{"id":100961,"date":"2026-01-09T16:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100961"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:10:16","slug":"parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/09\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\/","title":{"rendered":"Parks Canada eyed boat-ban pros and cons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun A Parks Canada document shows that staff weighed pros and cons \u2014 including a legal threat from Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation \u2014 before deciding to ban motorboats from Clear Lake last May. A briefing document was prepared for Thomas Sheldon, the acting superintendent of Riding Mountain National Park at the time, requesting his decision before May 14. The note identified the legal threat from the First Nation, as well as the risk of an outcry from boat owners and businesses, among factors to consider when deciding on the boat policy for 2025. Sheldon signed off on May 14 in favour of the boat ban, the document shows. The file was obtained by the Sun through an access-to-information request, along with internal&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F09%2Fparks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun A Parks Canada document shows that staff weighed pros and cons \u2014 including a legal threat from Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation \u2014 before deciding to ban motorboats from Clear Lake last May. A briefing document was prepared for Thomas Sheldon, the acting superintendent of Riding Mountain National Park at the time, requesting his decision before May 14. The note identified the legal threat from the First Nation, as well as the risk of an outcry from boat owners and businesses, among factors to consider when deciding on the boat policy for 2025. Sheldon signed off on May 14 in favour of the boat ban, the document shows. The file was obtained by the Sun through an access-to-information request, along with internal... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F09%2Fparks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Parks Canada eyed boat-ban pros and cons - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/09\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parks Canada eyed boat-ban pros and cons - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun A Parks Canada document shows that staff weighed pros and cons \u2014 including a legal threat from Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation \u2014 before deciding to ban motorboats from Clear Lake last May. A briefing document was prepared for Thomas Sheldon, the acting superintendent of Riding Mountain National Park at the time, requesting his decision before May 14. The note identified the legal threat from the First Nation, as well as the risk of an outcry from boat owners and businesses, among factors to consider when deciding on the boat policy for 2025. Sheldon signed off on May 14 in favour of the boat ban, the document shows. The file was obtained by the Sun through an access-to-information request, along with internal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/09\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-09T21:10:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/09\\\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/09\\\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Parks Canada eyed boat-ban pros and cons\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-09T21:10:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/09\\\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":903,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/09\\\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/09\\\/parks-canada-eyed-boat-ban-pros-and-cons\\\/\",\"name\":\"Parks Canada eyed boat-ban pros and cons - 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