Geospatial Analysis of Indigenous Opinions in the Great Lakes Region and the Province of Ontario from the 2021 International Joint Commission Great Lakes Survey

This paper explores differences in opinions in the 2021 International Joint Commission (IJC) Great Lakes survey. Indigenous responses are compared with the full survey responses. Lake-wide comparisons are made between Indigenous respondents residing within different basins.

Responses from the Province of Ontario are also analyzed at the postal-code level where a regression kriging model is built to predict responses and evaluate relevant variables for questions related to drinking water access and trust in wastewater treatment. This paper finds there are differences pertaining to concerns, opinions on severity of impacts, potential participation for protecting the health of the lakes and demographic variables that were seen between Indigenous respondents and the full survey averages. There was also differences Lake-wide in how Indigenous respondents felt about the ways in which they engage with the Lakes being threatened, as well as species of cultural importance being threatened due to the state of the Lakes. Huron and Superior respondents reported less concern, whereas Michigan, Erie and Ontario respondents reported higher concern. In Ontario, there was a contrast in the North and South pertaining to drinking water access for both the respondent and the respondent’s community, as well as perceptions in effective wastewater treatment. The North reported more disagreement with fair access to clean drinking water for both the respondents and the community, and less trust in the community’s wastewater treatment despite low response rates compared to the South.