Gatineau Park

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Pink Lake at the end of October

Gatineau Park (French: Parc de la Gatineau) is a park near Gatineau, Québec, Canada, just north of Ottawa, Ontario. Administered by the federal National Capital Commission, the park forms a 363 km² triangle west of the Gatineau River, whose circumference is 179.2 km, and includes parts of the City of Gatineau, the Municipality of Chelsea, the Municipality of Pontiac and the Municipality of La Pêche.

Although it was advocated by Dominion Parks Commissioner James Harkin as the first national park to be created outside the Rocky Mountains, it remains the only federal park that is not a national park.^[1]

[edit] History

A road through the park

"La chute" trail through the park

Aerial Camp Adventures inside the park

Cross Country ski trails in Gatineau Park track-set for classic skiing at the sides and groomed for skate skiing in the centre.

The park area was originally settled by early immigrants to the area, who were soon discouraged by its thin soils. The government of Canada began acquiring land in the area for a park in the 1930s.^[2]

Created in 1938, Gatineau is the only federal park not protected by the National Parks Act, a situation largely attributable to former Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's caution, fear of criticism and desire for privacy.^[3]

Gatineau Park was not only the first national park advocated for Quebec, it was also the first national park advocated for creation outside the Rocky Mountains of the West, and the first national park advocated for creation by the first parks service in the world, the Dominion Parks Branch.

On December 3, 1912, Dominion Parks Commissioner James Harkin wrote to Deputy Minister of the Interior William Cory, arguing for the creation of a nation-wide system of parks, the first of which was to be Gatineau Park. In his memo, Harkin said:

"The East has no national parks like those in the Rockies, and it is proposed that the country develop a broader scheme of parks than exists in any other country[…] Bringing into effect the proposed Gatineau Park […] would, I think, most easily commence this scheme."^[4]

A few months later, on Cory’s suggestion, Harkin wrote Quebec Minister of Mines and Forests Charles Devlin inquiring whether he would help establish a national park in the Gatineau district. Although provincial officials wrote back that the matter would receive their minister’s immediate attention, Devlin died before he could follow up on Harkin’s request, and no further response was ever received.^[5]

And with the 1913 economic depression and First World War intervening shortly thereafter, the government of Canada had to tend to more pressing matters^[6]

On April 7, 1927, the national park idea was again raised in the House of Commons, where MPs considered a bill to create the Federal District Commission, which would build parks and parkways on both sides of the Ottawa River. During debate, however, Conservative MP John Edwards accused Prime Minister King of wanting to create a park around his Kingsmere property and ease access to it by building a parkway. Though he denied the charge, the criticism would shape King’s subsequent decisions regarding the park^[7]

Eight years later, at the behest of Percy Sparks of the Federal Woodlands Preservation League, Minister of the Interior T.G. Murphy commissioned a survey to examine the effects of fires and excessive logging in the Gatineau Hills. Among other recommendations, the survey proposed creating a national park. Two years later, however, King chose instead to solve the problem by gradual property acquisition, creating Gatineau Park in embryonic form on July 1, 1938.^[8]

In his diary entry of December 20, 1937, King explained the reasons behind his decision, writing that he would allow the park to be created, despite his aversion to tourists invading the Meech and Kingsmere Lake areas, and his fear that he would be criticized for wanting to create a park around his country estate.^[9]

King’s self interest and fear of criticism greatly contributed to denying Gatineau Park status as a national park in the 1930s. Moreover, the reasons officials give today for this continued state of affairs do not stand up to careful analysis.^[10]

Several senior federal officials and journalists have recently claimed or suggested that the Quebec government is responsible for preventing Gatineau Park from becoming a national park, because it has historically refused to transfer its 17% “ownership” of the land to the federal government.^[11]

For instance, appearing before a Commons committee on April 14, 2005, Parks Canada CEO Alan Latourelle said that the preconditions to creating national parks include a federal-provincial agreement to do so, along with the province’s transferring to the federal government the surface and subsurface rights to the lands concerned. Referring specifically to Gatineau Park, he said that:

"Part of the land is not federal. It is provincially owned – about 11% [sic] of it – and the subsurface rights are owned by the Province of Quebec. In this specific case, if it were to be considered for a national park, we would require the Government of Quebec’s support, and clearly historically we have not received that level of support anywhere in Quebec to create national parks. So it’s not an option we’re currently looking at."^[12]

However, by virtue of a 1973 agreement, the Quebec government transferred the control and management of 12,500 acres of provincial lands located inside Gatineau Park to the federal government – “in perpetuity” according to the two accompanying Orders in Council. The province also transferred the control and management of the lake bottoms located in the park, committed itself not to issue mining exploration permits, stipulated that the lands it was transferring were to form part of Gatineau Park, and guaranteed that the rights it was transferring were free of all defects in title.^[13]

In such agreements, and those preceding creation of national parks, it is had been argued that it is not ownership that is being transferred, but rather the control and management of the land and resources. As the Supreme Court has said, citing the principle of indivisibility of the Crown, and quoting legal scholar Paul Lordon, “Her Majesty is the owner of the property whether in right of Canada or the province and cannot grant to Herself. Only administrative control of the property passes. The transfer is, therefore, made by reciprocal Orders in Council and is confirmed by statute where third party rights are involved.”^[14]

Moreover, Gatineau Park’s boundaries have changed a great deal in recent years. As a result of a boundary rationalization exercise conducted in the 1990s, the National Capital Commission removed 48 properties totalling 1,508.4 acres from the park. With the 334.45 additional acres given up to road building within the same time frame – roads built in disregard of master plan commitments – the total number of acres removed from the park stands at 1,842 acres, or nearly three square miles (eight square kilometres).^[15]

In 2005, the Honourable Ed Broadbent, MP for Ottawa-Centre, tabled a private member's bill in the House of Commons that provided legal boundaries and a land management mechanism for the park, similar to the protection provided by the National Parks Act. And, in similar moves, the Honourable Mira Spivak of Manitoba tabled a bill in the Senate on April 25, 2006 which would also grant legal status and protection to the park, while Paul Dewar, who replaced Ed Broadbent as MP for Ottawa-Centre in 2006, tabled similar legislation in the House of Commons in May 2006.

Senator Spivak's Bill S-210 received second reading in the Senate on December 13, 2006. It was referred to the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, where it was studied on March 22, 27 and 29, and on June 5 and 7. It was reported back to the Senate on June 7 with three amendments.

Although the government had originally expressed support for Bill S-210, it proposed 18 amendments which, if adopted, would have largely undermined the letter and spirit of the legislation, by denying Parliament the authority to approve property sales in the park or changes to its boundaries.^[16]

Bill S-210 died on the Senate Order Paper when the government prorogued Parliament in September 2007. Its successor, Bill S-227, was tabled by the Hon. Mira Spivak on February 12, 2008. This new bill contains the amendments made by the Senate Environment Committee, along with a schedule providing a full technical description of the park's 1997 boundary. It was referred to the Senate Environment Committee on May 8, 2008.

A debate on the issue of private property in the park raged in the early months of 2008, when news of a residential development on Carman Road came to light. A group of park activists, the Gatineau Park Protection Coalition, managed to pressure the NCC into purchasing that property in early May. However, more development is currently taking place, most notably on the shores of Meech Lake, and the NCC has been criticized for not using its legal authority to stop all further construction in what is, after all, supposed to be a public park.^[17]

[edit] Sites

Ottawa Valley and Gatineau Hills from Champlain lookout in Gatineau Park

Biking along one of the many trails in Gatineau

Cross country ski trail in Gatineau

Gatineau Park includes a number of campgrounds and picnic areas. There are 165 km of hiking trails and 90 km of trails for mountain bikes and the Trans Canada Trail passes through the park. The park is also popular with cyclists; note that most routes are quite steep and very demanding on legs, heart and lungs! There are beaches at Meech Lake, Lac Philippe and La Pêche Lake, which each offer camping facilities. These lakes also offer canoeing; boats with gas motors are not allowed on most lakes in the park. Although the practise is not permitted in the park, some of the more secluded corners are popular with nudists.^{[citation needed]}

There is a tea room at Moorside, the former summer home of William Lyon Mackenzie King, the tenth Prime Minister of Canada, at Kingsmere. The estate also features gardens and the "ruins" collected by King in a woodland setting. A small waterfall runs down the escarpment near Moorside.^{[citation needed]}

The Champlain lookout provides a spectacular view of the Ottawa Valley from high atop the Eardley Escarpment. When the leaves change colour in fall, tourists and locals are drawn to the park's lookouts, roads and pathways to enjoy the autumn scenery.^{[citation needed]}

All of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area's television and FM radio stations broadcast from a transmitter site at Camp Fortune just north of Kingsmere.^{[citation needed]}

The park's location in the Gatineau Hills makes it a popular destination for cross-country skiing. There are almost 200 km of cross-country trails and the park plays host to the annual Gatineau Loppet (formerly known as Keskinada Loppet). There is also a downhill skiing and snowboarding area at Camp Fortune.^{[citation needed]}

Gatineau Park provides habitat for birds such as the Pileated Woodpecker and Common Loon. Turkey Vultures and migrating hawks take advantage of the thermals at the Eardley Escarpment. There are many beavers and white-tailed deer in the park, as well as some black bears and a few wolves in more remote sections.^{[citation needed]}

Pink Lake is a meromictic lake found in the park. Tiny algae within the lake give it a bright green colour. The lake's name comes from the Pink family who originally owned property in the area.^{[citation needed]}

King Mountain, the highest peak in Gatineau, rising an almost vertical 345 meters from the Eardley Escarpment, was the first triangulation point in Canada. Also, due to the mountain’s unique positioning, it presents a very interesting spectrum of vegetation, from dark evergreen forest, to rich deciduous forest in another area, and windswept savanna in yet another area. The mountain is also home to a number of very rare species of trees for the area, including some which are almost 600 years old.

For many years a large red wooden cross was situated on top of King Mountain’s peak, looking out over the Ottawa River Valley, however the cross has fallen into disrepair and has been removed as a safety precaution.^{[citation needed]} King Mountain served as the main location for Will Inrig's feature-film Ivannikov and the Blessèd Virgin Mary, filmed in the Gatineau forest in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Mackenzie King donated his 600 acre property at Kingsmere to the people of Canada at his death in 1950. The Prime Minister of Canada's country retreat at Harrington Lake, and The Farm, the official residence of the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, and Prime Minister King's former residence, are located within the park.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Image Gallery

Rock Climbing in the Luskville area of the park

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gatineau Park

• Official web site

• Gatineau Park is at coordinates 45°27′16″N 75°46′38″W / 45.454532, -75.777168 (Gatineau Park)Coordinates: 45°27′16″N 75°46′38″W / 45.454532, -75.777168 (Gatineau Park)
• Photography of the park
• NCC Approved Gatineau Park Camping Webite