"Grand Ceremony for Plaque"

CAMBRIDGE - The Grand River is a heritage river and now it has the plaque to prove it.

The plaque, with its inscriptions in English, Mohawk and French, was unveiled in front of more than 300 politicians, conservationists and heritage people at a rainy waterfront ceremony Monday afternoon.

It stands on the river's edge in Cambridge's Mill Race Park amphitheatre.

The ceremony of flag waving, children singing and speech giving ended seven years of work by the Grand River Conservation Authority and others to have the river's history and importance recognized.

An announcement earlier this year made the Grand - including the Nith, Speed, Connestoga and Eramosa rivers - the 17th river in the country to receive the designation.

But it is the first river that is not in the wilderness to receive a heritage designation, said Norm Richards, past chairman of the Canadian Heritage Rivers Board.

There was talk about the wonderful cultural heritage in the watershed and talk about the river's problems.

"Not only keep the land clean, keep the river clean also for the future generations," traditional Cayuga Chief Jake Thomas of Six Nations told the crowd after reciting the Mohawk inscription on the plaque.

And during the ceremony the Grand River Biosphere Association handed out a statement reminding people that a heritage designation does little to solve problems of chemicals going into the river or overburdened sewage treatments systems that drain into the Grand.

CBC Radio host Peter Gzowski, who recited the English portion of the plaque, told of the river's pollution as he grew up in the area, but added how it had improved over the years.

Not everything in the past is good, he said.