Climate change, eroding shorelines and the race against time to save Indigenous history

On the shores of LeamyLake Park along the Ottawa River,with Parliament Hill on the horizon, there's a flurry of activity.

Spades are gently digging and scraping through the earth. Sand is being poured through sifters. Mud is being washed awayall in the hopes of finding a piece of history.

Archaeologists have known the historical significance of this site for years. The area, managed by the National Capital Commission (NCC), has been known to contain artifacts older than the pyramids, according to researchers.

It is definitely sad as an archaeologist to literally see artifacts falling into the river, never to be recovered again.- Monica Maika, NCCarchaeologist

Indigenous communities would use the rivers and lakes around what's now the National Capital Region as highways, travelling by canoeto meet and trade goods, according to Jennifer Tenasco, a member ofKitigan Zibi Anishinbeg First Nation.

"Lake Leamy is what we callKabeshinan,and it means campsite or gathering site, a place that we've gathered or our ancestors have gathered on," she said.

Tenasco is also a supervisor of the Anishinbe Odjbikan field school, which partners with the NCC on archaeological digs, to help uncover parts of Indigenous history.

"The land is very important and it tells our story and it tells our history," Tenasco said,

But over the years, the objective of these archaeological digs has changed: It's no longer just about discovery.

The goal now is to find and save as many artifacts as possible before they become the victims of erosion and time is running out.

"We're seeing the water literally eat away at lower levels of clay, and what that's doing is undermining the soil and causing giant chunks of clay to fall off the side of the site," said NCC archaeologist Monica Maika.

History lost

Maika is oneof the archaeologistswitnessing first-hand the toll climate change is havingon shores and coastlines.

"Mother Nature can be a pretty cruel mistress sometimes," said Maika. "We're doing our best to get ahead of her and try and learn as much as we can about this, but it is definitely sad as an archaeologist to literally see artifacts falling into the river, never to be recovered again."

In one case earlier this year, an NCC archaeologistdiscovered an Indigenous-made potestimated to be up to 1,600 years oldat another site in LeamyLake Park, but Maika said only half the artifactcould be recoveredbecausethe rest had already been swept away to the bottom of the Ottawa River.

And it's not just artifacts at risk. The soil in which they're found providesa lot of context for archaeologists,including whenand where human activity took place. When that soil is disturbed by waves or powerful storms, those clues disappear.

"My worry is that we're going to lose information faster than we can learn about it," Maika said.

Erosion occurring atalarming rate

Shorelines and coastlines across Canada are disappearing at an alarming rate.

According toChris Houser, dean of science at the University of Waterloowho specializes inearth and environmental science, it's caused by a combination of factors: rising sea levels, an increasingfrequency ofpowerful storms and the loss of sea and lake ice as temperatures climb every year.

In some environments, shore and coastlines lose tens of centimetres per year, while others can lose up to several metres.

While nature does find a way of recovering, "it's always like a two steps backwards, one step forward type process," Houser said.

He said it's also difficult to get a complete picture with little historical data to track erosion, and with fewer students choosingto pursue environmental sciences as a field of study.

Making difficult decisions

"The world is in the grips of an unmitigated heritage crisis caused by climate change," said Matthew Betts with the Canadian Museum of History, who also chaired the climate change committee ofthe Canadian Archaeological Association.

With the world's longest coastline andlargest freshwater ecosystem, where many archaeological sites sit,"Canada sits at the apex of this crisis," he said.

The NCC laid out the risks to localarchaeologyin a 2022 report. It warnednot just of erosion, but also freeze-thaw cycles disrupting soil and extreme heat sending people to seek relief along the same shorelines where artifacts are found.

Betts estimates thousands of sites across the country "are being indiscriminately washed away," with many disappearing before anyone has even had a chance to discover them.

And with limited time and resources to salvage material, he said that's forcingIndigenous communities to make difficult decisions.

"Indigenous people have to be forefront in making the decisions about which sites to salvage, i.e.what history to save," said Betts.

It's a terrible choice to have to makewith Indigenous people already "wiped away through residential schools and systemic racism," said Tenasco.

To find anything connected to their ancestryis of significant value, she said.

"We don't want it to be washed away or wiped away by the river."

Ottawa Morning7:13Archaeologists say climate change is creating a race against time to recover history

We talk to Dr. Matthew Betts, curator of eastern archaeology at the Canadian Museum of History and former chair of the climate change committee for the Canadian Archeological Association, to learn more.