Ontora neglected by the OFAH

[belero]

North of the French and Mattawa rivers a growing trend of access and road closures continue to grow as we speak as far as crown land users in the form of hunters,anglers and trappers ,other outdoor enthousiasts are being denied access to some areas, roads ,lakes and rivers. Ontora is a organisation fighting for equal access users to crown land. Noto and our government are the two entities responsible for these closures. The attachement I have sent you will see the OFAH comments as far as their stance towards Ontora{use to be Nora} vs Our MNR and Noto as far as access restrictions and road,lake and river closures. Forgive if I am wrong the OFAH represents Ontario's hunters anglers and trappers. Noto represents all outfitters . I will tell you why the apparent voice of Anglers and hunters of Ontario have decided to sit on the white picket fence on this subject instead of representing it's anglers and hunters . It is due to the fact that the OFAH would lose all Northern Ontario Outfitters that pay for add space in the Ontario Out Of doors Magazine. Once again this federation has acted more like a "madame for hire" instead a hunter,angler advocate. Their should be a new rule with this federation if they want to act like a" bloated pig" at the trof when it comes to choosing monetary gains over angler and hunter representation they must eliminate their catch phrase "the voice of anglers and hunters" from their logo.
9 September, 2008
papatom @ 4:45 pm

Hi George, things are starting to move and soon we'll have an organization that will defend our right for lawful and equal access to our own land.
Concerning the mtg in Sudbury OFAH wasn't invited as this was an exploratory session.
As far as OFAH's position on the subject, NORA's Simon Guillet asked OFAH several times before he finally got this reply where they admitted supporting public access restrictions…quote, " Therefore, in order to represent both groups, OFAH fights against excess MNR/NOTO road closures and too many MNR/NOTO access restrictions, but agrees that some road closures and access restrictions are necessary to allow remote tourism members to run more profitable enterprises by offering a "remote" experience to their guests [I would have to say Yes, and this is confirmed by the policies I sent around earlier. In many, no most, districts our guys function well on Crown land along side remote tourism, northwest is pretty good in this regard, however in units like Wawa this is an extreme case of out of balance toward tourism interests with massive (3km buffers) overprotection]
Tom

[Birdbuff]

Just wondering if anyone has any updates on the progress of opening up crown land for all of us to use? Are there any new developments? There's a couple of lakes i was looking at getting into this summer, but i have been told the roads are blocked by big mounds of gravel, or they are dug up, either way preventing travel. What if i somehow did manage to get around this, am i in the wrong?

[sawbill]

No good changes yet and I doubt there will be any in the near or distant future.

And unfortunately, you will likely be charged if found on one of these posted and blocked taxpayer paid for access roads.

[Gilroy]

No good changes yet and I doubt there will be any in the near or distant future.

And unfortunately, you will likely be charged if found on one of these posted and blocked taxpayer paid for access roads.

Might be a good idea to get charged,that way a court challenge can be started and outdoors people could throw in a fee bucks and see if the road closures hold water under the legislation they are using.

[sawbill]

I suspect ONtoras lawyers have already looked at the legislation. What they're really waiting for is enough funding to proceed with challenges to the government and that legislation. That's going to take big bucks because gov't will ensure its a long, drawn out battle.

[Wahoo]

And when the Algonquin Land Claim settlement displaces thousands and thousands of hunters, where will they go?

[sawbill]

"Not my Problem" says the uncaring Government.

I'm kinda glad this land claim is happening. Ever since tourist outfitters have been successful in getting these northern access roads closed Ontora has been fighting the fight alone. The silent support from the south has been deafening.

Those faced with this land claim which too restricts access to residents now see whats been going on in the north for years and maybe, just maybe they'll support each others cause.

[trimmer21]

We really need to get onto this item by calling or e-mailing our local MP's. We need a lot more information,though.The trouble is that there's so few of us that we can be easily ignored. We all thought that gun control was the big bugaboo that we needed to get rid of,but,obviously,this issue is worse than the GC ever thought of being. It won't matter a hill of beans if there's GC or not if there's no where left to hunt.

[Blackwolf]

So if this carries on could you think it conceivable, that one day maybe you will not be able to hunt on crown land unless you pay fees to an outfitter? I do understand the outfitters perspective but they have the capabilities to buy land.

[sawbill]

The outfitters aren't buying the land, they're pushing legislation that protects their business by blocking access to Ontario residents to lands and waters they 'traditionally' use for their mostly non-resident guests.
The rub is this: in many northern portions of the Province residents of Ontario cannot access roads that they helped pay for to fish lakes that they've purchased angling licences for.