The Bagida'waad Alliance is hosting its first fundraiser in Owen Sound on Sunday, June 24th from 6-8pm at the Owen Sound Farmer's Market, with a panel with Indigenous commercial fishermen and a fisheries scientist discussing how climate change is affecting Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. They are raising money for water testing, scientific equipment like data loggers and weather stations, as well as a computer with software that can track the data.

"We're asking for people to come out and support us so we can gather more information about the health of our lakes," said Andrew Akiwenzie, Chair of the Bagida'waad Alliance and a commercial fisherman from Neyaashiinigmiing. "We're seeing dangerous wind speeds more often, and algae at 300ft down, which we've never seen before, so we're worried about our waters."

The Bagida'waad [pronounced Bog-id-ah-wahd] Alliance is an environmental not-for-profit corporation registered on March 8, 2018 by a group of fishing families from Neyaashiinigmiing, with support from some allies from communities around the traditional territory.

"We need to support the Indigenous fishing families to document what is happening with climate change," said Meghan Lipka, a board member of the Bagida'waad Alliance. "They are seeing it on the water every time they go out, and are the best people to scientifically track it as well."

Some of these changes are very significant, and the group hopes to collect data sets, do its own research as needed, and present a better picture of what is happening.

"Over the falls that I fished, about 15-20 years ago, we had falls that we could get out at least 3 months of the year and fish the shoals," said Guy Nadjiwon, President of the Bagida'waad Alliance. "This year, it was 4 days, because the winds were so strong, it wasn't worth killing someone on the lake for a few fish."

Tickets are $25 and are available through Meghan Lipka at [email protected]. Please like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bagidawaad/, check out our Twitter @bagida_waad or email [email protected] for more information.

source: media release, Bagida'waad Alliance