Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Growing up, I was always surrounded by the serene beauty of lakes. From family picnics by the shores of Lake Ontario to my first canoeing experience in the pristine waters of Lake Louise, lakes have been an integral part of my identity. Their vastness, depth, and the life they support have always fascinated me. Today, I invite you on a journey to explore some of the most interesting facts about Canadian lakes, interwoven with personal memories and reflections.
Some of the most spectacular lakes in the world call Canada home. In fact, Canada has more lake area coverage than any other country. For example, 563 lakes in the country span over 40 square miles. Furthermore, fresh bodies of water cover eight percent of Canada’s landmass. Therefore, not only do these lakes provide a source of fresh water, but they also bring in a lot of tourism with their recreational activities. However, these lakes also serve an abundance of wildlife, including snakes. So, below is a list of the most snake-infested lakes in Canada.
Corey Adkins, 52, communication and content director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, said the crossing will raise awareness of the Great Lakes. He has followed the group and produced documentaries on their work. Problems on the Great Lakes vary from algal blooms to microplastics, he said. "They are all in trouble in one form or another," he said. "What these guys do is bring awareness of the problems of each lake. The mission that these guys are on is very important."
Small groups of people have been taking to the new ice on Thunder Bay in recent days skating, biking ice boating and ice fishing. Yet this fun on the ice has been slow in coming this winter. And they are on thin ice. The ice formation on Thunder Bay has been slow to form this winter, due to above average air temperatures through December and into January.
This past week, representatives from the Sault officially applied to become the site of the Canada Water Agency. Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said he is confident the city's bid will be successful. “We’re located right here in the middle of the Great Lakes on the gathering place between Lake Huron and Lake Superior and a short drive or short boat ride away in some cases from Lake Michigan,” Shoemaker said. “When you think water in Canada, freshwater specifically, Sault Ste. Marie is at the heart of it all.”
The biggest of the Great Lakes and one of the largest freshwater ecosystems in the world — has remained relatively pristine compared to the other four. It’s far enough away from the populated urban centres in southern Ontario, its watersheds are largely forested, there’s little industry or agriculture on its shorelines and its especially cold water (an average of 4 C year-round) has kept away invasive species.
Lake Superior and Lake Michigan-Huron water levels are near their seasonal low point and depending on weather and water supply conditions could begin their seasonal spring rise over the coming weeks. Lake Superior water levels remain below the seasonal long-term average while Lake Michigan-Huron water levels remain above the seasonal long-term average. Lake Superior outflows continue to be set in consideration of water levels upstream and downstream.
Respect for water was as much a part of Phillip Solomon’s fishing education as sawing through thick winter ice. The Anishinaabe fisherman can see how rising temperatures are changing Gitchigumi and the fish his community relies on. Sometime in the early 1990s, the ice was so unusually thick and smooth on Gitchigumi that Anishinaabe fisherman Phillip Solomon drove his car, a 1984 Monte Carlo, across the lake from Fort William First Nation to Pie Island with a friend. “There was seven feet of ice,” says Phillip, who everyone calls “Benny.” “There was no snow. We cut the hole, standing in the hole. I was standing in six feet of ice.” By the time he and his friend cut all the way through the ice, there was only a foot of water to fish in, and the two had to set their net somewhere else.
Despite a wetter-than-average December, water levels on Lake Superior are nearly 30 centimetres lower than a year ago, according to an organization that monitors lake levels. The International Lake Superior Board of Control said Lake Superior water levels in January are 28 centimetres below levels recorded a year ago, and seven centimetres lower than the long-term average between 1918 and 2020.
The proposed reroute is expected to cross nearly 200 bodies of water and temporarily affect 55 hectares of wetlands. Enbridge says the nearly 70-year-old pipeline is a vital link to fuel across the region. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which represents 11 Ojibwe tribes, told the DNR in a Dec. 10 letter that the state’s review has significant gaps in information. The commission says it doesn’t have enough data on the effects an oil spill would have on downstream waters, including Lake Superior. They also say it doesn’t assess compliance with the Bad River tribe’s water quality standards or combined impacts of other projects.
Sault Ste. Marie wants to be the home for a new federal government agency that could create at least 100 full-time jobs in the community. The city is making the case that it would be the ideal location for the new Canada Water Agency, which would improve freshwater management across the country. Kathleen Heymans, the city's business development manager, said the agency would expand on existing expertise built around freshwater management in Sault Ste. Marie.
This summer, environmental groups and First Nations in Clinton, B.C., a rural village of about 650, opposed a bottling company’s application to take 500,000 litres of water a day from the local aquifer. It was far from the first time that the proposed sale of water has created controversy in Canada. But it’s usually massive schemes for bulk water exports — which aren’t allowed in Canada — rather than bottled-water businesses like the one in B.C. that grab headlines. Maclean’s published high-profiles articles on the bulk-water scare in 1999 and 2000 when an Ontario businessman applied to ship water from Lake Superior to Asia.
Lakes in the Northern Hemisphere have been warming six times faster since 1992 than they were at any other time period in the past 100 years, a Canadian study suggests. The study, entitled “Loss of Ice Cover, Shifting Phenology and More Extreme Events in Northern Hemisphere Lakes,” was published in the October issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences and led by York University in Ontario.
Hot summer weather and drier than average conditions have led to a lowering of Lake Superior water levels. The International Lake Superior Board of Control (ILSBC) said water levels had declined and reached the seasonal long-term average for the first time since April 2014. In its September update, the ILSBC said Lake Superior declined three centimetres in the month of August, a month that normally see the lake rising one centimetre.
Hot and dry weather this summer in Thunder Bay, Ont., meant the Bare Point Water Treatment Plant pumped a bit more of Lake Superior though the city than normal. Based on the past two summers, the plant produced, on average, 42.3 million litres of water per day. The summer of 2021 saw that figure increase by 13 percent, to 47.9 million litres per day, said Erin Marcella-Fui, the plant superintendent. "It's certainly an increase in demand, so our production goes up. We are prepared for that production level, so it didn't impact us that way, she said, noting the plant's maximum production is 113 million litres of water per day.
“Canada has one of the largest resources of fresh water in the world. Water is going to be — already is — a very, very valuable commodity and I’ve always found it odd that Canada is so willing to sell oil and natural gas and uranium and coal, which are by their nature finite. But talking about water is off the table, yet water is renewable.” — Paul Cellucci (U.S. ambassador to Canada, 2001 to 2005)
The push is on to bring a yet-to-be formed Canada Water Agency to Sault Ste Marie. The agency was first identified during the Liberal government's previous mandate. City councillor Corey Gardi and Mayor Christian Provenzano are spearheading the effort. "Coun. Gardi and I have been working to lobby the federal government to locate that new agency here in Sault Ste Marie," said Provenzano. "We think there are a lot of natural qualities of the community that make it amenable to that type of agency and we think it would be a great fit."
There may be a glimmer of hope for wave-weary landowners and municipalities along the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. After Lake Huron set high water records over the first eight months of 2020, lake water levels have been on a significant decline thanks to below average precipitation and more evaporation because of a lack of ice cover. The Lake Michigan-Huron basin actually set a record of a different kind in January, when it dropped 11 centimetres, far more than the average decline of two cm for the first month of the year. In February, when the lake on average drops one cm, it fell four cm.
Pays Plat Chief Peter Mushquash emphasized the importance of protecting Lake Superior for future generations during a Dec. 15 announcement of water treatment plant investments in his community and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg. “Water is important, it’s very important,” Chief Mushquash says. “That’s where we get our water, right out of Lake Superior. So we have to look after that Lake Superior. We have to be very careful with our water.”
Rising water levels in the St. Lawrence Seaway could cost the economy more than $1 billion, shippers and port operators say. A new study from the Chamber of Marine Commerce warns that opening the floodgates further at a dam in Cornwall, Ont., would wash away between $1 billion and $1.75 billion in revenue for businesses on both sides of the border. A board of control recently increased the flow at the Moses Saunders Dam — the only control point on the St. Lawrence Seaway, which includes the Great Lakes — to allow 10,400 cubic metres of water per second out of Lake Ontario.
