If you live in Ontario, you probably know about the Great Lakes. Maybe you’ve visited them, maybe you live near one. They’re important in the province, but also the region, the country and even the world.
What are the Great Lakes?
Collectively, 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. They also support the world’s third-largest regional economy.
With that comes a lot of challenges. Development is encroaching on the lakes, impacting both animals on land and in the water. Agricultural runoff and spills from nearby industrial sites are affecting the quality of the water. And more and more invasive species are finding their way into the Great Lakes. And, of course, climate change is affecting when and for how long the lakes freeze — Lake Superior more than anywhere else. But there’s good news too: these incredible resources continue to offer up an abundance of wildlife and opportunity for people at their shore.
Where can I learn more about the Great Lakes?
With so much to be written about these waters, The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau was thrilled to become the fifth member of the Great Lakes News Collaborative, a group of news outlets working together to enhance coverage of the Great Lakes basin. Funded by the Michigan-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the collaborative was established in 2020 and collectively has already achieved a 47 per cent increase in the number of Great Lakes and water-related stories published by the outlets.
Every year, the group collaborates on one big project. In 2024 it was The Checkup: Water and Human Health in a Changing Climate, and in 2025 it was Cash Flows: Industry, Ecology and the Future of the Great Lakes Blue Economy.
The first four members — Bridge Michigan, Michigan Public, Detroit Public Television’s Great Lakes Now program and Circle of Blue — are all based in the United States, though they all recognize environmental issues affect people and nature on both sides of the border. We’re proud to be the first Canadian members of the partnership.
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