Living Water and Lake Ontario

                                                                              Ruth Mundy photo 

This calm, gorgeous, late summer morning we launched our kayaks onto the Bay of Quinte, a long arm of Lake ONTARIO. Yup, the one and only Lake Ontario foolishly claimed as Lake You-Know-What by the Buffoon-in-Chief of the United States. 

While we were still on the shore we watched an osprey harass two squawking blue herons. As we paddled we saw egrets, kingfishers, a common term, diving. There were lots of Monarch butterflies about to make the arduous journey across this inland sea. We made our way toward the Tyendinaga Reserve, Mohawk Territory, and the mouth of the Salmon River. Once again we were virtually alone and we thanked the Creator. 

While indignant Canadians are swearing (figuratively and literally) their fealty to this shared Great Lake the truth is that we have a long history of treating the waters and the First Peoples shabbily. About a quarter of Canadians live in relative proximity to Lake Ontario and over the centuries settlers have filled in its wetlands, industrialized its shoreline, and treated its tributaries as open sewers. 

Ontario is the most polluted of the five Great Lakes and as a consequence the only one without any appreciable commercial fishery, although our household does purchase pickerel from a commercial fisher family in Prince Edward County. People do play along its shores at Provincial Parks but few municipalities have public beaches, including Belleville, our home. 

                                 Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, centre, in brown

The name Ontario is Indigenous, likely meaning shining water or beautiful water, but Indigenous peoples along its shores on both sides of the border have been treated contemptuously over time. Treaties with them were made by colonial powers only to be broken. In our area fishing rights in the Trent and Moira and Salmon Rivers were established, only to be taken away. The Salmon River has no Atlantic salmon, a species driven to extinction in Lake Ontario 120 years ago. Today Tyendinaga is the only Indigenous reserve or reservation actually on the lake in either country

As we paddled in the beauty we could see increasing stands of phragmites and windrows of quagga mussels along open areas of shoreline. These are two of many invasive species. 

I'm glad that Ontarians and Canadians are declaring that this Great Lake will remain Ontario. It would be wonderful if this increases our awareness and desire to protect and restore its shining waters. I love that Prime Minister Carney used the term "hydronyms" to declare our commitment to the term Lake Ontario. I hope that a clever a printing company is making a bundle from its My Hydronyms are Lake and Ontario tee-shirts -- I can't get on to the website, let alone order one. 

During our paddle I pondered this year's Creation Time/Season of Creation/Creationtide theme which is Living Water. Indigenous peoples understood that there is a spiritual element, and hold reverence, for Lake Ontario. As Christians who can learn with humility from their example, let's care for our Living Waters. 

                                                                              Ruth Mundy photo