The Breathing Lands: Omushkego Cree Move to Protect a Global Carbon Store

Mushkegowuk Council represents seven Cree First Nations on the coast of James Bay and Hudson Bay in northern Ontario, where the lowlands hold roughly 35 billion tonnes of carbon in peat and permafrost — the second-largest carbon store on the planet after the West Siberian lowlands. Council resolutions calling for protection go back to the 1970s and 1980s; in 2021 Mushkegowuk and the federal government began a feasibility study for a National Marine Conservation Area, which was formally accepted in February 2024. The proposal covers about 91,000 square kilometres of marine waters in the western half of James Bay and part of Hudson Bay, along 1,290 kilometres of coastline, alongside a land-based vision spanning roughly 130,000 square kilometres of wetlands and 75,000 square kilometres of boreal forest. Nine coastal communities are involved, and the plan is built around Omushkego Guardians who patrol, monitor and research the territory using both science and traditional knowledge, at a moment when Ontario's push to mine the Ring of Fire threatens to drain and road-cut the same peat.