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The Rideau Canal (Ontario, Canada) was constructed in the early 1830s, primarily as a means to transport military personnel, but now is primarily recreational. The construction of the canal and associated flooding, as well as other land-use changes, likely impacted lakes within the system, however, long-term monitoring data are not available. Furthermore, recent environmental changes, including accelerated climate warming, are affecting lake ecosystems. Shallow, macrophyte-dominated Lake Opinicon, which is part of the canal system, has been impacted by other various catchment disturbances over the past ~ 200 years. A previous diatom-based paleolimnological study conducted on the lake, examining a core collected in 1995, found that the diatom responses to a host of large-scale catchment disturbances were moderate compared to nearby deeper lakes. A more recent diatom-based study conducted on a …