Tag: lake

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Cottage Life

How do you connect with the land?

Unsplash.ComRawPixel.Com/Taylor Kristan

When we went to the cottage, my father used to sit by the lake and just be present. He’d take in the wind and the water, letting them speak to him. I think, as well, he would recall his childhood on the trapline, and the small lake through the trees where he used to swim and play. When I went to the trapline with him for the first time in 2018, I understood how the land gives us life as soon as we hit the water. My father, scanning the surroundings, remembering how his family used to live, looked ten years younger. And when we stepped onto the trapline, it felt like I’d come home, a feeling I’ve come to understand as blood memory. The land lives within me.

This notion of the land shows up in my book, The Barren Grounds, with messages about our relationship to it and how we should be treating it better. One of my favourite things about being an author is seeing how kids respond to those ideas. During school presentations these days, land acknowledgements are a pretty standard way to start, but lately, a few classrooms I’ve visited have written their own after reflecting on what the land means to them, coming up with something like: “We are grateful for the trees and rocks that we can build forts with; we are grateful for the fields that we have to play soccer, baseball, and tag on.” Simple but meaningful.

How to find out what Indigenous land your cottage resides on

Land acknowledgements lead me to think of treaties because they are both linked to the land. Wherever you are, you’re likely on treaty land. The saying “We are all treaty people” means that we each have rights and responsibilities under these agreements, meant to benefit everybody—for example, treaties granted land to the crown for development. In exchange, they made promises to Indigenous people. Treaties are a contract between two parties, and in many cases, these obligations, such as hunting rights, have not been met. Treaties are meant to guide the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people as well as the use of the land.

Indigenous-led adventures in Canada

What does your feeling about treaties say about how we view the land, as well as each other? The starting point is self-reflection. When you’re out in nature, and your feet are on Mother Earth, what does that mean to you? The next time you’re standing by the lake, feeling the cool breeze against your skin and the water tickling your toes, clothed in calm, maybe just listen. How would you write your acknowledgement of the land and all that it provides? And what can you provide to it? Maybe it’s respect and love, and to make sure that it stays healthy and can continue to gift us with the stuff of life. Maybe all we can do is thank it and live better with one another.

Maybe that’s enough.

Find out what treaty covers your area.

This article was originally published in the August 2022 issue of Cottage Life.

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Cottage Life

5 potentially life-saving tips every boater should know

Photo by Dmitrijs Bindemanis/Shutterstock.com

Who doesn’t love spending a weekend on the water? Before jumping on your boat this season, it’s important to prepare with the right boating safety procedures and supplies. OPP Sergeant Dave Moffatt, the provincial marine coordinator of the Highway Safety Division, shares five preventative boating safety tips before stepping on board.

Put on your life jacket 

Wear a life jacket or PFD on a motorized- or human-powered boat (including a standup paddleboard or any other craft used for navigation). “Life jackets keep your head above water, while a personal floatation device keeps you afloat, but doesn’t always keep your head above water,” says Sergeant Moffatt. If you become unconscious, a PFD might not stop you from drowning.

Tip: Sergeant Moffatt recommends an automatic inflatable PFD. “Our entire force wears them. It’s a cheap investment for your safety and comfort,” he says.

Be prepared 

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Check local weather forecasts or head to Transport Canada for a map showing marine forecasts and warnings. “If there are heavy winds or thunderstorms, skip boating because bad weather can travel fast,” says Sergeant Moffatt. 

2. Know the area you are boating in—especially when using a human-powered boat in rapid-ridden and high-level waterways. Only experienced boaters should attempt to navigate rapids. Check water levels through the Surface Water Monitor Centre. 

3. Sergeant Moffatt recommends taking a preparation course to improve knowledge of boating safety—“Boating is difficult, and you can never learn enough about it,” he says. 

Zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs

Never consume alcohol or drugs while operating a boat (including human-powered ones). Alcohol affects your judgment and response time by intensifying your body’s reaction to sun exposure, wind, and fatigue. In fact, one drink on the water can be equivalent to three on land, according to Transport Canada. 

Deck out your boat 

Time to accessorize—there’s a lot more equipment you need on board than you might think, and you have to know where it all is. “During inspections, you wouldn’t believe how long it can take for some people to find their safety equipment,” says Sergeant Moffatt. 

According to Transport Canada, mandatory boating safety equipment includes a PFD or lifejacket for each person on board, a buoyant heaving line, a manual propelling device or anchor (at least 15 metres in length), a bailer or hand pump, a sound-signalling device, navigation lights, a 5BC fire extinguisher (a fixed fuel tank or a fuel-burning unit is sufficient, too), a waterproof flashlight, and a boating licence (with any motor of 10 hp or more).

Inspect your boat

Sergeant Moffatt recommends fastening your plugs, ensuring both the lights and motors are working properly, and assessing your craft for damage each time you ride. “It is important to have a regular maintenance schedule and have your engine looked at before the season starts,” he says. Consider scheduling free Pleasure Craft Courtesy Checks with Transport Canada volunteers, who will identify any potential problems or safety concerns. 

Tip: Don’t forget about your trailer while looking after your boat. Examine the axles, bearings, brakes, and lights for proper operation.

For more information about boating safety, read Transport Canada’s Safe Boating Guide.

Featured Video 

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Cottage Life

Cottage real estate region: Lac du Bonnet

Photo by kavram/Shutterstock

Lac du Bonnet and the rivers to which the lake is connected (the Winnipeg, the Bird, and the Lee) lie about 100 km northeast of Winnipeg. Tucked between Lake Winnipeg and Whiteshell Provincial Park, this transitional area offers lots of variety: part former agricultural prairie flatland, part rocky Precambrian Shield. 

The picturesque Still Cove and Bird River areas are coveted for their access to the bigger lake though they are on quieter adjacent waterways. Overall, there are only a few water-access sites; nearly all properties are accessible by road. A hydroelectric dam to the northwest keeps water levels fairly constant. 

Cottagers take their pick of recreation: 60 km of waterways for boating; summer and winter fishing for pike and walleye, including a thousand-hole ice-fishing derby; birdwatching (prairie and boreal species reflect the area’s diversity); a vast network of snowmobile trails; and three golf courses. The towns of Lac du Bonnet and Pinawa in the southern part of the region offer med­ical facilities, grocery stores, and other ame­nities. There is also a marina at a private campground on the lake.

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Cottage Life

Changes may be coming to address noise emissions across Canada

Photo by freevideophotoagency.

We love boating—but we know noisy boats can be disruptive to both cottagers and aquatic life. While current legislation mandates all power-driven boats to have a muffler, noise emissions have no specific performance limits. Transport Canada is proposing five policy options to avoid unnecessary noise disturbances. 

What is Transport Canada proposing?

The first policy option will make no changes to existing regulations, and the second will modernize existing regulations. The third option introduces performance measures for manufacturers, while another introduces performance measures for boaters. 

The last option is the most comprehensive, introducing new regulations for both manufacturers and boaters. According to Transport Canada, this policy option would ensure that new and existing boats don’t exceed noise emission limits, will allow police to use a tool to measure decibel limits, and will require operators to modify their boats to meet new standards.

So many options. What do the people want? 

Rob Bosomworth, chair of the Decibel Coalition, is passionate about keeping Canada’s lakes quiet and safe. He supports policy option five. “We need to put decibel limits on both manufacturers and operators to regulate manufacturing importers and to ensure all boats are compliant,” says Bosomworth. “This would not be an overly difficult job for Transport Canada because they already have safety standards and environmental measures for boat manufacturers.” 

Bosomworth also believes that option five would address the larger part of noise emission issues: boaters who do not comply with current regulations. “By increasing performance measures for operators, we manage the largest portion of the problem,” he says. “This would address the outliers whose boats have no mufflers and make an extreme amount of noise.”

The fifth policy proposal would make waves in the movement, not accomplished by previous strategies. For example, municipalities have tried passing by-laws but have been unsuccessful because they do not have jurisdiction. There has also been an increase in public support. Safe Quiet Lakes’ 2021 survey, consisting of almost 6,000 participants, indicated a strong correlation between enjoyment on the lake and noise limits. 

The Decibel Coalition is in frequent talks with Transport Canada and are encouraging supporters to write to their MPs. 

Is option five best for everyone? Let’s dive in further. 

Sara Anghel, president of National Marine Manufacturers Association of Canada (NMMA), supports policy option four. According to Anghel, it would support “building to the standard that would meet the limits that Transport Canada may wish to impose,” while meeting the best interests of all stakeholders. 

The association is concerned that introducing stricter performance measures for manufacturers will make it more difficult for people to enjoy boating. “As an industry, we support people getting into boating and believe that of all the critical priorities that the government should be addressing, boat noise is not at the top of the list,” she says. ”There are more pressing issues, such as improving boating safety, modernizing the pleasure craft licensing system, and supporting the boating community through opportunities to expand recreational boating.” 

While the NMMA doesn’t believe that noise is of top priority, Anghel acknowledges that, “there’s a small number of boaters that pose a nuisance on the Canadian waterways, and we don’t want to promote that kind of boating.” Anghel says the larger issue resides with boaters who use outdated engines or add aftermarket modifications. 

How about the ones who have to enforce the policy? What do they have to say?

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) support option four and five, with concerns rooted in officer and boater safety. According to Sergeant Dave Moffatt, the provincial marine coordinator of the Highway Safety Division under the OPP, these options would allow police to use an instrument to determine decibel limits, similar to the one used when assessing impaired driving. 

Currently, it can be difficult for officers to determine decibel noises or check if there is a muffler present. “This instrument would give us a quantitative result like a pass or fail,” says Sergeant Moffatt. “This will also assess noise emissions for boats that have a muffler and comply with current regulation, but are still loud.” 

Sergeant Moffatt says that noise emission issues are limited to small pockets of the country, yet the OPP receives many complaints about loud boats. “Everyone deserves the right to enjoy the water,” says Sergeant Moffatt. 

Transport Canada is currently analyzing the comments received through public consultation. They will provide updates during the next meeting of the Canadian Marine Advisory Council in fall 2022. 

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Cottage Life

Cottage-country scuba diver to the rescue!

Photo courtesy Jack Milne

What cottager hasn’t accidentally dropped something into the lake? If you’re lucky enough to cottage in the Kawarthas, no worries: Jack Milne is on the case. The local scuba diver has been cleaning up the water—and retrieving lost items—for the last two years. Because it’s fun. “I go out every chance I get,” he says. “It’s great to swim around and see what I can haul out in a single day.”

Jack first tried scuba diving during a trip to Thailand in 2017. “I was immediately hooked.” So the Cameron, Ont., resident took up the hobby in cottage country. He dives near swimming areas, cliff-jumping spots, and public boat docks. And he finds “a crazy array of items,” he says. Some of it is garbage. Some of it is valuable. And some of it is…confusing. “Once, I found a perfectly intact toilet.”

Jack retrieves items for both locals and cottagers. “This past summer, a lady contacted me; she’d lost her phone. It had all her family photos on it,” he says. “I geared up and went to help her right away.” He found the phone in the Fenelon Canal and—it’s a miracle!—it was still working. “All her photos were recovered.”

Jack, who earlier this year began training to be a diver for the Navy, enjoys the praise that he gets for all of his underwater volunteering. But mostly? “I hate seeing trash in the water, and I feel responsible to clean it up,” he says. “Very few people actually have that ability.”

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Cottage Life

Changes could be coming to pleasure craft licensing in Canada

Photo by Andrea Berg / Shutterstock

Heading out on the lake to cruise on your boat this year? Don’t forget to check out potential new regulations around pleasure craft licencing. 

Transport Canada is proposing changes to modernize pleasure craft licensing, which will come into effect in the winter of 2023. 

Proposed changes to pleasure craft licencing include:

  • Introducing a five-year validity period for pleasure craft licences (PCL). 
  • Expanding the Small Vessel Regulations to include all pleasure crafts equipped with motors of 10 hp or more and all pleasure crafts (including all power-driven and sail-alone vessels) above six metres in length. 
  • Owners must notify Transport Canada of a name or address change and of a sale or transfer of a vessel within 30 days. 
  • Easier cancellation of a pleasure craft licence, if a lifetime PCL holder fails to apply, a PCL holder fails to renew a PCL, or a PCL holder wishes to remove their pleasure craft from service.
  • Introducing a $15 service fee to process an application to obtain, renew, or duplicate a PCL.

Is it really necessary to renew my pleasure craft licence every five years?

Sergeant Dave Moffatt, the provincial marine coordinator of the Highway Safety Division under the Ontario Provincial Police says, yes. He believes the change to the validity period is long overdue and will assist enforcement officers in cleaning the database. If accepted, the changes will create a more streamlined process for locating missing people, finding owners of abandoned boats, and removing them to prevent a navigational hazard. “In the past, we could spend days trying to find out who the owners are,” says Sergeant Moffatt. “Someone could have registered the boat 20 years prior and then sell it. In my experience, you can have 10 different owners before you find the right one.” 

Sara Anghel, the president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association Canada also supports the changes. “There is a lot of old data that may make it challenging when there is an incident or law enforcement is trying to find a boat.”

While there are some licences that have a ten year validity period, this proposed pleasure craft licencing change will greatly affect the holders of a grandfathered licence, which currently have no expiration date. Sergeant Moffatt affirms that this change is key to prioritizing boater safety by ensuring boat owners are connected to their vessels. 

But, what’s the deal with the fee?

Without the change, costs will continue to be absorbed by taxpayer dollars. There is a lot of maintenance that occurs on Canadian waterways, such as maintaining markers and protecting Canada’s marine environment. This fee would help support maintenance costs. 

What are people saying about the proposed changes? 

Public consultation was completed over 65 days, and Transport Canada received 900 comments. Canadians (including recreational boaters), marine stakeholders, law enforcement agencies, boating safety advocates, pleasure craft dealers, associations that represent cottagers and associations that represent anglers, hunters, trappers and recreational fishers were among those that provided comments.

The proposed changes received mixed responses. While some feel that the changes are positive, others believe that there is still something missing. “I would like to see the system given back to boaters. For example, the changes don’t address climate change, the environment, or more access and infrastructure. I want people to get back what they are putting into it,” says Sara Anghel. 

Many participants, while agreeing with the proposal, also suggested using a service fee to fund abandoned vessels, inadequate black water disposal facilities, and mooring buoys. Others recommended mandating liability insurance when new boaters obtain a licence. Respondents were also in agreement that they would like to see Transport Canada take a more active role in education. Such campaigns could include updating information regularly and clarifying the differences between a pleasure craft licence and a Pleasure Craft Operator Card. Lastly, participants believe it would be beneficial to engage more stakeholders such as anglers, hunters, and trappers (to better understand the socioeconomic impacts of the proposed changes) and marine trade associations (who administer the Pleasure Craft Licensing Programs).

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Cottage Life

Should you install de-icers at the lake?

By Mary Anne Love/Shutterstock

Ah, the “off-season” at the lake. The peace. The quiet. The wildlife crossing pristine ice—ah, yes, the ice. In 2019, winter ice damage and spring floods left cottagers scrambling to protect and repair shoreline structures. Katie Peet of R & J Machine in Lakefield, Ont., says that they fielded several calls from cottagers looking to install de-icers. “If they have a couple of feet of water, they can put one in to open up ice so it can’t be pushed and piled on the shoreline,” she says. “Some people use a chainsaw to open up the ice, but you may have to do that every day because it freezes over again at night.”

 

Winter is coming

Ice expands as it melts, until it turns to water. Cracks will form in lake ice in response to the different expansion rates caused by warmer temperatures at the top. An ice sheet gets bigger as water flows from underneath up into the cracks and then freezes. With successive freeze-thaw cycles, that ice moves toward shore, shoving up anything in its way—docks, boathouses—in a process called ice-heave or ice-jacking. Spring flooding can also drive thick ice into shoreline structures.

Bottom line Winter ice is a natural fact of cottage life, but, unfortunately, the damage it causes is a standard exclusion to most insurance policies. “People seem not to be aware of that,” says Allison Bryce, with insurance brokerage The Magnes Group. She advises clients to install de-icing systems to protect a shoreline investment that can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

Keeping the ice away

A properly installed de-icer will create as small an opening as possible while still keeping structures free of ice. The systems come in two forms: impellers and bubblers. Impeller de-icers, such as the Kasco and Arbrux systems, combine a motor with a propeller enclosed in a cage that is suspended by ropes or a bracket from a dock or float. The angle of the unit can be adjusted, and which size motor you choose depends on the temperature and the depth of the water (you may need more than one device).

Bubbler de-icers, like Canadian Pond’s Thawline linear system, use a compressor on shore to feed air through submerged tubing. Brent Statten, of DeiceAir in Huntsville, Ont., which installs both Kasko and Thawline systems, is a fan of aeration. “It’s like a tailored suit,” he says, “custom fit to snake around docks and open up only the minimum amount of water necessary.” Bubbler systems use less power than impellers, with no electricity in the water or moving parts to get clogged with sticks, debris, or even ice. And bubblers can be left in place all year (as can impellers, but they’re unsightly).

Bottom line Get advice from companies that sell the systems, even if you plan a DIY installation. Often people wait until the last minute to install them, Statten says, rather than planning their site out and taking time with the installation. Do it before it gets cold, he advises, “and obviously before the ice sets in.”

 

This one’s on you

Though not highly regulated by municipalities, de-icers are prohibited on some waterways, such as some administered by Parks Canada. At the very least, bubblers are controversial in cottage country. Chris Collings, a bylaw enforcement officer for the Township of Lake of Bays, Ont., says that he often gets complaints about installations that create open water near snowmobile routes or about hazard lights that bother other property owners. But while your municipality may not control the use of de-icers, Section 263 (1) of Canada’s Criminal Code says,  “Every one who makes or causes to be made an opening in ice…is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the opening exists.” If you fail to do that, and a death occurs as a result, you could be charged with manslaughter. But what’s “adequate” is not specified. The experts we consulted recommend marking any opening with signs (in all directions), reflective tape, and flashing amber lights (not red, which could be mistaken for the tail lights of a snowmobile).

Check with your local municipality before installing a system. Even if there isn’t a de-icer regulation, there may be other restrictions. Lake of Bays, for example, has a dark-skies bylaw that requires all outdoor lights to be shielded and facing downward, so flashing lights may be non-compliant. But Collings says you can install a downward-facing spotlight that illuminates a warning sign.

Bottom line As the Criminal Code makes clear, alerting lake users to the dangers of open water is serious business. So channel your inner Scout and be prepared. As Brent Statten says, “No one wants to think that winter is coming, but it does every year.”