Article content continued

The Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s claim to Aboriginal title is one of several across the country that include large areas of water, either lakes or ocean coastline. Whether they can be successful is an open question; to date, no Canadian court has ruled on whether Aboriginal title can exist to lands beneath water. The Crown will argue that it cannot, and that navigable waters are open highways for anyone to use.

But the courts may disagree. What it would mean for a First Nation to gain title to a body of water as heavily frequented as Lake Huron is, likewise, not entirely clear. Indigenous leaders are quick to dismiss fears about large swaths of open water suddenly being rendered off-limits to the public, but they do say they want greater control of fisheries and other industries operating in the waters they claim.

The water was and is central to SON’s sense of territory, and indeed to their traditional spiritual beliefs

Chief Lester Anoquot of the Saugeen First Nation, one of the two plaintiffs in the Saugeen Ojibway Nation case, said his people still abide by the same principles that governed that meeting with Champlain 400 years ago. “It’s not so much about wanting to control the waters or to limit access. … The issue is Aboriginal title, original ownership,” he said. “Recognizing the fact that originally, and we still maintain today, that we did have ownership.”

***

The Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), a term referring to the Saugeen First Nation and the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, is claiming all the water surrounding the Bruce Peninsula, a long point of land that divides Georgian Bay from the rest of Lake Huron. The claim extends west across Lake Huron to the U.S. border, east to the middle of the bay, and north halfway to Manitoulin Island.