I just recently returned from 5 days of paddling in the beautiful Philip Edward Island area just outside of Killarney Provincial Park. This is all Crown land right now but will soon cease to be available for paddling if the government's plans succeed. Please read the following letter from the Northern Georgian Bay Association. There are also 2 attachments associated with this.....which I will make available also (there seems to be a problem with attachments right now, so I will get this fixed asap!)
Here is the letter attached:
Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs
160 Bloor St. East, 4th Floor,
Toronto ON M7A2E6
Att: Richard Aniol
Dear Richard,
Re: The Wiikwemkoong Land Claim.
I am a property owner in the beautiful, pristine area of Georgian Bay….Killarney and am very concerned about the proposal to transfer all remaining Crown land in our area to the Wiikwemkoong.
I understand that the Government of Ontario and the Wiikwemkoong leadership have now identified 17,000 acres of islands and several small blocks of mainland that are currently Ontario Crown Land and that might be acceptable to the members of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation as settlement of their outstanding claim. The bulk of the land is Philip Edward Island, many smaller islands around Philip Edward Island, George Island, Lansdowne Channel islands, some mainland on the north side of Collins Inlet and two parcels of mainland to the north and east of the existing Point Grondine Reserve.
If this settlement is approved all Crown land in our area would be gone. Islands that I have used for recreation for years would become Wiikwemkoong property and no longer available to me. That’s not fair!
Our area is remote and thinly populated. We enjoy our privacy. Many of us bought property here because the majority of the land around us was either Crown or Provincial Park. It guaranteed more privacy than almost anywhere on the Bay. But now you want to transfer the Crown land to the Wiikwemkoong. That’s not fair!
We felt confident that previous legislation would keep the area lowly populated and environmentally sound.
The Northern Georgian Bay Recreation Reserve Act 1962-63 was intended to keep the area pristine and give us access to unspoiled recreational islands. Now you want to give all that away. That’s not fair!
In 1999 your government announced Ontario’s Living Legacy, a strategy for expanding Ontario’s system of parks and protected areas. We trusted you to live up to it. And now you want to change it. That’s not fair!
The settlement also affects others who use Philip Edward Island and its surrounding islands, George Island and Lansdowne Channel as a place to picnic, to camp, to moor a boat and explore on their way up and down the Georgian Bay coast. Thousands of visitors come to our beautiful area every year. All the lands to be transferred to the Wiikwemkoong under the proposed agreement will become private and permission would be required from the Wiikwemkoong to set foot on those lands. That’s not fair!
We understand that some transfer of land is necessary. But we do not agree that Philip Edward Island, George Island and the islands surrounding them should be included. For the property that is transferred we need terms written into the settlement agreement that ensure low density by having minimum setbacks from existing property (ie 300 meters/ 1000 feet), that follow provincial guidelines for building and septic systems to ensure safety and water quality and that have procedures identified to ensure these terms are followed.
Please continue to negotiate. What we have seen to date is unsatisfactory. The agreement needs to be fair to all Ontarians.
Your name and email or mailing address
Send to:
Richard Aniol
Negotiations Branch, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, 160 Bloor Street East, 4th floor,
Toronto, ON M7A 2E6
Richard.Aniol@ontario.caCC
1.Kathleen Wynne, Premier, Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto ON M7A 1A1
premier@ontario.ca2.Claude Gravelle, MP, 2945 Highway 69 North Suite 203, Val Caron, ON P3N 1N3
claude.gravelle@parl.gc.ca 3.Michael Mantha, MPP, Lester B Pearson Civic Centre, Unit 310, 255 Highway 108 North, Elliot Lake ON P5A2T1
mmantha@ndp.on.ca 4.David Zimmer, MPP, 5801 Yonge St., Unit 3, North York ON M 2M3T9
Dzimmer.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org5.Northern Georgian Bay Association
northerngeorgianbayassociation@gmail.com6.Bruce Heyman, US Ambassador to Canada. Mailing Address (Canada): The Embassy of the United States of America, PO Box 866, Station B, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5T1. Mailing Address (United States): Embassy of the United States of America, P.O. Box 5000, Ogdensburg, NY 13669
ottawaACS@state.gov