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15 The Power of Dirty Waters: Indigenous Poetics Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair For our ancestors to have created a language that is at the same time simple in structure and construction, rich and complex in range and depth of meanings, and musical and moving is extraordinary.1 —Basil Johnston “Winnipeg” is a Cree and Anishinaabe word derived from wiinad-, meaning “dirty” or “muddy,” and nibiing, meaning “waters.”2 The original phonetic pronunciation was likely Wînipêk or Wiinabik. It is used to describe Lake Winnipeg, a shallow body of water over 24,000 square kilometres in the centre of what is now the province of Manitoba. Of course, Cree and Anishinaabe communities had used the word for years before the arrival of Europeans, but the first phonetic recording was “Ouinipigon” in 1734 by French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye. This later morphed into “Ouinipique” “Ouinipeg,” and “Winipic” over the next century.3 The infamous 1817 Selkirk Treaty entrenched the name, dividing the territory, “beginning on the western shore of the Lake Winnipic, otherwise Winnipeg....”4 Settlers named the urban development in and around Upper Fort Garry Winnipeg and, in 1873, it was incorporated as a city.5 The rest, as they say, is history. Documenting “historical names and places of the Canadian Northwest ” in 1885, Charles Napier Bell wrote that Lake Winnipeg “is so called because during certain summer months the water of the lake is tinged with a green color, owing to the presence of a vegetable growth which abounds in parts of the lake. It is a minute needle-shaped organism, about half an inch in length, sometimes detached and sometimes in clusters and at times the water is almost as thick as peasoup.”6 Anyone who has visited the lake, 203 204 N I I G A A N W E W I D A M J A M E S S I N C L A I R particularly during the summer, knows what Bell is describing—algae. In Anishinaabemowin we call it ataagib. Lake Winnipeg has had wide-ranging algal blooms for a long time. Examining lakebed fossils in fact, University of California paleontological researcher Dr. Wayne Fry discovered that certain species can be traced to the ancient Lake Agassiz, an almost 500,000 square kilometre glacier that melted thirteen thousand years ago, carving out land and water formations that covered much of North America (like Lake Winnipeg ).7 Ataagib, therefore, is Manitoba’s oldest inhabitant. For those unfamiliar, algae are prominent in most waterways and are critical to the span and life of the environment. Produced by nutrients found in water, these autotrophic, plant-like organisms are distinct to an area, taking on the makeup of its surrounding environment. Embodying photosynthetic mechanisms that absorb light and release entities like compounds and oxygen, they are both independent and interdependent parts of an ecosystem. They are essential contributors in aquatic food chains, providing food and shelter for insects and zooplankton, which are consumed by amphibians, animals, birds, and eventually humans. In other words, ataagib are living beings that have unique relationships with other aquatic entities. They give water life. We can learn a lot from ataagib. For instance, algae are so intricately tied to the forces in their environment that they respond to the most subtle of changes. The addition of nutrients, like phosphorous and nitrogen, result in an almost immediate production increase that can quickly saturate the water and—coupled with a shallow, muddy bottom—result in a filamentous blue-green formation. Over time and once widespread, this kind of algae can overwhelm an ecology, producing toxins that suffocate aquatic life, a barrier that prevents light from entering the water and the growth of bacteria and parasites. This formation happens organically but rarely, occurring most often because of groundwater pollution via chemical and agricultural fertilizer runoff, fossil fuel burning, marshland destruction, and deforestation. Algae can then cause sickness, skin rashes, mutation, and even death to those who come in contact with it. To remain at safe, ecologically productive levels, algae rely on a delicate balance of nutrient introduction, water flow, and the needs required by their living network. With one of the largest drainage systems in North America (Figure 15.1), it should come as little surprise that algae is produced in such high abundance in Lake Winnipeg. Covering parts of four provinces, four states, and over a dozen major urban centres, this watershed spans over 1 million square kilometres...

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