On the western shores of James and Hudson bays, a group of Omushkego Cree nations have been working to protect both water and land
You can’t blame Sam Hunter for not being in the mood for a boat ride. Rain is pelting the hamlet of Peawanuck, and the northeasterly wind coming in from Hudson Bay sweeps the coastal lowlands of northern Ontario. “I don’t like this weather,” Hunter says from underneath a furrowed brow, even as he and his German shepherd puppy, Niska, make their way by ATV from his house to the boat launch on the Winisk River.
There’s no one there to brag about how good the fishing had been upstream, no one to lament how the thawing permafrost downstream is tearing apart the riverbank, leaving the bank swallows to search for new homes. And there is no one around to debate the merits of a proposal to formally protect the tawich, the coastal area with its tidal marshes, mudflats and rivers, and the sea beyond, to which Hunter and others from Weenusk First Nation are inextricably linked. There is only the voice of the river.
A dozen freighter canoes lie idle on the rocky bank, their owners no doubt thinking the same as Hunter. “I don’t like this weather,” he repeats, “but maybe it’ll get better by the time we reach the coast.” Hunter is Omushkego Cree. He was born on the tawich and still lives off and for it. It’s his ancestors’ land as much as it belongs to his grandchildren, and it’s always been like that. But Hunter, Weenusk First Nation’s natural resources monitor, worries about the future.
For the rest of this article: https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/inside-the-ambitious-indigenous-led-plan-to-protect-northwestern-ontarios-breathing-lands/