Youth walking to Ottawa over water pollution

A group of Youth for Lakes walkers is raising concerns about Lake Winnipeg’s deteriorating environmental conditions by walking more than 2,100 kilometres to Ottawa.
“It’s very important to protect our water — we’re walking for our water,” said Ben Raven, a Jackhead First Nation Treaty 7 citizen from Winnipeg. “Some of our last consumable water is under threat, especially in our home communities on Lake Winnipeg, which is one of the most threatened lakes in the world. We’re the next generation so we’re trying to protect our future.”
Raven said the water is threatened by blue-green algae, pipelines and diversions.
“When you mess with the filter systems, we all know that is the land, once you start diverting natural flows you’re creating different disasters for the land,” Raven said. “It damages the filter system and you cannot fix that.”
Lake Winnipeg was named Threatened Lake of the Year 2013 by Global Nature Fund (GNF), a German non-profit, independent international foundation.
GNF is concerned about the future of Lake Winnipeg, as nutrients from agricultural run-off and sewage discharges are stimulating the growth of large amounts of blue-green algae and imbalancing the lake’s food web.
GNF also raised concerns about the increasing frequency and severity of flooding associated with climate warming, the drainage of wetlands and the regulation of water levels.
Raven said the walkers, who left Winnipeg on March 28 and expect to arrive in Ottawa by the middle of May after about 45 days on the road, have recognized that their future is in jeopardy.
“We’re ready to stand up and ready to take notice and take this ... right straight to (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper,” Raven said. “We’ve had great experiences along the way, some being bad and some being good.”
Raven said the walk has been a spiritual journey, an awareness journey and a cultural-based journey so far.
“We’ve experienced different cultures; we’ve experienced our ancestor’s roots,” Raven said. “A lot of us being urban Natives from Winnipeg, Man., we’ve lost our culture but being back in these territories has taught us a lot about our culture and it gives us a better understanding of why we are doing this, why we’re protecting Mother Earth and why these waters are so important for us the seventh generation.”
Raven said the wilderness was “beautiful” along their walking route from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay.
“You get that connection back to the land because we’re threading Mother Earth lightly with each step,” Raven said.
The federal government announced an investment of $18 million in 2012 for the five-year Phase II Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative, which focuses on improving water quality for people living in the region as well as for fish and wildlife in and surrounding Lake Winnipeg.
The Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative was developed to restore the ecological health of Lake Winnipeg, reduce pollution from sources such as agriculture, industry and wastewater and improve water quality for fisheries and recreation.
Lake Winnipeg’s watershed covers about one million sq. kilometres of land in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.
Meanwhile, another group of walkers — the Mississippi River Water Walkers — is walking south with a ceremonial copper pail of water from the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota to its mouth in New Orleans to raise awareness that it is the second-most-polluted river in the United States.
The four women and one man, three of whom are Native Americans, began their about 1,900 kilometre walk on March 1 and expect to arrive in New Orleans by the end of April.