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Meet the 2025 Board of Directors of Friends of the Rideau Hunter McGill Chair of the board of directors Member of the board since 1990 Hunter has lived next to the Rideau Canal on and off for much of his life, including the four years he attended Carleton University. After an extensive conversation with Larry Turner, a noted Rideau Canal historian who served as Chair of the Friends for several years, Hunter was invited to join the board. He has been a member since then, with gaps from 1995-1998 and 2002-2007. During the early 1990s he helped with the initiation of the campaign to have the Rideau Canal declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which happened in 2007. Hunter has served as Chair of Friends since 2010, and serves also on the Finance Committee and the Depot Management Committee. Hunter had a 31-year career as a federal public servant, including two postings as a Canadian diplomat. Since returning to Canada in 2007 he has served as Senior Fellow at the School of International Development at the University of Ottawa, and Sessional Lecturer at the Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. Hunter is also a member of the board of Heritage Ottawa, and lives in Ottawa in the Centretown Heritage Conservation District, about one kilometre from the Rideau Canal. Doug Arrand Board director Member of the board since 2022 I was introduced to the Rideau Canal as a teenager when my father was posted to Ottawa in the late 50’s. I attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute in the city which is located next to the canal and spent lunch breaks with fellow students at the canal side. My family and I travelled the canal from end to end in the family cruiser during summers. I fell in love with its beauty and fascinated with the canal’s engineering history during its construction. Some years our boat was stored during winters in Hartwell’s Lock near Carleton University and docked at Dow’s Lake Marina in summers. I returned to Ottawa in 1967 to teach at Lisgar C.I. and took up boating the canal annually once again with my own family. From 1976 until 2011 we owned an island cottage on the Big Rideau Lake allowing me to live the dream life on the system during summers. During this same period, I served for many years as a member of the Board of the Big Rideau Lake Association. My term as President included representing the Board on a committee of Rideau Canal groups supportive of seeking the United Nations designation for the canal. We were delighted when that came about. While I no longer live on the system I still live close to the Kingston Mills Lock in Kingston and cross the canal several times a week. I still boat on the canal in summers and never tire of its beauty. I am pleased to serve with a great group of dedicated board members of the Friends of the Rideau. Chris Biber Board director Profile to be added soon Cheryl Gulseth Board director and Treasurer Profile to be added soon Bruce Kemp Board director Profile to be added soon Paul LaRose-Edwards Board director Member of the board since 2025 Paul first canoed the Rideau Canal from Smith Falls to Kingston in 1970 while a cadet at Royal Military College Kingston. A student of history, he loved the Kingston historic presence of Forts Henry, Frederick, Frontenac, and the Martello towers defending the southern end of one of the greatest civil and military engineering marvels of its time in North America, the Rideau Canal. Also at the southern ‘end’ of the canal was Barriefield Village, and Paul was a member of the Local Architectural Committee that obtained heritage designation for the village, and personally renovated two historic homes in Barriefield. While his international human rights career took him worldwide, 35 years ago he and his wife Marilyn ‘anchored’ themselves to Canada and the Rideau by buying 24 acres of rocky wilderness on the Rideau overlooking the “Court of the Duke” just north of Upper Brewers Mills Locks and eventually retired there. Gillian Organ Board director Member of the board since 2014 Gillian’s role on the Friends of the Rideau board revolves around the finance and Depot committees. She has been on the Board for a decade, overseeing the finances with an eagle eye and advising on the appropriate Depot inventory to best promote our cause. The Rideau Waterway is her passion, having lived on its shores for nearly half a century, sailing the entire system repeatedly, and owning and operating an environmental, award winning marina for 20 years. She loves the sunsets, sunrises, prevailing winds and the whitecaps! Not so much the algae! She counselled her marina and all visiting boaters on appropriate boating behaviour to preserve the eco system, the shorelines and the indignant creatures that inhabit the depths. Being on the board allows her to help promote and preserve the heritage site for future generations. To educate anyone who will listen about the significance, and the vulnerability of the waterway from Ottawa to Kingston. In her retirement she volunteers at a wonderful, caring Long Term Care Home, which is, of course, close to the river! Joshua Terpstra Depot Manager and Head of the Depot committee Member of the board since 2021 Joahua started with the Friends of the Rideau as a summer employee working at the Depot during summer 2019. Ever since then, he has become very passionate about the Rideau and helping visitors get the best experience possible. He has worked the past 6 seasons at the Depot during the summer. He joined the board of directors of the Friends of the Rideau in the fall of 2021 due to his passion in working at and improving the Depot. He is the manager and head of the Depot committee and undertakes many of the tasks relating to the Depot including but not limited to hiring, training, daily managed and liaising with other organisations and partners. Outside of being a board director for the Friends of the Rideau, he is also a part of the Merrickville Blockhouse Museum Services Board. He is currently studying at the University of Ottawa completing his second honours bachelors degree in geography. He is a passionate outdoorsman and enjoys spending his time hiking. Susan Warren Board director Member of the board since 2020 My family have worked five generations on the Rideau Canal and my father Don Warren helped save the Rideau Canal from electrification in the 1960s with the Rideau Action Committee. Eventually. in 1972 the grassroots group succeeded in having the government pass legislation allowing Parks Canada to take over the operation. I have been involved in writing, teaching, and lecturing about the canal and local history for 40 years. As well as being partially raised at Chaffey’s Locks, I have resided almost next door to Jones Falls for three decades. For several years in the early 1980s, I worked as an historical interpreter on the southern end of the Rideau particularly at Jones Falls and Kingston Mills as well as helping organize the Rideau Canal libraries in the winter of 1985. My main career has been in the library field including at Carleton University, Queens University and for a quarter of a century the head librarian of Rideau Lakes Public Library managing five library branches. Upon my retirement I won the lifetime achievement award from the Ontario Public Library Association. Since my retirement eight years ago, I have been the volunteer curator of the Chaffey’s Lockmaster’s House as well as managing a small but growing archive of material for the township of Rideau Lakes. Ken Watson Board director Member of the board since 1997 Ken moved to a lake on the Rideau Canal in 1995. In 1996 he started a website about the Rideau Canal (www.rideau-info.com) and in 1997 was invited to join the board of Friends of the Rideau by Ed Bebee, who served for many years as Chair of Friends. Ken served as Secretary of Friends for over a decade and as Chair of Publications. Ken continues with Friends as the editor/publisher of the FoR newsletter, maintaining the membership list and as the FoR webmaster. Ken has written several books about the history of the Rideau Canal and an extensive paddling guide to the Rideau Canal. Outside of Friends, Ken is also the Lake Steward and newsletter editor of his local lake association and the President of the Delta Mill Society who own and operate the Old Stone Mill National Historic Site in Delta, Ontario. Ken, a geologist, has a deep interest in both heritage and the environment. He is passionate about conveying information about Rideau heritage and environment to the general public and continues to do that via his personal Rideau website and his work with Friends of the Rideau. P.O. Box 1232, Stn. Main Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada, K7A 5C7 email: info@rideaufriends.com
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