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The incident has sparked outrage in Quebec and raised questions here in Vermont, not just about jurisdiction, but about the nature of reality itself.
On the vast, open waters of Lake Champlain, the line separating the United States and Canada is an invisible thread, a concept of longitude and latitude drawn over waves. For Edouard Lallemand, a 60-year-old Quebecer, that invisible line became brutally real on Sunday, July 20. An afternoon of fishing near his home in Venise-en-Québec ended with his boat capsized, his body scraped, and his liberty temporarily revoked by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The incident has sparked outrage in Quebec and raised questions here in Vermont, not just about jurisdiction, but about the nature of reality itself. At the heart of the matter lie two starkly different narratives, one from the fisherman and one from the federal officers, that are so contradictory it is difficult to imagine they describe the same event. How, on a quiet Sunday on the lake, can two stories be so different?
The Two Narratives
In his telling of the events, Mr. Lallemand, a man who says he has fished these waters for decades, was firmly on the Canadian side of the border. He claims that when a U.S. Coast Guard vessel approached, he attempted to move closer to the shore to facilitate a conversation. It was then, he alleges, that the Coast Guard boat aggressively pursued and “pushed” his smaller vessel, causing it to capsize. He described being pulled from the water, handcuffed, and held for nearly two hours in a cell at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection station in Swanton before his release. “I want an apology,” he told reporters, citing the scrapes he sustained and the humiliation of the ordeal.
The U.S. Coast Guard offers a fundamentally different account. In a statement, they maintain Mr. Lallemand’s boat was in “U.S. Customs waters” when they made contact. They allege that when they initiated a routine inspection, Mr. Lallemand put his vessel in gear and ignored commands to stop.
Crucially, the Coast Guard provided precise coordinates for the encounter: 45°00.792’N, 073°10.608’W. According to navigational charts, this position is approximately 65 yards south of the 45th parallel—the international boundary. At this location, the Coast Guard claims, it was Mr. Lallemand’s boat that made an “abrupt starboard turn and struck the port bow of the Coast Guard small-boat,” causing his own vessel to overturn. They have stated his actions are now under investigation.
The core of the disagreement can be broken down as follows:
The Law and the Line
For Vermonters who share the lake, the incident touches on a well-known but often unstated reality. While the border is a friendly one, it is also a hard, legal boundary. The central clue to understanding the conflicting narratives may lie in the regulations governing the lake itself.
An angler with a Vermont or New York fishing license can fish in much of the other state’s waters on the lake, thanks to reciprocal agreements. However, that reciprocity does not extend to Quebec. A Quebec fishing license is not valid in the U.S. portion of Lake Champlain.
If the U.S. Coast Guard’s coordinates are accurate—and GPS technology is a standard tool of their trade—then Mr. Lallemand was not only in U.S. waters but was also fishing there illegally. This fact provides a potential explanation for why an otherwise routine inspection might escalate. While Mr. Lallemand insists he was in Canada, the Coast Guard’s data suggests a different reality, one that would have placed him in violation of U.S. law.
As of this writing, neither Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa nor the U.S. State Department in Washington has issued a formal statement on the matter. The legal outcome for Mr. Lallemand also remains unknown.
What happened on the water that Sunday afternoon will likely be determined by data, video evidence, and sworn testimony. But the incident serves as a stark reminder that on Lake Champlain, our shared backyard, a few dozen yards of open water can mean the difference between a peaceful day of fishing and a frightening international incident where the truth itself is up for debate.
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Categories: Border
Again VDC Readers: Keep in mind that Compass Vermont is a private Domestic LLC established in 2020 by Thomas G. Davis of Northfield. It is a mouthpiece for Vermont Community Foundation and its many affiliates.
Again, Vermont Compass is managed by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD), another Vermont nonprofit organization affiliated with the Vermont Climate Change Economy Council, The Vermont Council on Planning, The Vermont Council on Culture and Innovation, The Vermont Agricultural Viability Council, and The Vermont Forest Products Council, to name a few.
Clearly, its editor and the Vermont Community Foundation folks want to exacerbate this issue. As to their motive for doing so, one can only guess. But I suspect its intended to cast aspersions on the Trump administration’s border policies.
Re: “As of this writing, neither Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa nor the U.S. State Department in Washington has issued a formal statement on the matter. The legal outcome for Mr. Lallemand also remains unknown.…the incident serves as a stark reminder that on Lake Champlain, our shared backyard, a few dozen yards of open water can mean the difference between a peaceful day of fishing and a frightening international incident where the truth itself is up for debate.”
Do you see the false conflation? There is, as yet, no formal determination that any of these assertions have been substantiated. The article is yet another Armageddon Response to a minor happenstance. But Vermont Compass would have us believe that, under Trump’s border policies, “a peaceful day of fishing” will inevitably result in ‘… a frightening international incident where the truth itself is up for debate.”
Sorry, Mr. Davis. I’m not buying it.
Reads like objective reporting to me, H. I do read quite a bit of bias in your comment, though.
@H. Jay Eshelman, it seems to me that we are seeing more and more of these “filler” articles from Compass Vermont and the quality and neutral reporting I have become accustomed to from the VDC is not being adhered to, IMHO. The obvious lib/prog sensationalizing of this relatively minor situation is a prime example.
Yes, Mr. Costello, I am biased against this kind of journalistic conflation.
“As of this writing, neither Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa nor the U.S. State Department in Washington has issued a formal statement on the matter.”
Or,
… a few dozen yards of open water can mean the difference between a peaceful day of fishing and a frightening international incident where the truth itself is up for debate.”
Now, which remark is it again that “reads like objective reporting”?
Just askin’.
In fairness, beaulac34885bb993, we still don’t know that this is a “relatively minor situation”. Mr. Lallemand certainly disagrees.
On the other hand, we shouldn’t be criticized for being skeptical. Does anyone remember the Biden administration falsely accusing border agents of whipping illegal immigrants when they attempted to break into the U.S. at the Del Rio border? Or Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas telling Congress the border is secure while thousands were illegally crossing it every day?
Again, my point is that Vermont Compass is, clearly, anything but an ‘objective’ source of information.
I believe our Coasties. As we have All seen in the last 8 years or so the total disrespect people have for LEO’s; from simple traffic stops to arresting criminals.
We know the Coasties are correct, in that the fisherman said; he did move his boat.
We know the Coasties in Burlington a good people and have no reason to lie.
Where as the person trying to avoid LEOs do. That’s a fact jack.
All the guy had to do is simply stop his boat as he was asked to and simply speak with the Coasties. That simple eh!
Lake Memphremagog has buoys to mark the border. I have never been to the northern end of Champlain but maybe these should be used if they are not?
Since Lake Champlain became a ‘Great Lake’ it is a US Navigable waterway thus the Coast Guard presence and not just Customs Boarder Enforcement, placement of any devices will need to be done by and within USCG rules, but a good idea
Something fishy going on here …could it be the Frenchmen was doing a recon mission in preparation for an invasion into Vermont by the Chinese immigrants in Canada? That would explain the NYC Consul General of China’s recent visit to Vermont. Gov.Scott…best deploy the states National Guard but make sure they have enough bait to make it worth while. They must have read the report the lake trout’s population doing pretty good but we have our secret weapon. A submersible named Champ !
Perhaps the two sides could work on reciprocity of fishing rights, or are we at war now?
Heard last week NY State is claiming a license is needed well East of the middle of the lake,🤔
It is my understanding that a person or persons may enter Canada on a boat and return without clearing either Customs as long as no contact was made a citizen in the other side, or you don’t anchor. I don’t know how the fishing aspect plays into it though.
if the border is the 45th parallel. how can the decimal minutes over and above the 45 degrees not be in Canada?
No problem. Just view the body camera footage. What?! Accidentally turned off? Well, S*** happens
Censoring!
Much ado about nothing, but excellent reporting.
Time will tell, H. At least I’m not jumping to conclusions.
Not jumping to conclusions??? … as in Vermont Compass seems to be ‘objective reporting’?
I’m sure the US Coast Guard knows the internation borders pretty well. Their locations are being tracked constantly.
Just recently someone was sentenced for attempting to move 10kg of heroin across the lake border in a kayak. Anyone in a vessel at or near the border is legitimately suspicious.
We live in Vermont and vacationing in Minnesota. Come to find out that it is illegal to sell fish caught in Minnesota in local restaurants. The restaurants have to sell walleye from Canada!!!