‘Complete drainage’ of lake cuts off Cree hunting territory near Waswanipi, Que. [Video]

The Cree First Nation of Waswanipi in Quebec is advising land users to exercise caution and avoid the area around Lake Rouge after the lake drained with no apparent warning and caused some landslides in the area. 

Last week, William Dixon, a Cree tallyman from Waswanipi, received a notification from a friend that the roads leading to one of his campsites had collapsed. William’s great-nephew Manoel Dixon then investigated and found the lake drained and the land around their trapline had collapsed. 

That’s cut off access to several hunting campsites.

“It looked like it was just a washout at first. But once we got there, we noticed that it was big,” said Manoel. “That’s when we knew it was like a landslide — it was huge. The lake was completely gone. 

“This trapline is where we’ve hunted for many years, my grandparents and their grandparents. It’s our land.”