MNR Meets With Crotch Lake Park Neighbours

Jeff Green | Feb 27, 2013

In an invitation-only meeting, property owners whose lands border the proposed 30,000 acre provincial park surrounding Crotch (locally pronounced as Crutch) Lake in North Frontenac were received by officials from the Ontario Ministries of Natural Resources and Aboriginal Affairs at the Clar-Mill Hall last Wednesday evening (February 20)

Also on hand were Brian Crane, Ontario’s long-time chief negotiator for the Algonquin Land Claim as well as Shabot Obaadjiwan Chief Doreen Davis, who is one of 16 Algonquin Nation Representatives to the land claim negotiations.

The meeting was run by Sydne Taggart, an associate-negotiator and the MNR lead negotiator to the Algonquin Land Claim.

The discussion about a new provincial park at Crotch Lake is linked to the Agreement In Principle (AIP) because it is in that document that the proposed park was first mentioned.

I was not permitted to attend the meeting and this report is based on interviews with people who were there and on information I have been able to gather from government officials.

Shirley Giffin, who co-owned Tumblehome Lodge with her husband Ed for many years and has been a member of the Committee of External Advisors to the Land Claim for 15 years, prepared a statement in response to the meeting

Her first point is that the area around Crotch Lake “should not become a park.”

She points out that in 1999, the Ontario government released a report, "Ontario’s Living Legacy, Land Use Strategy".

“The plan states that ‘the addition of the protected areas that are recommended for regulation will complete the Provincial Parks system’ … The Crotch Lake area was not selected at that time as having the necessary features for a provincial park. The area did not have provincially significant natural regions in 1998 and it does not now,” said Shirley Giffin.

Giffin also said that there has been little or no definitive information available from government officials, before, during or after the meeting in Plevna, about how the park will be managed.

“There is no plan for local landowners to have a real say in developing a Management Plan and in the operation of the park but the AIP provides for the Algonquin Planning Committee to ensure the priority of the interests of this small group. The very least that would be required would be a stakeholders' committee to voice concerns of the vast majority of people in the area and in all of Ontario,” Giffin said.

I put the question about what the plans are for the management of the new park to the MNR, and received the following response this week: “The classification for this recommended park is Natural Environment. This classification best reflects the natural, cultural and recreational values of the area. This recommendation for a provincial park will provide for the protection of historic and cultural values the Algonquins are seeking while still maintaining excellent recreational opportunities enjoyed by the public such as fishing, hunting, camping, canoeing/kayaking, nature viewing, and snowmobiling.

“Pending a future boundary refinement process, this recommended park could be one of the largest parks in south-eastern Ontario. The recommended park area is ~30,000 acres.”

I was also able to gain some insight into how the park became included in the AIP for the land claim when going over some of the mapping with Sydne Taggart earlier this month.

She said that during the Land Claim negotiations the Algonquins were very concerned that the Crotch Lake area be kept in its natural state and never be subjected to development. She also said it became clear early on in the land negotiations that it would not be acceptable to include the entire land mass of the park as lands that would be transferred to the Algonquins, and the Algonquin negotiators were very receptive to the alternative idea of creating a park to protect the lands.

According to a written account of the meeting in Plevna by Megan Hughes of Ardoch Road, Ontario Chief negotiator Brian Crane said that the protection of the land in question will include provisions for no new commercial interests; no new mining claims; a rescinding of lands that are currently under claim should those claims lapse; the end to forestry operations once current harvesting contracts run out; no new trapping licenses; no changes to private land holdings on or near the proposed park; and the continuation of the Frontenac Parklands campsites opportunities on Crotch Lake into the future.

The eastern portion of the proposed park includes some of the lands that were in dispute during the uranium exploration dispute and blockade of 2009 that was centred at the Robertsville mine.

The blockade featured a one-time alliance between the Shabot Obaadjiwan and the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, who have opposed the land claim negotiations for the past 10 years.

Paula Sherman led a delegation of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation members who attended the meeting in Plevna last week.

Again, according to Megan Hughes’ account, Paula Sherman read out a prepared statement asserting Ardoch’s claim to the lands that are slated to become the Crotch Lake Provincial Park. Sherman pointed out that the Ardoch Algonquins were not invited to participate in consultations, and requested a government reply to her statement within 15 days.

There was a public meeting on the land claim held by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, the Federation of Ontario Cottage Associations, and the Commercial Fishing Industry Association of Canada in Perth on Friday, February 22. We will have a report on that meeting next week. The Public Hearings on the Land Claim start next week.