Access complaints launched;

[Spiel]

Access complaints launched;Residents say MNR reserves tracts of land, lakes for tourists

 

Rachel Punch

thesudburystar.com

 

Some Northern Ontario residents lobbying for motorized vehicle access to all roads on Crown land have taken their fight to the province's ombudsman.

 

Simon Guillet, of Guilletville, sent in a complaint Jan. 23 calling on ombudsman Andre Marin to conduct a full investigation.

 

He charges the Ministry of Natural Resources is reserving "huge areas of lands and lakes" for guests of remote tourist operators.

 

"There is nothing wrong with having those expensive lodges and having people go to those lodges," Guillet said. "The problem is they seal off the area for miles around and it's private hunting and fishing lands just for them.

 

"There is nothing wrong if, at least, we have equal access to that land, but they keep us out. I don't know if they can legally, but they do."

 

At issue is access to forestry access roads.

 

The ministry has decided to close some of the roads on Crown land off to motor vehicles.

 

Tourist operators can still access land in these remote areas by plane.

 

Outdoor enthusiasts such as Guillet charge the ministry's sole reason for restricting access is to protect these tourism operators. The ministry has denied collusion with or favouritism towards the tourism industry.

 

The ministry argues the decision to close a road is based on a variety of factors, such as conservation. Protecting tourism is just one part of the planning, they say.

 

The conservation defence is one Guillet would like investigated.

 

He said some of these lodges on remote lakes have thousands of guests. The owners of Pine Portage Lodge and Kaby Lodge, which operates out of Wawa, even boast to have a nine-hole backwoods golf course.

 

"Say you have to shut down a lake because it's depleted, you shut it down for everyone. You don't shut it down for the general masses and leave it open for the people who can afford to go to the lodges," Guillet said.

 

Rod Jarmovitch belongs to Citizens Committee For Equal Access To Crown Land in Sudbury. The committee put in a complaint to the ombudsman's office in late summer. The group has also collected about 8,000 signatures on a petition, Jarmovitch said.

 

"We're asking for basically equal rights," he said.

 

"It appears as though the ministry has no regard for the general public's interest in accessing these areas," he said. "Our dollars paid for a lot of these roads that they are blocking off."

 

Sault resident Tom Brason and Hawk Junction resident Mike Boudreau have each put complaints into the ombudsman's office on the issue as well.

 

Brason said some of these lodges boast access to more than 100 lakes.

 

"You couldn't bring your family up and go camping there. There is no way you could walk through the swamps and the bushes to get to these lakes, even though they have a right to go there," Brason said.

 

"The MNR is playing little games here. Even though you have a right to go there, they think that they can stop you by controlling the road."

 

Boudreau has been fighting the access issue since the 1980s.

 

"It's just hard to believe what the MNR can do," he said, adding he has reams of documents to back up his arguments.

 

Linda Williamson, Ombudsman Ontario communications manager, said she can't discuss the complaints because they are confidential. In some cases, complaints are resolved in a couple of weeks with a few phone calls. In other cases, it could be months, she said.

 

"If a complaint needs to go to a full investigation, then it will," Williamson said.

 

"If it's a huge issue, it could spark the ombudsman to make a report."

 

Ministry of Natural Resources officials could not be reached for comment on Monday