This publication presents the results of an artistic and literary research project with an ecological focus, based on the Abitibi region. Covering an area of nearly 4 km², Lake Osisko is undoubtedly the most striking geomorphological feature of the city of Rouyn-Noranda. Throughout the city’s history, the lake’s uses have evolved: a source of drinking water, a gathering place, a hunting, fishing, and harvesting ground, a recreational area, and a dumping ground for industrial waste, sewage, and stormwater. After decades of abuse and neglect, the lake now faces serious problems of eutrophication, invasion by exotic species, shoreline degradation, and contamination.
It was against this backdrop that the project *Spectralities and Speculations of Lake Osisko* was launched, with most of its activities taking place in 2024 and 2025. Taking as their starting point Lake Osisko, its affordances, and the constellation of discourses, representations, uses, and documents that contribute to its metamorphoses, some fifteen writers, artists, and urban planners were invited to formulate a proposal that would bring to light the latent spectralities of the lake and its encounters with humans.
Jonathan Hope
Jonathan Hope, a professor in the Department of Literary Studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), is the author of the novel *Ce lac* (2024) and the essay *Accueils de l’autre-qu’humain* (2025). Rooted in environmental humanities, with both local and international perspectives, his projects explore flexible and creative literary practices. He leads the collaborative project *Rewriting the Boreal Forest*, which bridges literature and ecology.
