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News: BARC Members Share Harbour Tales March 5, 2005 BARC (Bay Area Restoration Council) held a workshop on March 5, 2005 , entitled: “Stories of the Bay: Personal Perspectives”.
City of Hamilton Councillor, Brian McHattie's story was one of civic engagement and environmental awareness. Brian holds degrees in environmental studies and planning and community development and was a member of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan Stakeholders Committee. But Brian didn't know anything about environmental issues on the Great Lakes when he arrived in Hamilton in 1986. He found his way to the local naturalist club and eventually connected with biologists, learned about the Remedial Action Plan (RAP), and was quickly asked to be the Hamilton Naturalists' Club RAP representative. “I had no background – I showed up at the first meeting, people were talking about phosphates and nitrogen…I didn't know what that had to do with anything,” Brian said. But, as he explains it, it was the beginning of a long love affair with the bay and the people around it. Brian joked that people involved with the RAP “would sit anybody new down and teach” them with incredible excitement, whether it was about fish habitats or contaminated sediment. He also gave high praise for the roundtable stakeholder structure set up through the RAP and the “open community structure” of BARC which he feels is doing leading grassroots work. “ Hamilton is a leading RAP plan on the Great Lakes ,” he explained. He's visited other RAP locations and heard from areas like Quinte, St. Clair and locations in the U.S. and said many look to Hamilton Harbour as a remediation leader. Most of all, Brian's journey from environmental rookie to councillor has been paved with “people and personalities, (their) ‘can do' attitude, a common purpose, a love for a body of water and watershed” and a desire to work toward cleaning up the harbour.” “What's happening here is very, very special.” Photo credit: Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC) |
Brian McHattie © 2006