My name is Lise Busson and I’m from Montreal in Quebec. The St. Lawrence River goes through Montreal, all the way up Quebec.

I spent half of my life living by the river. This year I’m actually taking a cruise up the river, going the whole way up then across to Newfoundland, so I get to discover it completely. I was raised there, my parents live right by the river. They were born by the river, they had a cottage that belonged to their great, great grandfather who is buried by the river. All my life, although we were living in Montreal (my family is actually from further north up the river). I remember when they built the highway, then we’d take the highway. But the smallest road was longer but it was so much more beautiful because you actually drove up the water.

There’s all kinds of stories about swimming in the river. When it started getting polluted, we couldn’t swim in it anymore. I almost drowned in the river when I was a kid. There’s quite strong currents there. Throughout my life there’s been stories of just growing up by the river, camping by the river. It was a big thing for us. And most of my family, my brothers and sisters, have moved to live by a water body.

I think growing up around a river like that pretty much prompted us to do that. Here in Toronto, we don’t have a river, but we have a lake. I get up in the morning and I look out my window and I can see the lake.