The Roots of Swim Drink Fish

“Our roots go back a long way, so it’s hard to define it except through swimmable, drinkable, fishable water.”

- Mark Mattson, President of Swim Drink Fish Canada

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

The story of Swim Drink Fish is much like dropping a small pebble into the water. One pebble may not seem significant or life-changing, but the second it hits the surface, it creates what we know as the ripple effect. The story of our organization is not the story of one person but several. The roots of Swim Drink Fish are the ripple effect of those brave enough to stand up for their waterbodies.

Doug Chapman knew the water like the back of his hand. He had sailed the Great Lakes and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the 1960s and 1970s and had fished Pacific salmon for a living in the late 1970s, but his expertise was not limited to being on the water. His passion seeped into everything he did, including his work as a federal prosecutor. He was an excellent criminal lawyer, but the devotion for clean water and concern for the underclass he brought to the courtroom was unparalleled, making him one of the most revered environmental prosecutors in Canada’s history.

This was precisely why Mark Mattson, a young criminal lawyer, sought to work with him. He had an affinity for water himself, having spent all his childhood summers at the water’s edge off the coast of Kingston. The two teamed up in 1991 when Chapman invited Mattson to take on his first environmental case. He found himself becoming more active as an environmental advocate with the advice and guidance of Chapman. They would go on to become an incredible team, setting many legal precedents over the next several years.

Photo by CBC’s The Fifth Estate. Mark Mattson investigating landfill pollution on the Petitcodiac River circa 1999.

In 1996, they established the Environmental Bureau of Investigation (EBI). Alongside Dave Diillenbeck, Eric Mattson, Tom Adams and Janet Fletcher, they began investigating pollution crimes. The slogan was “they pollute, we prosecute,” and they stuck to their word. One of their very first cases hit close to home for Fletcher. In fact, it was her home, and the city of Kingston built a dump on it. Belle Park was being used as a dump site for the city, and it was seeping toxins into the Cataraqui River. Fletcher was angry about the city’s lack of attention to the site, which inspired her to act as the informant on the case. In 1998, the city was convicted of violating the federal Fisheries Act on seven counts. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the City of Kingston was denied their request to appeal the convictions. This was a precedent-setting case for EBI and was influential in the later development of Swim Drink Fish. 

​​In the spring of 2000, tragedy struck the town of Walkerton, Ontario. Contaminated drinking water left thousands of people ill and took the lives of seven locals. Mattson acted as counsel for Energy Probe and EBI. Krystyn Tully was a key researcher. It was during this time that the two aligned and were able to join forces with a common goal: swimmable, drinkable and fishable water. 

Swimmable, drinkable and fishable water was what captured the hearts of everyone from the beginning. Many, including Mattson and Tully, found inspiration in the Waterkeeper Alliance movement in the United States. The Waterkeeper Alliance connects and mobilizes more than 300 Waterkeeper groups internationally to protect the water and hold polluters accountable. Many individuals were already doing this in Canada, so the next step for many came naturally.  

Krystyn Tully at “Lake Ontario Keeper’s” first office in Toronto.

Mattson and Tully went on to establish Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in 2001. It wasn’t easy, and they had to make do with what little they had, but luckily, Mattson felt as though being a Waterkeeper was exactly what Chapman had prepared him for. Tully was the only full-time employee, and Mattson worked full-time hours as a volunteer. Friends and family banded together in support of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, and they were able to get their first patrol boat out on the lake in June of that year. Mattson would take the boat out for days, collecting photos of waste and pollution across Lake Ontario. By documenting the harmful substances in the lake, they were able to continue holding municipalities responsible. 

By 2002-2003, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper was registered as an independent charity, and they were able to go from a volunteer group to a full-time organization. A few years later, Mattson was headed to the Waterkeeper Alliance conference’s general meeting and invited Chapman, who had moved to British Columbia, to join him. The two travelled to San Diego, where they started discussing the notion of creating a Fraser Riverkeeper program. It was obvious that Chapman was best suited to be the Fraser Riverkeeper, and Mattson successfully convinced him of it. 

Photo by Mary Woodbury: Riverkeeper Doug Chapman at the wheel of a boat

In 2004, Chapman incorporated Fraser Riverkeeper alongside Carol McDonald. They had the name, but in order to grow the Riverkeeper program, they needed support to launch and help it function. Mattson had previously worked with a talented environmental lawyer from New York named Lauren Brown Hornor. When Mattson found out she was moving to Vancouver, he connected her with Chapman and McDonald. She played an instrumental role in getting the program off the ground by securing seed funding, building a community to support its work, and officially launching the organization in 2007. Just three years later, she secured its charitable status, and in 2010, Brown Hornor acted as Fraser Riverkeeper’s executive director for 10 years before serving as President of its board of directors. 

Lauren Brown Hornor and Fraser Riverkeeper’s Booth

One of the first cases Fraser Riverkeeper took on was against Metro Vancouver and the province of British Columbia. Toxic sewage from the Iona Island Sewage Treatment Plant was being dumped directly into the salmon habitat at the mouth of the Fraser River. Using the Fisheries Act, Fraser Riverkeeper was able to lay charges against the two entities. Unfortunately, the case was ultimately taken over and stayed by the federal government, on the grounds that it was "not in the public interest" to enforce the law against this chronic offender. These efforts, however, did not go to waste. In 2020, Metro Vancouver announced an upgrade to the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant that will help tackle a significant source of pollution in the Salish Sea. This is just one example of the foundations that were laid by Fraser Riverkeeper and Chapman for future change.

All the work that Fraser Riverkeeper and Lake Ontario Waterkeeper were doing in this era really highlighted the complacency of the public in regard to recreational water. No one was asking what “dirty water” was or how it could be defined. A prime example of this was in the East at Bluffer’s Beach in Scarborough, Ontario. Failing to meet water quality standards more than 80% of the time, many were writing the beach off altogether. The team in Ontario investigated the pollution and published a report. By taking water quality samples and reporting on them, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper was able to spark action from the City of Toronto. This brought to the forefront the value of using water samples and generation reports, which ultimately played a large role in the growth of the organization. Bluffer’s Beach is now one of the cleanest beaches in the GTA. 

Despite releasing reports for years, there was still a noticeable gap when it came to being able to share information on which beaches were swimmable. The opportunity to share valuable data clearly and concisely became evident, and Lake Ontario Waterkeeper began working on Swim Guide, a free app and website to help connect people to the water by providing a list of access points with the most recent water quality test results. In 2008, a partnership with RBC was developed. They began building out Swim Guide, with Fraser Riverkeeper being the first to pilot the initiative in 2010. The official app and website launched just one year later.

Swim Guide App

“We weren’t pollution hunters anymore. Now we were actually collecting data to share with the public to protect public health and the environment”

- Mark Mattson, President of Swim Drink Fish Canada

The use of simple tools coupled with the basic notion of connecting, collecting, sharing and restoring has been a key aspect from the beginning and a catalyst for many initiatives we continue to run today. Swim Guide brought to light the power that collecting data has and the importance of doing so. It wasn’t long until volunteers were brought in to help fill gaps and expand the platform.

These advancements led to exponential growth for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, ultimately leading to a split in its programs. Local advocacy work on one side and applications and program models on the other. Mattson and Tully had to really think about the future of the organization and how they could best support the movement. It wasn’t until a conversation in 2014 with Chapman and Brown Hornor that they realized Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and Fraser Riverkeeper could be stronger together. Both organizations were after the same thing: swimmable, drinkable, fishable water, and they were doing so by connecting with recreational water communities. In November 2017, this conversation became a reality and the 2 organizations, alongside North Saskatchewan Waterkeeper, consolidated under a common name: Swim Drink Fish.

“We needed a simple way to introduce ourselves, something that would tell you right from the first moment we meet what we stand for.”

- Krystyn Tully

There was no better way to describe these organizations. This statement encapsulated everyone’s vision for the future while reminding them of the past rooted in environmental law. 

Gord Edgar Downie Pier in Kingston, Ontario

Today, Swim Drink Fish continues to focus on recreational water quality, because we see it as the stepping stone for connection, which is the catalyst for protection and restoration. Together, we’ll advocate for the protection and restoration of the places we love. Because everyone has a right to swimmable, drinkable, fishable water.