Suncor admits it wrongly evicted canoeists

Followup Article in Slade River Journal - Many thanks to SRJ for their kind permission to reproduce.

By GABRIEL ZARATE, SRJ Reporter 09.JUL.08

Two Australian campers evicted by a Suncor employee from an island in the middle of the Athabasca River should never have been bothered.

A spokesman for Suncor said the company “regrets the inconvenience” to the two Australian canoeists who were evicted from an island at 10:00 p.m. as they were about to go to sleep on an island just offshore of Suncor’s industrial operations.

“I think this is a case of good intentions misapplied,” said Brad Bellows of Suncor.

On June 20, Tony Chounding and Terry Bolland (featured last week in the SRJ as “Visitors of the Week”) were canoeing down the Athabasca, on a journey from Jasper National Park to Tuktoyaktuk. After a long day on the river they set up camp on a small island just upstream from the bridge linking Suncor facilities on both sides of the river. The two made supper and were about to go to sleep when a security guard using a blowhorn ordered them off the island. They protested, saying it was night and they did not know the river. But the Suncor employee would not listen.

Oilsands leases end at the banks of the river. Suncor had no legal right to evict the campers.
Asked why the action took place, Bellows explained the island was in the middle of an industrial site. “The foremost concern of our security people is the safety of our employees and the public,” he said.

Bellows indicated Suncor would review its security procedures to ensure recreational users of the river were not interfered with.

Thursday 10th July

The canoe has arrived but Leonie's missing bag hasn't.

Have finished last minute shopping and tonight we're busy packing with the hope of leaving Hay River paddling the lake and towards the MacKenzie River tomorrow.

We have two or three days on the lake to paddle before we reach the river. Fingers crossed the weather will be to our benefit.

We were invited by the Groenewegen family to join them for 'smokeys' (sausages) and coffee.

Wednesday 9th July

Today was a busy day, we spent all day shopping.......definitely not my favourite pass time, but shop I did. I called into Superior Sound to see if I could have the images from my digital camera uploaded onto a disk. Craig Kovatch very kindly took the time to do this for me, thanks Craig.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen Prior of Freeway Communications in Abbotsford, BC for the personal time he took, to input and upload and register my SPOT messenger. The spot messenger has been a valuable way of giving our location to family and friends at home. I sincerely recommend this tool for anyone considering travelling into the wilderness.

Brett Murdoch from Valhalla Pure Outfitters, Abbotsford, BC for downloading all the maps onto my GPS, again impossible for me to do without a computer. I know it took a considerable time to do. Thank you Brett. The GPS with maps of the river has been another fantastic aid, which has made travelling along the river much easier.

Doug Swallow of Canoe North, Hay River NWT has also been a big help. We've had many an email from Doug answering Alaine and Leonie's questions over this past 9 months of planning. He has been very generous with his time and knowledge. Thanks Doug.

During our stay here at Hay River, we've met many friendly and helpful people who have been happy to share their knowledge and experiences of this vast area.

The hire canoe is still to arrive, as is Leonie's missing bag.

Back at Harbour House we began to pack the food into day packs, seemingly a never ending job. We're (well I am) worried that we wont be able to fit every thing into the canoe.

Tuesday July 8th

Alaine and Leonie have arrived. Tony and I met them at the airport, we had ridden on bikes lent to us from Harbour House. Alaine looked like she need some exercise so I got her to ride the bike back, it was only a 15 minute ride.


Unfortunately Leonie has one of her bags missing. It's one that has her paddle, sleeping bag, sleeping mattress, a few clothes (we're a bit tired of seeing her in the same top now) and a few other bits and pieces.

Interview with Slade River Journal on 2nd July

Hi, Zarin here, CDU Web Developer Extraordinaire

I have just received permission from the Slade River Journal (http://www.srj.ca) to reproduce the 2nd July photo's and article on our boys. Quite interesting reading I must say!! Here goes:

Reproduced curtesy of Slade River Journal

By Don Jaque 02.JUL.08

Tony Chounding and Terry Bolland are pleasant older Australian canoeists who started their river trip in Jasper National Park and are paddling down the Athabasca, Slave and Mackenzie Rivers to Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean. They were in Fort Smith for a brief one-day stop June 27 and lucked into the Francophone St. Jean Baptiste Day pig roast with all its fun and hospitality.

The most notable experience of the two men so far was getting kicked off an island in the middle of the Athabasca River adjacent to the Suncor oilsands mining property. They had run some of the class III rapids upstream of Fort McMurray and portaged the very large ones. After a long day of paddling through Fort McMurray, they found a nice island, set up their tents, made supper and around 10:00 PM were about to crawl into their sleeping bags for the night. They had observed traffic moving about routinely on the Suncor property for some time when a truck stopped across the water from them and turned on its flashing red and blue lights. The driver, using a blow-horn, ordered them off the island. They tried to reason with him, calling out saying they did not know the river and did not know where to go to camp at that time of night. The Suncor employee ignored them, and continued to order them off. Finally they packed up camp and left. Chounding said ironically, as they departed the island the Suncor employee called out, “Have a good journey!”

They continued on past the Suncor plant, which they said was an extraordinary spectacle and a unique experience with all the smoke and lights and pipes of the industrial installation. Chounding likened it to seeing Hades. He said the fumes from the plant were so noxious he could taste them.

Aside from the Suncor incident they have enjoyed their trip so far. They saw a great deal of wildlife upstream of McMurray, including cow moose with calves almost every day, but had seen nothing but eagles on the Slave River.

Bolland is an experienced canoeist and this trip is his third on major North American waterways. He had already done the Mississipi and the Missouri Rivers. His website (canoeingdownunder.com.au) describes him as “the most qualified and respected Canoe/Kayak Instructor in Western Australia.”

They are in a bit of a hurry, with a plane ticket leaving Vancouver in mid August, so they cannot tarry long in any one place. Chounding said when they see a community, “they drop in from nowhere and make up their mind in a hurry what it is like.” He said Fort Smith has a “strong sense of community” and they were impressed with how helpful people are.

Thank you Slade River Journal for your kind permission. Don Jaque has also informed me that they are following up on the Suncor debacle as they take the view it was illegal to kick them of the Island. The story will run, probably front page, this week So keep posted to the blog and find out what happens!!

Monday 7th July 2008

We scouted around town for all the things that we would need for when the 'girls' arrived. We ended up being invited to have dinner with Jordan Groenewegen and his wife. Jordon is the son of Rick and Jane Gorenewegen who own the Harbour House the bed and breakfast where we're staying.

We had an enjoyable evening that was made even better by the large amounts of icecream (my favourite dessert) that was being dished up.

Sunday 6th July

As the sun went down, just before midnight we donned our PFD's and warmer clothing and headed out into the lake. Ten pelicans flew by, between us and the fiery red sky. The lake was calmer than the previous night so steering the canoe was much easier. At one of stops a black coyote or wolf came walking along the shore towards us, it wasn't at all frightened. Eventually after getting around 15 metres of it, it slipped into the forest.

We were both tired from the lack of sleep so we were nodding off. I thought about singing to keep awake but I didn't want to annoy Tony, in hindsight it may have been a good idea!!

A long narrow streak of cloud was lashed with a deep redness as the sun came up at 4.30 a.m.

The lake stayed calm, we reached Hay River after doing 39kms at 7.30 a.m. Relieved to be there we were now ahead of schedule and here before the 'girls'.

Harbor House where we were meant to be staying when the 'girls' arrived was right in front of where we had landed. We booked in and had a hot shower and a bed to sleep off three days of lack of sleep.

Ahead of schedule, we now have a few days to rest up.

We left Jasper after lunch on the 6th June and arrived in Hay River before breakfast on the 6th July.

Saturday 5th July

The sun had just set before midnight and the wind had calmed though not completely. We pushed out heading out to the bay and towards the red sky on the horizon and then slowly moved in a more westerly direction. The wind was still strong enough to be a nuisance so steering was still an issue.

We stopped at a handful of places to pee, stretch our legs and have nibbles of fruit and nuts. By 4.30 a.m. the sun was rising again, it never did get completely dark.

By 8.30 a.m. the wind was quite strong and the wind waves and the wind swells increased with every passing minute. With no rudder apart from my arm straining to be one, I let the boat run with the swells, then when the big waves had passed I headed the boat in the direction of the waves which were usually headed towards shore. Like in the ocean the waves seem to get bigger and more confused when rounding points. So for safety sakes, I stayed well away from them. In my experience going a kilometre or two in distance to be safer is the best option. But Tony didn't share my view, he wanted to keep closer to the shore. I tried to compromise by slowly bringing the boat around closer to shore by using the waves. But by doing so, I was caught off guard by a big wave that broke over the top of us and twisted the boat around. Because the waves were directly behind us, I couldn't see them approaching. Luckily we both braced hard although the canoe went further over than I would have liked. This was probably the closest I'd come to capsizing in ocean like conditions in years.

We finally came to Buffalo River and after surfing across the sand bar, we made camp. We tried to sleep that afternoon for another midnight run. Thirty seven pelicans landed at the river mouth as we were setting up camp. We had paddled around 49kms today.

Friday 4th July

Left by 8.00 a.m. The Lake was calm. We stopped on a rock island which turned out be a seagull rookery with a great number of chicks.

The wind increased and the conditions on the lake deteriorated and so by midday it was too rough to paddle. We had only paddled 20kms when we found a neat spot in Dawson Bay to sit it out. We decided that to cover the distances we need, we would have to paddle at night when the wind seems to calm down.

Thursday 3rd July

Paddled down the channel with ducks and loons flying and landing in front of us. Saw this giant of an owl that flew ahead of us a couple of times and perched in trees close by.

We reached the Great Slave Lake after two and half hours of paddling in the channel. There was a fairly light side wind and it took us a further two and half hours to reach Fort Resolution. It looked a fantastic place from the Lake it appeared to have a number of new buildings.
We landed on the local beach, not quite to Perth standards but up here, it was a magnificent beach.

Tony wanted to stay the night but I was concerned with the weather and wind stranding us halfway along the lake. We still had a 142kms to paddle to get to Hay River to meet the 'girls' so I felt it important that we keep going.

We did a little bit of shopping and talked to a local teacher and his wife, had a bite of lunch and took off across the bay to Little Buffalo River 20kms away. We were told that this was a particularly beautiful spot.

Paddling was good for the first hour, then the wind came in and the wind waves increased in size. The next thing we knew, we were paddling in pretty rough conditions. Waves were breaking over the canoe and at times with such force that they pushed in our spray decks allowing water to enter the canoe.

Because the waves were coming from an angle, it was really difficult to keep the canoe on a straight course and it wasn't a good idea to surf down the big waves which could potentially cause a capsize.

Although I am used to paddling in such rough conditions, I think Tony was relieved when we entered the Little Buffalo River without a capsize.

Cold and wet, we came across a lot of shacks with no one home. A little dejected we went on a bit further and then found a cabin with a number of people. They invited us to share their fire and have coffee and to eat sow belly, potatoes, onions and if we wanted, hunks of pork steak. Immediately our spirits were lifted as we got out to join. This was Terry, his family and group of friends who were very welcoming. They were on holidays from Manning in Alberta.

We left them around 9.45p.m. and set up camp at a nice campsite a little further down river. Today was another testing but yet, a good day.

Wednesday 2nd July

Ducks and seagulls were chattering early again there were no mozzies.

We had to work out a system so that Tony didn't get his feet wet, because he had an infected big toe. We tried to find logs to place into the water to use as stepping stones to get into the boat.

After taking off, we noticed a coyote swimming swiftly across the wide river, we caught up with it about 50 metres before the shore. It reminded me of myself as it was grunting and groaning as it swam. His eyes reflected a sense fear, little did he know that he had nothing to fear. Once on shore, he took off like the cartoon character the Road Runner.

We saw several magnificent bald eagles.

I had taken my shirt off yesterday and today my belly has pink and white patches of where my tummy rolls had been exposed and shielded. Now I know what a zebra feels like.

On the positive side, it's made me look at my belly and much to my surprise and delight......its looking somewhat flatter.

Much better today as there was much less wind and even swifter water at times. We saw a bear on a log but it didn't hang around. We are now close to the end of the Slave River and are in the Delta. Camping places are non existent. It seemed as if we were in for a rough camping night when suddenly we saw a white picnic table and old cabin and a flat area to camp on. God must be shinning on us today!!

Some locals from Fort Resolution came down for a drive and told us that we could paddle down the channel which was a short cut to the Lake.

At this campsite there were many mozzies and 100's of dragonflies, the odd kingfisher but it was a much better campsite than we could have imagined finding in such a location as the delta.

The locals though, did mention in passing that it was sometimes a favourite location for bears!!

Tuesday 1st July

It was 'Canada' Day today, but we didn't even see a sole.

There were small logs drifting by, bobbing up and down and with some imagination, they looked like people having difficulty swimming, I felt like putting my hand out to rescue them!!

The wind had eased today. It made me chuckle when a bunch of young, mature geese 100 of metres away tried to get away from us by running along the shoreline, jumping logs, hopping into the water and back onto shore until eventually they ran out of shore. Then a couple of them tried climbing the sloping sand cliff without success. When they realised that we had gone by and had nothing to worry about they stood there watching us.

It was a better days paddling, and we found a low, damp sandbar to camp on and today we covered 74kms. We hoped that there wasn't going to be flood in the night!

Monday 30th June

Not a good day for this last day of June. The wind was strong and the side wind made is extremely difficult to keep the canoe tracking straight. It meant that I had to perform many half draw strokes and sweep strokes which, after hours on end began to create a niggle in my shoulder blade.

The clouds moved in, it soon became misty, bitterly cold and then to top it of, it began to rain.

We had lunch sheltering behind a big tree trunk that had been washed up, using this to try and shelter from the weather.

The day didn't look good and progress was slow but again we found a decent campsite under a sloping sand cliff and once again, there were no mozzies.

Today we had seen eagles, geese, ducks and ducklings but only covered 67kms.

Sunday 29th June

With the relief and excitement of all the rapids and the hard lifting behind us, we can now focus on the hard slog to the halfway mark. The river head is destined to become wider and slower, a dismal thought when we still have lots of kms to paddle.

The wind started of strong and became stronger as the day wore on. Our day brightened when we met a very vivacious lady at Salt River who filmed us during our rest break and was interested to know everything about what we were doing. She went back to her nearby village and returned shortly after bringing with her three elders to meet us. They still live their traditional ways and don't want to see their surrounds nor culture change.

Leaving the boat ramp we met a family who said that we should call into their cabin when we passed. We took up their invitation and had an enjoyable lunch with them and during our conversation we learnt a great deal about the country. During the winter months, Earl, the owner of the cabin is a trapper.

Leaving the cabin we headed into an extremely strong wind, we did less kms (59kms) that day but found a great sandbar for camping that didn't have any mozzies.

Saturday 28th June

Well, I couldn't not portage and Tony was adamant that he didn't want to portage. The solution was naturally, a compromise!

I left the camp early in the morning with the canoe on the trolley (that we had bought in Vancouver for this very purpose), some gear in the canoe and I carried my pack on my back. Tony and I had agreed that whatever distance I covered when the portage lift guy and Tony came by, I would put the canoe on the car. I had happily covered 13kms along the gravel road before they came. It was a pretty hard slog but for me, this is all a part of the journey. Once the canoe was loaded onto the car, I continued the portage with my pack still on my back. I walked quickly as there was also a few extra kms to cover as the canoe was being taken to the river edge which was a couple of kms out of town.

Whilst on the first part of the portage, there was about four cars that passed me. One car that passed changed to reverse and as it drew up beside me, an aussie accent greeted me. Amazingly it was a young man called Josh Singleton, who was over here staying with a guy called Dave Gemmell. These guys had met during Dave's three year stay in Perth. It was great to meet someone that I knew and Dave was very welcoming too.

The boys mentioned about the 'Spit Roast Pork' night (the barbeque that we were invited to at Fort McMurray) and said we should come along. Dave also invited me to have a shower at his place once I got into town. I gladly accepted the offer. By the end of the day I had walked almost 30kms and at midnight just as I was about to get into my tent, a guy approached me asking if I could help him get his car out of a bog which was a km or so away. Unfortunately the car was bogged too deeply and we needed to get a vehicle to pull the car out.

Tony, Terry, Dave and Josh along the banks of the Slave River

The following email and the image above was sent from Josh:-

G'Day
My name is Josh Singleton, I am a West Australian born and raised and a kayaker (also a member of Ascot Kayak Club). however I am currently in Fort Smith, North West Territories, Canada staying with a friend, Dave Gemmell, who spent the last 3 years in Perth. But today, June 28th, on our drive out for our daily paddle I saw a person walking along the side of the road, and blow me down it was non other than Terry Bolland! Terry was on the portage around the major rapids of the region. With up to grade 5 rapids in the region on a one kilometer making scouting next to impossible, a portage is the safest option by far. After a short chat with Terry along the road he continued into town as Dave and I went for our paddle. Later in the day we met back up with Terry and met Tony. We went back to Dave's house where Terry had a fresh shower, Tony declined the offer, having already had a bath in the river. Luckily the local french community of Fort Smith was putting on a pork spit roast so we all headed down and enjoyed some good food, cold beers and good conversations. Whilst there Terry and Tony also got interviewed by the local newspaper, the Slave River Journal (http://www.srj.ca/). Terry and Tony both seem to be in high spirits and motivated to keep going strong. Attached is a photo of Tony, Terry, Dave and myself beside the Slave River at the Fort Smith boat ramp where they will set camp and spend the night.