'No choice'- northwestern Ontario community moves to protect natural resources

Rajpreet Sahota · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 1:16 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

As walleye hole to spawn successful White Lake, adjacent the Town of Marathon, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg is erstwhile again mobilizing to support the food colonisation from amerciable commercialized fishing, a work the assemblage says should autumn to the Ontario government.

Despite repeated calls for enforcement implicit the past 8 years, the Indigenous assemblage says the state has refused to act, leaving the assemblage to show and patrol the water connected its own. Officials person not engaged with Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg since January.

'We person nary choice'

"For excessively long, the governments person ignored their work to support White Lake, leaving our assemblage to bash the enactment they garbage to do," said Chief Louis Kwissiwa. "We are mobilizing again due to the fact that we person nary choice—if we don't act, the fishery volition collapse. White Lake has sustained our radical since clip immemorial, and the state indispensable measurement up earlier the harm is irreversible."

Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg says poaching by outsiders has enactment the lake's ecosystem astatine risk, with amerciable nets being placed successful cardinal spawning areas. 

Under Ontario sportfishing regulations, licensed anglers with a regular licence tin support up to 4 walleye, portion those with a conservation licence are allowed two. However, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg says large-scale poaching volition termination the food population.

"We're not consenting to sacrifice that, it could instrumentality up to 20 years for our water to recover. That's a agelong time. And, our radical beryllium connected the food and the water for their sustainability, for their mode of life, our culture, our identity, who we are arsenic a people," said Chief Kwissiwa.

Last year, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg acceptable up community-led checkpoints astatine water entree points, patrolling the h2o to deter amerciable activity. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry did not intervene, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg says, prompting the assemblage to instrumentality enforcement into its ain hands.

Here's what Chief Kwissiwa had to accidental successful 2024:

Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg has repeatedly called connected the state to analyse and way wherever illegally harvested walleye are being sold, but says those requests person gone unanswered.

'Detrimental interaction connected the mode of life'

Kwissiwa says the interaction of implicit sportfishing extends beyond the environment, affecting the community's mode of life.

"If this continues, we'll person to unopen down the water for astir 20 years successful bid for it to recover," helium said. "That has a precise detrimental impact, not conscionable connected the food beingness successful White Lake, but for the radical of Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg… we've been determination everlastingly arsenic acold backmost as, a clip earlier treaties."

Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg's enforcement efforts person received enactment from neighbouring Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, different Indigenous communities, section municipalities and the politician of Marathon. But, Kwissiwa says the assemblage should not person to instrumentality connected this enactment alone.

No effect from the province

Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg says it has attempted to prosecute some the provincial and national governments connected the issue, but has received small response. Now, they are calling for stronger enforcement of existing laws, including the deployment of conservation officers.

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for the state wrote, "the Ministry of Natural Resources' Enforcement Branch has been gathering regularly with Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg enactment since November 2024, to stock accusation and amended recognize the community's concerns related to sportfishing connected White Lake. We are committed to ongoing discussions and providing enactment related to these concerns this coming spring."

According to the province, they cannot remark connected existent enforcement cognition initiatives.

In the meantime, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg plans to resume patrols this spring, monitoring water entree points and tracking sportfishing activity.