If you’ve travelled the Trent-Severn waterway as a tourist, you’ve seen UCTE members – working for Parks Canada – operating the locks and dam systems, the impressive lift locks, and the genuinely awesome marine railway at Big Chute on the Severn River. Maybe you’ve also seen our members repairing and maintaining it all.
You’ve probably marveled at the technology, from nineteenth-century earthworks and hydraulics up to the digital age, that facilitate travel on the waterway through all this beautiful but convoluted terrain.
UCTE National Vice-President Mike Tennant and PSAC National leadership toured some of the waterway’s worksites this summer. We saw firsthand the amazing work behind the scenes, with members of Parks Canada Local 00056. We learned about aspects of our members’ work that go much deeper in their connection to public safety.
It probably doesn’t occur to most visitors that this area’s communities, from the Bay of Quinte up to Georgian Bay, depend on this sophisticated system not only to bring in commerce, but also to reduce flooding, protect wildlife habitat, keep boaters safe, and enable hydro generation. Water is the lifeblood of the region.
The biggest role played by the system in public safety is water control. The communities along the waterway depend on our members’ day-in-day-out dedication to keep their families safe and their businesses prosperous.
Standing overlooking the Trent Canal at the Kirkfield lift lock, Local President Kevin Alldread says, “When we’re strong, they’re strong,” – referring to all the residents and businesses along the waterway. Our members know the gravity of their responsibility. Each lockmaster monitors the level of water above their locks and dams and coordinates with other stations to manage water levels. Of course, our members and their families live in these communities too.
The system, now a National Historic Site, started with different goals. It was initially surveyed for military purposes, but locks were built starting in the 1830s to enable navigation by steamships for commercial purposes. It only became end-to-end navigable after another wave of construction projects in the 1880s, finally completed in 1920. By 1920, though, freight and passenger ships using the Great Lakes were larger than those that could navigate the canal. Since then, it has received a number of technological upgrades, and it’s more relevant to local economy than it is as a shipping route. Travelling through the Muskokas, Kawartha lakes region, and down to Georgian Bay is more popular with recreation and tourist vessels, and tourists bring in a lot of support for the region’s economy.
While so many vacationers enjoy the amazing waterway, we also remember the residents and businesses that depend on our members’ work. But even most of the local population probably aren’t aware of this role, adds Alldread. “We quietly keep them safe 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Our staff maintain the water all the time – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, we’re always on duty for that stuff. The sophistication of our tech is one of the hidden gems of what we do.”
On the tour, we heard from our members about workplace issues in keeping the waterway functioning. Under its placid surface is a dynamic and powerful flow. These workplaces are exposed to the seasons and the elements and involve some heavy equipment that has serious health and safety implications. Our demands for better provisions in their collective agreement with Parks Canada are linked with better safety, security, and economic health for dozens of towns and communities.
As important as tourism is to the area in the summer, it’s also a place with year-round residents and businesses whose lives are shaped by the waterway and dependent on the water control work that UCTE Local 00056 members do in all seasons. Their work is knitted into the land and the people of this beautiful part of the world, and to support better working conditions for our members is to support the heritage and everyday life of the region.
[…] canal operators, employed by Parks Canada, also regulate water to protect wildlife, communities, and commerce. We also recognize the importance of water to […]