For the last 39 years Black Duck Wild Rice has been rehabilitating, protecting, and promoting wild rice.
Inspired by Harold Perry, whose grandmother carried seeds from Rice Lake to the Mississippi River near Ardock, James Whetung returned home from Ardock's 1982 food security uprising to his community of
Curve Lake First Nation determined to restore our wild rice beds with the
ultimate goal of putting the rice back in Rice Lake.
Anishinabek food sovereignty and food security had been eroded by colonial genocidal practices
and the health and wealth of the community was suffering.
James met with community elders to learn where their traditional rice beds had been
and received their direction to replant their traditional gathering grounds.
Pigeon Lake had been his grandfather's traditional gathering, hunting, and fishing grounds,
and he dedicated himself to restoring the then-destroyed ecosystem.
James and his clan (Black Duck) continue to work to restore their hereditary territory
and to put the rice back in Rice Lake!
