The Syndicate

[megabucks1]

Just looking for some information. Over the years there is an area east of Simcoe St in Port Perry and south of the causeways that has commonly been referred to as "The Syndicate". It is supposedly a private group or groups that has control of a large area of swamp and woods. Out of curiosity, does anyone know exactly what "The Syndicate" is and how long it has been in existance. I am asking just for historical reasons and other people have asked me the same questions. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[skinflint]

To the best of my knowledge it has been privately owned since the early 1900s there is a gameskeeper and consists of a wealthy group of hunt club members, they also own to the north which is part of lake scugog,This topic has been brought up before here as well

[rdneckhillbilly]

Just looking for some information. Over the years there is an area east of Simcoe St in Port Perry and south of the causeways that has commonly been referred to as "The Syndicate". It is supposedly a private group or groups that has control of a large area of swamp and woods. Out of curiosity, does anyone know exactly what "The Syndicate" is and how long it has been in existance. I am asking just for historical reasons and other people have asked me the same questions. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Don't waste your time my friend. They are a bunch of Bay St lawyers who use the land for client duck hunts are complete elitists. They have owned those lands for many many years and while they only hunt it a few times a year they absolutely refuse to let anyone else use it. A friend of mine wrote them a very nicely worded letter politely asking for permission and he never even received a response letter back. Locals told this individual to go ahead and use the land and not bother asking but he does not consider that ethical. All he was looking for was an answer and they did not even have the common decency to write him back even if the answer was no.

That being said, when they originally purchased the land it was just that...land. Since the original purchase, large portions of the land are now under water and technically they do not own the water, only the land under it. Therefore, there has been a lot of talk about getting more and more people to venture over to their area in boats as there is nothing they can do about it. I personally do not see a point to this other than to really tick them off but I guess some locals are really po'd about how these people operate. Many feel they gave themselves the name "The Syndicate" but locals refer to them as "Sin Dic Ate" LOL!!! Kinda funny I suppose.

Here is a link about the land I believe you are referring to as well as some other information about the heritage of Scugog.
http://www.scugogheritage.com/misc/scugogmarsh.htm

[Al7mm]

Redneckhillbilly, thank you an interesting read, always wondered about " The Syndicate " ....what I figured was dead on, "KEEP OUT "....would be a nice place to canoe in, an Ontario Everglades....maybe they will open it up for eco tours, I think not, it is kept in the family, for the family (who very likely has enough cash), which is sad, as so many of us, so close by...cannot even take a look.... as the "gatekeepers" are paid to keep us (kick us), the public out....thank heavens for Crown land.
Al

[hunter391]

That is quite the interesting story. Thanks for posting

[megabucks1]

Many thanks Redneckhillbilly. I have been around for ages and heard various stories but the historical article really cleared it up. I had no intention of trying to go there but was interested as are some of the locals.
It seems like a similar setup to the Emily Creek Hunt Club which controls the south end of Emily Lake and has signs posted as "No Trespassing - This is a non-navigatable waterway - So Proven in Court".
Again, Thanks - Megabucks1

[sawlog]

I geuss I've been pretty lucky to of paddled around in there before when I was doing some student work with the MNR back in the early 90's. We built a few Osprey nesting platforms and did some fish creel census work. I knew it was private but never knew it was a bone of contention. Never been back on that side since, always got a kick out of the constant supply of bucket fishermen hitting that causeway though.
Those caretakers are slacking, that place needs a paint job

[boozyleroux]

Again, just goes to show how what money and corruption of local politicians can do. Now imagine instead that some high rollers bought up Lake Simcoe back in the day and had it declared a private lake with no rights for anyone else to use. The whole thing burns my balls.

[Yedi]

ok let me make sure I understand. If I buy some area and don't let anyone hunt it but myself I'm a landowner exercising my rights but if I buy it with a group of guys and we happen to be professionals from the city suddenly I'm a problem? Should where I live influence who can hunt my land? Come on guys! Want to hunt the ground do what they did. Get out your cheque book and pay.

[hunter391]

The land probably does not see a lot of hunting pressure witch makes it a great wetland for groups like Ducks Unlimited. And as far as the trespass it is no different then some guy owning a 300 acre piece of bush land on the outskirts of Pickering , there are probably insurance liability risks as well when you let John Doe Public on your land with firearms. Any how in the next 20 years the township will put a no discharge law in that area and sometime down the road it will most likely be back filled and made into a shopping mall.