Case law defines minor waters as any body of water that can support a canoe or a kayak, that is about four inches, or ten centimetres, of water, for a very short distance. We have no choice but to tell you that this is much too restrictive. The last time that we spoke to you, we discussed exclusions. We would like to exclude a lot of navigable waters all across the country.
As to the committee's request for definitions, I can tell you that we should have as few restrictions as possible. But would that be twelve inches, or a metre, or 500 metres long? Does someone have to be able to paddle for a kilometre before having to portage? At the moment, if someone can paddle a canoe for a minute, get out of the water, paddle again, and do that for two days, it is navigable water. But that definition makes no sense.