Taynar Simpson is hoping his legacy as chief of Alderville First Nation will include a cleaner and protected Rice Lake for many future generations of the Indigenous community.
Stating that over-fishing and pollution is savaging the health of the large body of water located in both Northumberland and Peterborough counties, Alderville First Nation’s current chief and others are aiming to make a long-term contribution to the vitality of this vital resource.
Simpson is helping spearhead an effort to have Rice Lake granted legal personhood status, which would ultimately protect the lake’s rights now and in the future.
Working in collaboration with Alderville community members, other First Nation communities, the International Observatory of Nature’s Rights (which has taken on the case pro bono), local politicians, and other stakeholders, the endeavour is gaining momentum, Simpson said.
“We’ve been putting together our team and if all goes well, we will be getting legal personhood status for Rice Lake,” Simpson told kawarthaNOW.
It’s an important undertaking, Simpson said, because “we would be able to pursue any wrongs against the lake. It’s a way to ensure the lake is protected the same way a person would be protected under the law.”
Rice Lake provides Alderville First Nation with food sustainability, Simpson said.
“It’s our wild rice, it’s our fish, it’s our waterfowl, and it’s our muskrats,” he explained. “Right now, Rice Lake is highly polluted. Fish stocks are down. People are over-fishing. The weeds — the invasives — are going crazy.”
Simpson has been involved in many recent activities to help raise awareness about the personhood initiative.
Simpson hosted a “water walk,” which involved bringing a container of water from Rice Lake into the Alderville community centre for an event.
“We had a great meeting with the International Observatory of Nature’s Rights, who were our guest panellists for the discussion with our community,” Simpson said. “We had 36 people in attendance, which for Alderville is huge. It’s something that’s speaking to the community.”
“Afterwards, I took the observatory folks out on my boat to look at our (wild) rice fields. The rice field on Rice Lake has been growing exponentially — it’s about 75 acres right now and we’re hoping to get up to 100 acres next year. This is the biggest rice field we’ve had in Rice Lake in over 100 years, so everything seems to be coming together all at once to make this move forward.”
Meanwhile, the Municipality of Port Hope hosted an event on September 30 for Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that raised more than $20,000 in support of the personhood initiative.
The project also received endorsement and a financial commitment from the event’s guest, Tom Jackson. A Métis actor, musician, philanthropist, and activist, Jackson said he would match up to $5,000 in donations garnered through the Port Hope fundraiser.
The fundraiser was a great boost, Simpson said, noting “We had zero expectations going in.”
VIDEO: “I Am the Magpie River” trailer
The money that was raised will support costs associated with the personhood initiative, he explained, including bringing in experts.
“We need to be building our case for what we’re saying,” Simpson said. “There would be a lot of science work, we want to test the water, we want to probably do some surveys, and put some media marketing out there to the public.”
Since Jackson’s concert, a lot of people have reached out and said they wanted to be part of the project, he noted.
“We’re just trying to build our team,” Simpson said. “We’re still in the formulating phase.”
Simpson noted he has been advised to amend Alderville First Nation’s constitution to fundamentally include the rights of nature, so there are several next steps and legal costs on the horizon.
When asked how long he expects achieving personhood status will take, the chief said he hopes the process is completed in less than five years. The project is not part of Simpson’s core work at the helm of Alderville First Nation — it’s a volunteer-driven effort and a grassroots movement.
The Magpie River in Quebec was the first lake in Canada to be granted legal personhood, after the local municipality of Minganie and the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit passed joint resolutions in 2021. I Am the Magpie River, a 2023 documentary from CBC’s The Nature of Things available for streaming on CBC Gem, follows the story of the river and its journey to legal personhood.
