The City of Windsor is revising its plan to save the inland ponds on Peche Island. The plan scales back a proposal to address water flow issues within the inland canals on the island after learning the initial plan that called for dredging the canals was not likely to be approved by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Issues around water flow problems were raised in mid-2025 and resulted in city council approving funding in the 2026 budget for a near $1-million restoration project. Sediment has been building and impacting water flow in a canal beneath the legacy bridge on the island, located in the upper Detroit River near the mouth of Lake St. Clair, an issue that will eventually turn the inland ponds into a wetland and create major hurdles for restoration in the future. Commissioner of Community Services Michael Chantler says the revised plan that will be submitted to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is focused on getting a barrier in place. “It’s a slightly scaled-back version of what we had originally proposed to do, but the focus would be on getting that rock revetment in, a little jetty that will deflect materials and prevent them from gathering under the bridge again; and, of course, getting that material out from underneath the bridge to restore the water flow to the island,” he says. Chantler says the plan of attack is to get the sediment out of there and the water into the canals. “We’d love to get that started before we hit the end of the year here, where the weather becomes uncooperative and unfriendly for that kind of inwater work to be done,” he says. Ward 7 Coun. Angelo Marignani says this island needs to be protected for everyone to use. “That’s the objective: to be able to enjoy that island by actually visiting it or by taking your canoe and navigating around it. It really is a gem that we have,” he says. Peche Island is an 86-acre island owned by the City of Windsor and is a municipal park that is accessible by boat. The island was purchased by Hiram Walker in 1883 before being sold in 1907. The whisky maker used the island as a summer home, and his buildings included a stable, a large home, a greenhouse, and an icehouse.
