98% of lakes are inaccessible: the Rivers Foundation offers solutions

Montreal, June 18th, 2025 – It is estimated that at least 98% of lakes and rivers in southern Quebec are inaccessible to the public, and the laissez-faire approach to the massive privatization of riverbanks has transformed legal access to water into a privilege. The legal framework is so weak that the situation will deteriorate if nothing is done, warns the Rivers Foundation, which recommends that the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, draw inspiration from the solutions deployed by Scotland, New Zealand, and France to preserve the few existing public access points and create new ones in an increasingly isolated territory.

This is what a study released today by the Rivières Foundation reveals. It analyzes both Quebec case law on legal access to bodies of water and the legal mechanisms adopted in France, New Zealand, the United States, Scotland, and Scandinavian countries to restore public access to bodies of water. These countries, which were exposed to problems similar to those in Quebec, have implemented pragmatic solutions that are easily transposable to the Quebec reality.

The Rivières Foundation recommends three priority actions to the Minister to implement in Quebec:

• Limit or exempt the civil liability of owners and managers of public access to encourage them to allow pedestrians to cross their private land to access a body of water. Currently, a property owner who allows pedestrians to cross their land is exposed to civil liability claims in the event of an accident.  
• Require municipalities to compensate for any loss of existing access with equivalent access to the same body of water or the same territory and to require a riparian owner who requests a subdivision or construction permit to grant an easement to the municipality so that it can provide access to the body of water;
• Allowing pedestrian access to private land to access a body of water by adopting a framework law affirming the public nature of the banks, accompanied by concrete mechanisms to create new accesses, including the creation of right-of-way easements when selling private land or the obligation to create new public accesses to the banks when privatizing public riverside land. 

The very recent Act respecting land use planning and development requires RCMs to identify lakes or waterways that represent a recreational interest, but municipalities are under no obligation to take concrete measures to protect access to them. It is up to the provincial government to assume its responsibilities to create a clear national framework to address the structural issue of riverbank access in Quebec.

“ We can't go back and correct decades of neglect, so we must make it easier to walk on private land to restore access to lakes and rivers. This is what the Scottish and French governments did, as almost all access to the riverbanks had been privatized. They took responsibility and adopted a framework law that sets out guidelines for living together. The owner retains his or her rights to enjoy his or her property and to peace and quiet without prohibiting others from enjoying the lake or river. It's a win-win situation. " says André Bélanger, general director of the Rivières Foundation.

98% of lake and river shores are landlocked

Researchers Sébastien Rioux and Rodolphe Gonzalès have released the initial results of their study on access to water in Quebec.

As geographer Rodolphe Gonzalès, professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, points out, “ By cross-referencing cadastral data with the land assessment roles of 104 municipalities from 15 administrative regions, we were able to establish statistics on riparian ownership of watercourses. This allowed us to determine, water body by water body, the extent of private property over public waters. »

“On average, about 85% of lake and river shorelines are private and therefore inaccessible to the public. Of the remaining 15% of public shorelines, the majority are not intended for public use. These shorelines include bridges, water treatment plants, conservation areas, and other infrastructure that make access to water complicated, if not impossible. In short, we estimate that at least 98% of all shorelines analyzed are, in fact, inaccessible,” says Sébastien Rioux, professor of geography at the Université de Montréal.