NEWS RELEASE
MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK – March 19th, 2015 – Petitcodiac Riverkeeper held its Annual General Meeting last night at the Chateau Moncton Hotel. The organisation, now in it’s 16th year, proudly presented new strategic priorities that will guide its members and volunteers.
While our region’s beloved “Chocolate River” is doing much better since the opening of the causeway gates in 2010, the organization warns that work is not yet over in order to completely restore the Petitcodiac River. Riding the wave of community support and public interest that was sparked with the recent surfing phenomena, a renewed mission and vision as well as new strategic goals had to be put in place to ensure Riverkeepers achieve new projects that not only benefit the Petitcodiac, Memramcook and Shepody rivers, but also tap into public support to foster more active community engagement. For the past six months, the organization’s Board of Directors has thus concentrated on elaborating the organization’s new strategic plan, which will guide activities and priority projects during the next three years.
“We met with members and key partners in the community in order to understand what is the role we now need to play and how we can better work together,” explains Petitcodiac RIverkeeper President Paul. N. Belliveau. “Like so many other non profit organizations, funding remains one of our biggest challenges, but I am confident that our work will lead us to some impressive results in the coming year.
Priority projects for the organization include replacing the Petitcodiac River causeway with a partial bridge, completing the Memramcook River causeway project, removing the Mills Creek Dam in Riverview (project of similar nature to the work that was recently completed with the Humphreys Brook Restoration project), and working with the City of Moncton, the City of Dieppe and the Town of Riverview to look into the development and launch of an Interpretation Centre on the Petitcodiac Riverfront Trail. The organization is also closely monitoring developments at TransAqua – the Greater Moncton Wastewater Commission – in order to ensure the Commission respects environmental priorities outlined in its strategic plan.
Board of Directors members were also elected for the coming year during the March 18th Annual General Meeting.
Paul N. Belliveau – Chair
Georges Brun – Vice-Chair
Monique Arseneault – Secretary-Treasurer
Roger Dubois – Director
Jean-Marc Dugas – Director
Alfred Ehrenclou – Director
Bryant Freeman – Director
Conrad LeBlanc – Director
Edmund Redfield – Director
Sarah Short – Director
Jimmy Therrien – Director
