‘No choice’- northwestern Ontario community moves to protect natural resources [Video]

As walleye prepare to spawn in White Lake, near the Town of Marathon, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg is once again mobilizing to protect the fish population from illegal commercial fishing, a responsibility the community says should fall to the Ontario government.

Despite repeated calls for enforcement over the past eight years, the Indigenous community says the province has refused to act, leaving the community to monitor and patrol the lake on its own. Officials have not engaged with Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg since January.

‘We have no choice’

“For too long, the governments have ignored their responsibility to protect White Lake, leaving our community to do the work they refuse to do,” said Chief Louis Kwissiwa. “We are mobilizing again because we have no choice—if we don’t act, the fishery will collapse. White Lake has sustained our people since time immemorial, and the province must step up before the damage is irreversible.”

Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg says poaching by outsiders …