Clear Lake’s health, welfare should be the first priority

Clear Lake has long been a jewel in the crown for those who have cottage and business interests in Riding Mountain National Park.

Parks Canada says the lake is special for its unique status as a clear, oligotrophic lake, meaning that it has low amounts of nutrients, giving it a clear look and making it a suitable source for drinking water.

“Clear Lake is surrounded by the Boreal Plains forest ecozone, a mix of boreal forest and prairies, which acts as an important natural water filter for pollution and nutrients,” Parks Canada states on its website.

Not only does it have a rich diversity of plant and animal life, it is a favourite of boaters, swimmers and cottage owners in the region, offering a wide range of year-round activities. In fact, the beauty of the lake has prompted its own cottage industry, so to speak, when it comes to drawing tourists to the region.

But the history of modern tourism over the last century and a half is secondary to the history and deep cultural connection that local Indigenous people have to not only Clear Lake, but to Riding Mountain National Park as a whole.

The Ojibway people called the region home before 1871, when they signed Treaty 2 and were allocated Indian Reserve 61A on the north short of Clear Lake. In the 1930s, the Indigenous population — now called the Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation — were forcibly displaced with the creation of the national park. The fishing station land they had lost was only returned to the First Nation in 1991. And for the Keesee band and council, it has been an uphill battle for the First Nation to have its hunting and fishing rights recognized by the federal government.

Based on that unique history, it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that Keeseekoowenin would have a particular sense of protectionism when it comes to Clear Lake and Riding Mountain.

But the recent ecological threat to the lake from the influx of zebra mussels has prompted a clash between business and tourism interests, and the First Nation that would protect its natural heritage.

Last week, Keesee Chief Dwayne Sonny Blackbird told the Sun that he threatened Parks Canada with legal action if motorboats were allowed back on the water this past spring. That falls in line with what a Parks Canada official told a packed town hall meeting in Wasagaming in July, in that a legal threat convinced the agency that its promise to reintroduce motorized boats on Clear Lake would not be viable.

Parks Canada announced it was implementing a boat ban at the beginning of the May long weekend, even though it had informed the public in January that boats would be allowed on the water again. At the time, the agency said the reversal was intended to curb the spread of zebra mussels in the lake.

Blackbird said he made the threat because he was inspired by a strong family history at the lake. He said that the introduction of zebra mussels, and the failure to contain the invasive species, charged him to action.

“I want to protect my culture and my heritage,” Blackbird told the Sun. “I’m going to fight till I’m dead.”

The situation has come to a head in federal court, where a coalition of community groups called Fairness for Clear Lake petitioned for a judicial review last June, with the aim of having a judge declare the boat ban invalid or unlawful.

Keeseekoowenin was approved by a judge this month to participate as a respondent in the ongoing judicial review, and intends to defend the ban alongside the federal attorney general.

There is little doubt that Parks Canada should have been far more transparent with its reasons for the re-implementation of a boat ban on Clear Lake, particularly doing so only a day before the May long weekend when cottagers and boat owners were set to return for the season.

The anger that has erupted from that poorly timed decision is easy to understand, as those with Fairness for Clear Lake believe that the federal department has not acted fairly with those who have business and property in the region.

But we must also recognize that Keeseekoowenin First Nation has valid concerns about the health of the lake, and that Canada has a legal duty to consult with the local Indigenous population about any decision regarding the stewardship of the park that can potentially affect them.

Whether that duty to consult was undertaken by Parks Canada in any meaningful way before its January announcement to reopen the lake to motorboats is unclear. What is clear, however, is that Parks Canada finds itself between a rock and a hard place, with Indigenous interest on one side and competing business and tourism interests on the other.

We don’t see how either side will be satisfied in this regard. The lake will still have zebra mussel contamination, no matter what the judge decides. And there seems to be no going back — as Blackbird said, he has already found a zebra mussel on the shore this year.

What should be at the forefront for Parks Canada and the federal government is the health and welfare of the lake itself, with all human interests on the lake being secondary to those concerns.

After all, no one wins if the lake loses what makes it special in the first place.