and shrubs for their clean-up project. They are also donating funds to Strategies St. Laurent, an organization that has been protecting the river for 20 years.
The Biosphere is located at 160 Tour-de-l’Isle in ile Ste. Helene. For more information on the upcoming exhibition, or to purchase a greeting card, call Maja Vodanovic: 514-428-9063 or e-mail maja@maja.ca.