In Northern Ontario in recent years there has been a public outcry concerning public access to
crown land. Basically the citizens of Northern Ontario are concerned that they are loosing traditional
access to much of Ontario’s publicly owned backcountry because of the MNR’s efforts to create remote
based tourism opportunities. The Ontario Outdoor Recreational Alliance (OntORA) is a group of
concerned citizens who have banned together to fight what they see as an erosion of their rights to use the
back country whether to hunt, fish, hike or pick blueberries.

The MNR and the Liberal politicians in Toronto have been ignoring the groups concerns. OntORA
has made a case that crown lands belong to the public and as such access to crown land should not be
restricted to wealthy Americans who can afford to stay at the wilderness lodges. OntORA has pointed out
examples where local citizens who have had traditional access to crown land for fishing, hunting, hiking,
snowmobiling etc have had access denied to them. Just to clarify the point for our inept present Minister
of the MNR…this does not mean access to a park but access to crown land (land that belongs to all the
citizens of Ontario).

As part of the process of fighting for equitable and fair access to crown land the OntORA group
uncovered information that showed the MNR did not have the legal authority to gate roads, block access
or fine citizens for trespass on crown land. Allegations also surfaced that certain MNR employees had
benefited from access restrictions and established hunt camps on crown land. The MNR is supposed to be
governed by conflict of interest legislation.

Like us guys in Temagami the OntORA group took their concerns to the Ombudsman and
received no satisfaction. They lobbied local politicians and had the issue brought up in the Legislature
only to be shuffled aside. They asked for a meeting to try and find an equitable solution and were denied.
They finally hired a high profile lawyer from Toronto. When word got out they were contacted by a local
Liberal MPP and promised a meeting… time went on… no meeting. They contacted the MPP to find the
meeting had been cancelled. The Liberal government of Ontario had passed bill 68, The Open For
Business Act 2010. Hidden in the document were amendments to legislation legalizing the actions of the
MNR to restrict access to crown land.

Apparently Minister Jeffrey and MPP Orazietti did finally meet with the OntORA executive on
January 28th when they visited The Sault to announce the flight-training center. They would not discuss
any of the concern brought up by the OntORA group….offering OntORA the opportunity to be involved
in the Wawa CLUAH project. The members of the OntORA Board voted the offer down, as they question
the legality of the CLUAH group and partnering with the MNR would jeopardize their right to pursue
legal action against the MNR.

The OntORA group has brought forward several concerns about how the MNR has done things
that are important to the citizens of Northern Ontario. As a citizen of Ontario I resent the fact that a
government elected to serve the people and a branch of the public service hired to serve the people of this
province could so blatantly disregard the concerns of the citizens they are supposed to serve. I recall a
newly elected McGuinty promising once upon a time that his government would be open and more
democratic. Integrity is not a quality that can be attributed to the MNR or the McGuinty Liberals.