Group files court action to overturn Parks Canada ban on motorized watercraft for Clear Lake

Darren Bernhardt · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 19, 2025 1:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

An advocacy radical for Clear Lake successful Riding Mountain National Park has filed an exertion for a judicial reappraisal of Parks Canada's decision to erstwhile again prohibition motorized watercraft successful the conflict against zebra mussels.

"This is not a determination we instrumentality lightly. Our extremity is not struggle — it is collaboration," Fairness for Clear Lake, a conjugation of cottage owners and businesses astir the parkland successful occidental Manitoba, wrote successful a quality merchandise connected Wednesday.

The group, which filed the exertion June 16, wants a justice to state the determination "invalid oregon unlawful" and bid the lawyer wide of Canada to let motorized watercraft backmost onto the lake.

Parks Canada announced successful May that it made the "difficult decision" to enforce the boating restrictions for a second consecutive summer "to support the wellness of Clear Lake."

Under the ban, non-motorized watercraft — including kayaks, canoes and inflatables — can inactive run nether definite conditions, which see an yearly permit, limitations connected which bodies of h2o are used, an inspection and a cleaning protocol.

That determination was made without meaningful consultation, wide grounds oregon respect for the economic, taste and assemblage impacts it would have, a quality merchandise from Fairness for Clear Lake says.

"While ineligible enactment is not our preferred path, determination has been nary meaningful advancement from Parks Canada successful engaging stakeholders, providing evidence or moving toward a collaborative solution," it says.

"After months of outreach and silence, this became our lone viable enactment to support the interests of our community."

CBC News has requested remark from Parks Canada but has not yet received a response.

In 2023, after zebra mussel biology DNA was recovered successful Clear Lake water, Parks Canada instituted a "one boat, 1 lake" argumentation for Clear Lake that required a vessel to lone beryllium utilized determination and connected nary different assemblage of water. Environmental DNA is genetic worldly shed by organisms into their environment. Sources see feces, shed tegument oregon carcasses.

Any clip a boat was removed from the lake, it had to beryllium tagged and sealed to the trailer. If the tag was tampered with, the vessel was not allowed backmost connected the lake.

Fears astir the invasive taxon were realized successful November that year, erstwhile the archetypal zebra mussels were discovered at Boat Cove, successful the southbound borderline of the lake.

The pursuing summer, Parks Canada set up a two-kilometre underwater curtain at Boat Cove successful an effort to incorporate them.

The effort failed erstwhile the curtain dislodged days after installation.

Watercraft were banned for 2024 to support the water and forestall immoderate further dispersed of zebra mussels. Still, hundreds of unrecorded juvenile zebra mussels were recovered successful September, attached to docks and different structures adjacent the eastbound extremity of the lake.

In January 2025, Parks Canada said the full grade of the zebra mussel infestation is yet unknown but acknowledged that eradicating them was nary longer feasible — it would necessitate identifying the full population, past isolating and containing them apart from the remainder of the lake.

The federal bureau said it would proceed to show h2o prime successful Clear Lake and find however to negociate things present that zebra mussels are established.

It besides said it would instrumentality the "one boat, 1 lake" policy for 2025.

But successful May, it reinstated the afloat prohibition "suddenly, and without consultation from the community," the tribunal filing from Fairness for Clear Lake says.

It goes connected to accidental Parks Canada has mislaid its way, shifting from what utilized to beryllium a planetary icon of conservation, assemblage and Canadian individuality to an autocratic instauration making unilateral decisions.

"This is bigger than Clear Lake. This is astir restoring content successful the thought that authorities tin service the radical with integrity. It's astir safeguarding not conscionable earthy spaces, but the antiauthoritarian values that signifier our country," the merchandise says.

"This exertion is simply a basal for section voices, fairness and the aboriginal of Clear Lake."