‘We’re totally overlooked’: Northwestern Ontario fishing resorts hit hard by flooding
Vacation resort owners near Minaki, Ont., are drowning, both literally and financially, after flooding has left them operating below capacity or unable to open at all, and they feel helpless to do anything about it.
“We’re totally overlooked because of our location,” said Phil Reid, executive director of Reid’s Birch Island Resort. “We resort owners are pretty self-sufficient and don’t like asking for handouts, but we need help, now.”
Reid’s resort, a nearly three-hour drive from Winnipeg on Gunn Lake, is still partly underwater after massive spring flooding that saw nearby Kenora, Ont., evacuated in May. Heavy rains combined with a larger-than-usual snow thaw caused the Lake of the Woods and Winnipeg River systems to run at almost the highest levels on record.
Reid's Birch Island Resort before the flooding (top) and after (bottom). (Source: Phil Reid)“The water is up eight or nine feet from last year,” said Reid. “And there is no resort insurance for us, so the damage is all a loss.”
Eric Brown owns three fishing resorts on Lake of the Woods. Unlike Reid, he is currently open to guests, but is operating at about 75 per cent capacity.
He says the financial hit has still been significant, especially after the pandemic.
“The last two years have been awful, and to have this happen now is very difficult to take,” he said. “All of our docks have floated away, the damage is extensive.”
Brown says there is a federal financial assistance program in place, but the application process is not easy, and the deadline for this season has already passed.
“It’s just so cumbersome,” he said. “There are so many details, and I just don’t have the time.”
The resorts are located in the Unorganized Kenora District in Northwestern Ontario, and therefore do not have an MP, MLA, or any local government.
Brown says he has reached out to the office of the Kenora member of parliament, but was told there is nothing they can do.
CTV News Winnipeg has also reached out to the Kenora MP for comment, but have not heard back.
In the meantime, all Reid can do is wait for the water to go down and hope for no rain.
“We’re hoping to be open by August,” he said. "That's the frustrating part, not being able to do anything."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
It's 30 years since apartheid ended. South Africa's celebrations are set against growing discontent
South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital Saturday that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the nation's multicolored flag.
Britney Spears settles long-running legal dispute with estranged father, finally bringing ultimate end to conservatorship
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-ordered termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life, their attorneys said.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
opinion RFK Jr.'s presidential candidacy and its potential threat to Biden and Trump
Although it's still unclear how much damage Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy can do to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump this election, Washington political columnist Eric Ham says what is clear is both sides recognize the potential threat.
Haida elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
From pop to politics, what to know as Sweden prepares for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest
Taking place in May in Malmo, Sweden, the 68th annual competition will see acts from 37 countries vie for the continent’s pop crown in a feelgood extravaganza that strives — not always successfully – to banish international strife and division. And you don’t have to be in Europe to watch, or to help pick the winner.