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VOLUME 23 NO. 10 December 2004
THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER Fred, all the members of the Sydenham Sportsmen's Association extend to you our sincerest good wishes for your speedy recovery and resumption of your accustomed, pathfinding role in our club. Over the past year, this column has given honourable mention to many of the club members who have provided the SSA with outstanding volunteer service. We certainly have not been able to come close to thanking everyone, for example, Carol Barfoot, who does such a terrific job organizing our social events...her husband Verle, who co-ordinates our wood duck program...Ken Cowtan, who has done such a truly splendid job of caring for our club property...our grounds have never looked better...Coy Currie, who has done a yeoman's job as hatchery manager...Stu Wallace and Brian Kinchen, who have given most freely of their time, effort, experience and expertise by putting on firearms courses...Chris Geberdt, who has put forth a superlative effort raising the funds to finance our club projects...Jim Weir, whose wisdom acquired over the years and his acute conservation ethic that keeps us on our toes and provides the impetus to prod government to follow better environmental paths...Grant Ferris, who not only digs up terrific draw prizes, but arranges the great variety of speakers who grace our monthly meetings. We have only identified a few of the many who have given so much, to make the Sydenham Sportsmen a club that is recognized as one of the finest conservation clubs in the province. For this, on behalf of the 2004 Executive, I thank all of you. It is now time to elect a new slate of officers to carry our club into 2005. Please do not be nervous about standing for election to the Executive. We will certainly welcome new blood, new ideas and fresh approaches. Of course, we have to have some of the old guard stay on in recognition of their time-honoured skills and continuity on certain jobs ...for example, can you imagine what would happen to our financial situation if Murray Smart dropped out? Outdoors sportsmen and sportswomen are truly the salt of the earth. It has been a real privilege to serve such a great group as your president for the past two years. It has been an interesting time period...the challenges have been great. For example, there has been extreme pressure exerted upon us for such items as the mega expenses of the pond dig and I'm sure that our club will continue to be a provincial role model in the future, and will continue to do the types of great works for which we are widely renowned. If we can carryon with our most notable and enthusiastic member support and if we honour the principles of the OFAH pledge, we can only progress onwards and upwards. Yours in Conservation, Fellowship and Sportsmanship, Fisheries Advisory Committee All of our Brown Trout have been successfully stocked and requests will soon be going out to get some more eggs in December from the M.N.R. By the time of this letter all of our salmon eggs should have hatched and the small fry will be under the watchful eye of our volunteers. As well, the rainbow trout are being fin clipped and will be stocked out with the exception of 20,000 that we will be holding back in our hatchery. Mike Prevost F .A.C. Chairman NATIVE AFFAIRS We have been informed that progress with the commercial fishing agreement between the MNR and the Saugeen/Cape Croker bands has done little more than establish terms of reference. The hard issues, such as fishing in closed waters (Owen Sound and Colpoys Bays) , sale of game fish and sportsmen's stocking of salmonids have not yet been discussed. We have been in touch with the OFAH head office and expressed our concerns. Mike Reader is to meet with Minister Ramsey regarding several issues, and will bring up our concerns. One thing seems fairly certain. Anglers in Meaford, Thornbury and Collingwood will quite likely see Indian commercial fishing tugs this year. Note that January lst, 2005, will mean that there has been no commercial fishing agreement for two years...not good! The Metis issue is right up in the air. We attended a Metis meeting in Owen Sound on September 18th. Tony Belcourt, leader of the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) , told them that the MNO had a signed agreement from Minister Ramsey, and that they would be issued Metis harvest cards (only one issued at that time) and that they should begin exercising their rights. We questioned him extensively on that issue, and he said that it was a done deal. Mr. Belcourt had maps, dates, rules...you name it. At this meeting, he was speaking only for Grey County, but the gist of it covered all of Ontario. We informed Terry Quinney and Mike Reader of the meeting, and they have been in touch with Minister Ramsey. The only certain thing is uncertainty. Time, negotiations, legal issues and government backbone or lack thereof are setting up the rules for a third and separate group that will have their own separate mandate to draw upon our natural resources. As sportsmen and conservationists, we certainly should be willing to share our resources...but only on a fair share, equality-based set of principles and laws. One group getting priority rights based on race is just not right in spite of what the activist, ivory tower judges in the supreme court say. We are heading for apartheid north. FORESTS & WILDLIFE ADVISORY COMMITTEE The County of Grey has begun the rewriting of its tree-cutting by-law. Grey has already done its county forest management plan. The present task is to make any necessary regulations to govern cutting on private property. The whole process is expected to take about a year. I have been asked, as an SSA member and OFAH Zone H member, to represent the public interest in fish and wildlife. Our first meeting was held on November I5th, and the diversified and often opposing interests of the many stakeholders was a clear indication that the whole issue will be highly contentious. A major wildlife issue that recently reared its ugly head is the intent of the Ontario government to grant a separate increase in moose tags to residents of northern Ontario. The OFAH opposes this on the grounds that a citizen of Ontario is a citizen of Ontario...not a citizen of northern Ontario or southern Ontario...and that all should be treated Many people from both the north and the south are concerned that such a program would be extremely divisive, and could cause a major schism between northern and southern Ontario hunters. One could ask...is this an effort by politically-correct, traditionally anti-hunter provincial Liberals to divide and conquer? The MNR is requesting comments on the issue of moose tag preference for review under the environmental bill of rights. If you have a concern about the foregoing, write, Fax or e-Mail the ministry. Both your envelope and letter must be addressed as follows: EBR Registry Number PB04E6023, The recent all-gun season for deer has, as usual, brought the anti-hunters crawling out from under the rocks, as shown by letters to the editor in local papers. Fellow hunters, let it be known that you honour our great hunting heritage. Stand up for your rights. Hunt proudly, ethically and within our conservation laws. Set a good example for our children to follow, so that they may carry on our proud hunting tradition Blake Smith. Chairperson
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© 2001, Sydenham Sportsmen's Association |
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