FORT FRANCES — The member of Parliament who represents borderlands constituents upset over what they’re calling a lack of enforcement on the region’s border lakes says he’s listening.
Marcus Powlowski told Newswatch he’s been speaking with a coalition of Northwestern Ontario interests who are pressing federal officials about their concerns over enforcement on Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake. They’re particularly worried about the implications of what they say is an increasing number of American anglers making day trips from the U.S. into Canada on the water — without having to pass border checks or declare themselves to Canadian officials.
Powlowski said the rules in place were based on reciprocity between the two nations sharing cross-border resources, but he said he doesn’t believe that’s currently the case.
“These are reciprocal agreements, meaning that Canadian guides could go to the American side, but in practice, that is not the case,” he said, adding that, while there are “a few Canadians” in the region going south, “there is no reciprocity.”
In a letter to federal and provincial ministers, the coalition — which represents municipalities, tourism and First Nations stakeholders — charges that there are “onerous roadblocks” for Canadian-based guides and anglers to fish in American waters under the same terms.
“That's in the boundary water agreement that the waters were for the enjoyment and use of both sides, but the reality is that the Americans have taken advantage of it,” Powlowski said.
He said he’s not opposed to a ban on work permits that allow U.S.-based fishing guides to bring non-resident clients north of the border. The Liberal representative said he’s been in talks with federal ministers in his party and "trying to get it on our government's radar, when we start negotiating a new (trade) agreement with the United States.”
The area’s provincial representative, Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford, said he’s been in talks with Ontario Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris about increasing conservation officer presence on the lakes, especially around the International Falls Bass Championship that wrapped up on Aug. 23.
Rickford said he’s also met with, and heard a lot of concerns from, regional stakeholders.
“We've heard, and we're working closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources to step up our capacity to monitor the boundary waters,” Rickford told Newswatch.
“Obviously, our friendships and families with folks across Minnesota's way is very important to us, but so is preserving and protecting our lakes and rivers and the abundance of fish and wildlife.”
He said it requires all levels of government to work in partnership.
“Moving forward, we want to make sure that our monitoring is stepped up a little bit and work with our federal counterparts to deal with any of the issues we've heard from constituents around border matters on the water,” he said.
In a statement, Rickford said he wants to coordinate a roundtable including multiple levels of government “to ensure we address the important matters that local constituents are raising.”
On the enforcement side, Powlowski pointed to an overall shortage of RCMP officers across the country, like what other police forces are facing, as a contributing factor to concerns about federal officers on the water. He said dealing with that is a priority for his government, citing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge of hiring 1,000 additional Mounties.
“That has been, in my understanding, a bit of an impediment to them increasing their border patrols, but we certainly had a lot of talks with them,” he said. “Certainly, in my discussions with the RCMP, they too are interested in augmenting the border patrols.”
-With files from Travis Glowasky
