by Donald W. Deer
Muskrat Lake Association
WHITEWATER REGION — This past June myself and Gary Younghusband submitted on behalf of the Muskrat Lake Association (MLA) a “Request for Review” under Part lV of the Environmental Bill of Rights. This was done at the suggestion of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) that the only way we’re going to get action for the remediation of Muskrat Lake was to submit this “Request.” This request asks that a review assess the need for new provisions in legislation, regulations and/or policies. The purpose of the request is to get a Protection Plan and a Protection Act for Muskrat Lake similar to what Lake Simcoe has. Those documents list the action items that are required and mandated in order to help remediate Lake Simcoe.
In the request we listed two and one-half pages of reasons why both the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) should do the review. We attached a petition with 200 names of residents and other people who enjoy Muskrat Lake.
Attached to the request were 48 documents, studies, and reports outlining the situation with the lake and the watershed. We included all the correspondence from the Federal Minister of the Environment, MOECC, and the Provincial Minister of the Environment and correspondence from the Provincial Representative and Renfrew County Warden outlining their concerns with Muskrat Lake.
The ECO advised that the request should include a remediation plan so we attached several action items that we strongly believe will make a difference to Muskrat Lake. I had discussed the request with Michael Michalski and he agreed to comment on the “Request for Review” prior to us submitting it. Mr. Michalski is a well-known limnologist from Bracebridge, Ontario. He did a report on the 300 meter setback from Muskrat Lake for Whitewater Region and is also one of the authors of the: “Township of Bromley Municipal Drainage Project Environmental Appraisal, Resource Inventory, Hough, Stansbury and Michlski, February 1981.” In that report, it shows why Muskrat Lake would get worse if the Harris drain project went ahead — which it did.
This past week the MLA received a letter from the MOECC stating that our request had been accepted. The letter from MOECC states: “We will focus our efforts on examining whether existing environmental policy, legislation, regulations, tools, programs, and plans are able to address the issues related to water quality in Muskrat Lake (i.e. phosphorus contamination) in accordance with the Ministry’s mandate.” They have also advised that the review is expected to be completed by December 31, 2018.
Scott Shaw of MOECC in Toronto advised me that the Ministry will issue a status report to the Muskrat Lake Association every three months. We had several questions for Mr. Shaw, Policy Advisor at the MOECC:
1) Does it mean the MOECC recognizes that the condition of Muskrat Lake is an environmental problem and action is required to correct the problem?
2) Will some ministry or level of government take accountability for the problem and start corrective action?
3) Is it a possibility that Muskrat Lake will get a Protection Plan and a Protection Act out of this review as we’ve requested?
Mr. Shaw advised: “We won’t have any of these answers until the completion of the review.”
He also stated: “The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario provides oversight of all applications for review submitted under the EBR. This oversight includes reporting annually to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on ministries’ handling of applications for review.”
The MOECC provides quarterly updates on the status of reviews through direct communication with the applicants and through a posting on the Environmental Registry (notice 012-7383).
The Muskrat Lake Association firmly believes that this is the correct path forward for the eventual remediation of Muskrat Lake.
