If you live in Ontario, you love the Great Lakes. They’re important to the province, the country and even the world. Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior, along with the St. Lawrence River, make up the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, containing 21 per cent of all available surface freshwater on the planet.
The region of the Canadian provinces and U.S. states surrounding the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence seaway are also the world’s third-largest economy — including tourism, shipping and international trade, much of which takes place on the waters. But how well do we recognize, appreciate and protect that blue economy?
The Great Lakes News Collaborative is diving into those questions, and looking at the wealth derived from the waters, and the ways in which that economy is threatened.
The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau is part of this group of nonprofit news outlets working together to enhance coverage of the Great Lakes basin. Funded by the Michigan-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the collaborative also includes Bridge Michigan, Michigan Public, Detroit Public Television’s Great Lakes Now program and Circle of Blue.
Every year, the group collaborates on one big project, and in 2025 it’s Cash Flows: Industry, Ecology and the Future of the Great Lakes Blue Economy. The series will look at the changing relationship between the region’s economy and its most abundant natural resource: water.
Every outlet will be producing stories focused on this theme — you’ll find all of them below.
12 min. read
