By Darren
Citizens of Ontario Should be Concerned
Thousands of square kilometers of pristine Crown land, and over 2,000 of our best lakes are off-limits to the general public.
These lakes and wilderness areas are not privately owned ,and they belong to the citizens of Ontario. Don’t get me wrong, these lands do have fishermen and women, boaters, campers, ATVers, hikers, naturist, etc. Most are Remote Tourist Outfitters and their guests . These lakes and lands are only off limits to the citizens of Ontario.
In fact, this means that publicly owned Crown lands, and the major lakes on them, are used as private game and fish farms for the wealthier American, European and Canadian guests of the Remote Tourist Outfitters to enjoy without being bothered by the presence of the poor average Ontario outdoors person.
The MNR, in concert with NOTO (Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters, until rebranded) has allowed the lodge owners virtual exclusive use of vast areas of our Crown Lands and lakes.
In the Wawa area alone, 135 major lakes and up to 80% of the accessible Crown lands have been reserved for remote tourism and are strictly off-limits to the rest of us. What happen in Wawa is sweeping across the rest of Northern Ontario in areas such as Timmins, Foleyet, Sault St Marie, Sudbury, Chapleau, West Nippinsing and all other surrounding forest management units.
MNR CLAIMS LANDS ARE CLOSED FOR “CONSERVATION” or TO PROTECT TOURISM VALUES. At present, there are over 2,000 remote tourism lakes in the province, out-of-bounds to all of us who won’t pay for the privilege. One family-owned operation alone in the Dubreuilville area accommodates from 2,000 to 2,500 guests per year. This operation has a private, but lately little-used, 9-hole golf course and a private landing strip, although most “guests” arrive by float-planes – and not by the well maintained access road – to preserve the feeling of “remoteness” that guests pay extra big bucks for.
The MNR denies that these lakes are off limits, and that we can still access these lakes by walking to them. On some of the remote outfitter web sites, they clearly advertise the lakes are private, ”Yet they are on Crown Land” that no one is allowed to access their lakes. OntORA members and the general public know these lakes are off limits, the outfitters know these lakes are off limits. How is it the MNR and the Minister of Natural Resource are the only ones that don’t know the public is not allowed to these public lands and lakes.
OntORA is not fighting for rights to fish and hunt!
OntORA is not fighting for unlimited, new, or exclusive access, to crown lands and lakes!
OntORA isfighting to have to equal access to public lands and lakes for the general public and citizens of Ontario. We are fighting to have the same access rights that our custodians, the MNR have given to non Canadian citizens
To stand and fight with OntORA please click here; http://ontora.ca/membership/join/
Comments on this entry are closed.
The Government of Ontario, won’t be happy until we can’t leave our home’s, with the prices of hydro, gas, park admission and basically everything we do !! Might as well take away the free lakes to fish in, nothing left to take from citizen’s anymore after that?? Communism Is Advancing Quickly.
So true Norman
Excellent letter
Canada has a charter of rights and freedoms for are citizens would this not be the case here could that charter be used in an Ontario court of appeal. This charter is so every Canadian have equal access to goods and services, governed by the crown.
The Liberal Government of McGuinty and Wynne for the past number of years have persistently gutted laws that protected users of crown land and private land owners for the purpose of selling it off to pay for the horrendous dept we are now faced with as a province. It won’t be long when they start selling provincial parks to private operators like KOA (Kampgrounds of America).
It’s time to reignite the campaign once again for northern Ontario independence and governance from the south.
Hello Raimo,
I understand were sentiments are coming from, but it is not all of the South it is one little jurisdiction and its name is the GTA. The GTA is slowly sucking the rest of the province into the black hole of debt that they have created and that only the GTA has benefited from. Trust me I live as far south as you can get and we are fighting the same enemy but please do not group the whole south into the same heading. That would be like me saying everyone in the North is lazy and not willing to fight based on a single community. I would never say this mind you but this is a most poignant example. I think what we should do is have the GTA separate from the rest of the province.
Great point Zeke but that shemale Katherine Wynne would never let that happen.