On the Ground: Remediation & Community

Where the Cleanup Stands

Under the current Remedial Action Plan status, three of Jackfish Bay's beneficial uses are still classed as impaired - restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, loss of fish habitat, and degradation of the benthic community - while two more, aesthetics and fish population health, are listed as requiring further assessment. That's real progress from the original 1987 listing, when 8 of 14 beneficial uses were rated impaired. A long-term monitoring plan, run jointly by federal and provincial agencies, now tracks sediment and water quality, benthic community health, fish contamination, and general aesthetics (water clarity, odour, debris) to confirm when the site has genuinely recovered.

The Remedial Action Plan area has a specific footprint: the 14-kilometre stretch of Blackbird Creek running from the Terrace Bay mill down to Jackfish Bay, plus the bay itself and two connected lakes. The town of Jackfish, once a coal-refuelling stop on the Canadian Pacific Railway, was abandoned once diesel locomotives made it obsolete - so today there are no permanent residents directly on the bay, and the mill itself, which anchored nearby Terrace Bay's economy since the late 1940s, ceased operations in 2024.

The Community Role

The Jackfish Bay RAP runs as a partnership between the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario, supported by a local Community Advisory Committee that includes municipal officials from Terrace Bay and Schreiber, industry, recreational groups, and area residents. First Nations and Métis organizations are also formally engaged, particularly in the eventual decision about whether the site's remaining impairments can be reclassified and the AOC delisted altogether - a reminder that "recovery" here is as much a governance process as a scientific one.