A fitting legacy

Last Monday night, the town of Hudson ratified a recommendation to name a new nature trail after my husband, the late councilor Robert Parkinson. Our family is very grateful that the town saw fit to honour Bob’s service in this way (Gazette article). I couldn’t have thought of a more fitting tribute. We are also so grateful to the dedication and passion of a small but mighty local organization that helped create this new trail: Sentiers Vaudreuil Soulanges (SVS).

Almost four and a half years ago, Bob was drawn to local politics by his passion to protect the local beauty of the nature parks and trail system. He saw this as a unique asset of Hudson that required support. His campaign platform was based on this concept. Once elected, he quickly got involved in green space preservation issues, which he continued to do until the end of his tenure as councilor.

Early on, Bob worked with the town and residents to protect and rebuild the Apple Glenn dam, which was a pivotal element in protecting the wetland and trail system.  The prevailing belief at the time was that the land only benefited the people who owned properties around the lake, and thus was not the responsibility of the town. He disagreed, seeing it as a key nature area that was enjoyed by a larger group of residents from Hudson, Vaudreuil and even St. Lazare. After a lot of hard work, he was successful at brokering a deal between the town and the residents who lived on the lake.

He also was a big proponent of biking trails along the major routes of the town. It took almost five years of his prodding to get the small bike/walking path between the streets of Mt. Pleasant and Como Gardens.  Initially, he was a lone voice in council, but with persistence, he helped people see the benefit of connecting a key residential pocket in order to encourage residents to bike, walk and stroll into the town core.

When the new Whitlock Golf course development discussions began, Bob tried to bring opposing parties together. In particular, he saw that the deal would mean the town would receive a large parcel of wooded land. This would be a key piece in linking all the trails in the town. Incidentally, this would become the Robert Parkinson Nature Trail. He also saw it as a way to create balance between development and environmental protection – a vision that he felt needed to be incorporated in the town’s planning process.

Anyone who knew Bob would say that he was not afraid to stand up for what he believed, even if it meant going directly against developers or small interest groups. He wasn’t concerned about being popular. What concerned him most was representing the position of the residents, especially the large silent majority.

This is an approach that I hope the new councilors of St. Lazare will consider. It is obvious that they care deeply about the Dunes Lake development issue, which threatens an ancient bog and valuable wooded trail in the area. Yet, they appear to have their hands tied. I saw first-hand how difficult it was for a new council, trying to learn the system and understand what they do and do not have power to change. And, despite popular belief, most people in their position are doing it for the love of community. Trust me when I say that they get lot of criticism from people on the sidelines, especially the ones who are not willing to take action themselves.

As residents, we need to help them by turning our silent voice into a vocal majority. The Dunes Lake petition has only received 200 signatures. I have a hard time believing that this represents the total number of people who care about this issue.

Add your name to the petition now so that the councilors know we care and we want to work with them to come up with new, innovative compromises.

One of the last tasks that Bob was involved in as councilor, was to contact residents who owned land that linked the trails, asking them to donate or sell small parcels to enable a continuous trail system. As you can imagine, this was not a very popular proposal, but he didn’t get discouraged. He believed in the importance of his mission. I know he would be honoured by the naming of the trail, but much more importantly, he would be thrilled that this gorgeous, old-growth forest was being protected for generations to come.


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