The Ontario Crown Lands Department set aside some 405,000 hectares of prime pine timberland as the Quetico Forest Reserve in April 1909. At the time, Aubrey White, the Deputy Minister of lands, forests and mines noted that while there were two First Nations reserves in the territory, “the Indians would not be interfered with.” Beyond protecting the pine, the Quetico Forest Reserve was also supposed to provide protection for the big-game and fur-bearing animals of the region. Regrettably, over the next few years, poaching occurred on a massive scale. Construction camps for the Canadian Northern Railway, as well as various lumber camps ruthlessly exploited the fish and game resources of the reserve to feed their workers. A single small lumber camp alone required some 50-100 moose a season. Lands and Forests officials soon realized that Quetico would have to be given park status as a measure to protect the game. As it happened, Quetico had the distinction of being the first park to be created under the Provincial Parks Act of 1913.

Sadly, Aubrey White’s statement that “the Indians would not be interfered with” proved to be tragically wrong. The small Sturgeon Lake Ojibway band of Reserve 24C, located within the forest reserve, was affected quickly, and negatively. In the late autumn of 1910, necessity obliged band members to leave their reserve in search of a winter supply of game. They established a seasonal encampment in the Hunter’s Island section of the Quetico forest reserve. Although the band members had surrendered the area in question under Treaty No. 3 (1873), they had been assured that the lands would not be wanted for a long time, and that they would be able to exercise their hunting, fishing and trapping rights in the region. It is unclear whether this isolated band even realized that the forest reserve had been established.

All the same, provincial officials forced the band to break camp in December 1910. Leo Chosa, the operator of a trading post on Basswood Lake, considered the decision to be cruel and callous. “What are to become of those Indians?” he asked. “You cannot annihilate them ….their reservation at present cannot support them … I doubt very much that there exist today a civilized people under the sun that would uphold and compel its officers to enforce a law that would deprive a man of his home and throw his wife and little ones on the mercies of a northern winter to endure the tortures that the Indians in question will have to undergo if they are compelled to move from Hunter’s Island this winter.”

The enforced removal resulted in the dispersal of the Sturgeon Lake people. Lacking a sufficient food supply to survive the winter, they sought refuge with other Ojibway communities, particularly with the Lac la Croix band, whose reserve was located at the southwest corner of the forest reserve on the Minnesota border.

Following the creation of Quetico Provincial Park in 1913, the Ojibways’ litany of woe continued. They were arrested for trapping, hunting and fishing in the park and their access to sacred ceremonial sites was restricted. In 1915, without consultation with the survivors of the Sturgeon Lake band, the federal and Ontario governments declared Reserve 24C abandoned.

These events came back to torment the government of Ontario. In the last quarter of the twentieth century the members of the Lac la Croix First Nation, who consider themselves to be related to and descendants of the Sturgeon Lake Ojibway, demanded redress of their two long-standing grievances against the province—the cancellation of Reserve 24C, and the effective extinction of the Treaty Rights of the Lac la Croix Ojibway, due to the creation of Quetico Provincial Park on their traditional lands. On June 3, 1991, Minister of Natural Resources C.J. (Bud) Wildman made an historic and unprecedented act of atonement, by apologizing in the Ontario legislature for the treatment meted out to the Lac la Croix Ojibway, and promising that the government would provide immediate and long-term assistance to improve the economic and social conditions of the band.

Wildman also responded decisively to the band’s request that the government amend the Quetico Management Plan, so as to allow mechanized boat and canoe access to additional waters in the Wilderness Park, for the purpose of guiding, and to permit the operation and landing of aircraft on additional lakes.

Since that time, park administrators and politicians have endeavored to harmonize aboriginal rights and park policy in the Quetico (and, indeed, in all provincial wilderness parks), and to engage First Nation peoples more directly in the planning, management and operation of our parks.

Dr. Gerald Killan, Trustee

Quetico Park will celebrate its 100th Birthday in 2009. The Quetico Foundation, or the organizations which led to the formation of the Foundation, have been active for most of that period. It is understandable that in a parliamentary system the issues which can be dealt with inside of the normal 5 year electoral cycle receive most attention. Short-term pain for long term gain can be a challenge because electoral judgements are often based upon the short term. The current climate change debates wrestle with this issue.

A 100th anniversary predictably raises questions of what will/should Quetico be like 100 years from now. The key tool used to shape long term direction for the park’s future is the management plan. Quetico’s long term management plan is undergoing a major review. The last full plan was done in 1977 with significant input from the Quetico Foundation. The planning process involves several pre-defined steps and various review and comment phases. Anyone can register to get updates on the plan’s development by sending an e-mail request to queticoplan@ontario.ca.

In the summer of 2007 the Background Information portion of the plan will be out for public review. This summarizes everything we know about the park as well as the major issues which need to be subsequently addressed. The Quetico Foundation can play a crucial role in setting the long term direction for the park. One hundred years from now may seem like an impossibly long context but it represents only the adolescence of a single lakeside Pine.

By Robin Reilly, Quetico Park Superintendent

In thanks to Grand Experiences of Paris Ontario, nineteen canoes of Trustees, Trustees Emeritus, and friends and acquaintances of the Quetico Foundation enjoyed a long and at times not so leisurely paddle down the Grand River from Paris to Brantford on Saturday April 28th for our 6th Annual Quetico Foundation Canoe Day! The cool air and occasional drizzle did not deter even the least experienced of the hearty group, who meandered their way through the rural Carolinian forest characteristic of the banks of the Grand River, eyeing blue herons, including an ominous nesting site, the occasional rodent and of course a proliferation of fisherman casting for speckled trout. The fast water, frequent rocks, strong current and the famous ‘bloop’ offered a little excitement from time to time along the route, but everyone managed to stay upright and for the most part relatively dry. The one portage on route around a small dam was an easy carry and added a flavour of the Quetico wilderness canoeing experience we all love and long for! Next year we will tackle another stretch of the Grand- from somewhere to somewhere- and we hope you’ll be able to come along for the ride, the excitement and maybe another portage! Look for the date at the end of April or early in May in our fall newsletter or on our website!
It’s a fun way to support the work that we do and wet your appetite for a summer of paddling adventures!

As this newsletter goes to print, we are once again beginning to prepare for our Annual Dinner on October 17th in Toronto at the newly located Ontario Club, now at 1 King Street West. Last year over 100 distinguished guests experienced a number of ‘virtual’ adventures with Wendy Grater, Owner, Black Feather Wilderness Adventure Company, while testing their luck for a Langford Canoe or their pocket book for a wilderness adventure holidays- all in support of our Summer Student Research Program. Our 2007 dinner’s mystery speaker is guaranteed to be riveting, the auction items enticing and the canoe the perfect compliment to your collection. Mark the date on our calendar and we look forward to seeing you there!

If you are interested in any of our programs, have concerns regarding the Park that you would like to share, or would like to support or become involved with the Quetico Foundation, please call us or email us at your convenience.

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And don’t forget to keep abreast of our activities on our website!