New Landowner Group?

A meeting was held on St. Joseph’s Island on October 26th to discuss the many regulations and bylaws that are infringing on the rights of private property owners. The guest speaker was Elizabeth (Liz) Marshall.

As a northern community the issues may be a bit different here than the ones experienced by southern Ontario communities but they are nevertheless interfering with peoples’ ability to use, enjoy, and profit from their properties. Issues include provincial regulations controlling the timber, hunting and trapping industries resulting in loss of individuals’ livelihood. The exploding elk population results in the repeated destruction of fences with no compensation, and at the municipal level, homeowners are subject to unreasonable requests such as getting a permit to replace windows in a home.

The meeting was organized by Brenda Reid and Dave Stadnyk, with a good turnout of over 70 people, some coming from as far away as Ironbridge and Sault Ste Marie.

Liz spoke about the Northern Ontario Growth Plan. Although it purports to be “based on northern input”, no-one in the audience had heard of it.

There was some talk of starting a landowners Chapter to represent St Joseph’s Island and the surrounding areas. They would be a welcome group in the OLA.