Rice is at the centre of a fight between the First Nations’ right to...

Rice is at the centre of a fight between the First Nations’ right to harvest traditional foods and the recreational enjoyment of a body of water by cottage owners on Pigeon Lake, located north of Peterborough in Ontario. A First Nation man has been seeding the lake and harvesting rice, but cottagers said the rice is spreading, taking over the lake, choking out other plants and interfering with water use. James Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation said he plants and harvests the rice, selling it for $12 a pound. He said he has a right to access traditional foods. His people gathered rice long before the cottagers came to the area, he said. But a group of cottagers wants the lake cleared out of the rice plants, and received permission from Parks Canada to harvest aquatic weeds, with a private company beginning to remove the rice in August. Alderville First Nation, however, complained they were not consulted and the harvesting was stopped so meetings could be held with the First Nation.