White ribbons cascading through endless boreal forest. Meandering muddy ribbons across the prairies. Ribbons of green linking a labyrinth of lakes, ponds and bogs on the Canadian Shield. Rivers are everywhere imprinted on the Canadian landscape - and in the hearts and minds of its people. Rivers are much more than flowing water.
Rivers are part of our lives and our heritage.
They moulded this country and its peoples. We swim in rivers, fish in them, are challenged by their rapids and wilderness, find peace of mind and solitude along their shores. But we are changing our rivers. Channeling, damming, diverting, controlling them, paving their banks, draining their wetlands, poisoning their waters, bulldozing the human history on their banks. Much of our river heritage is threatened and may be lost forever.