Winnipeg Free Press > Latest News > Province, Tim Hortons outline plans for Meditation Lake camp

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Province, Tim Hortons outline plans for Meditation Lake camp

By: Bruce Owen

3/04/2009 5:01 PM | Comments: 20

The Whiteshell Provincial Park

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The Whiteshell Provincial Park

Map shows the proposed location of the camp.

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Map shows the proposed location of the camp. (HANDOUT)

Map shows the proposed location of the camp.

Enlarge Image

Map shows the proposed location of the camp. (HANDOUT)

The Tim Horton Children's Foundation and Manitoba government outlined plans today to building a $10 million year-round camp complex near Meditation Lake in the Whiteshell.

David Newnham, foundation vice-president, and Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said creation of the camp falls under the province’s plans to make some areas of Manitoba’s wilderness more accessible.

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Struthers said the province will host two open houses to outline the camp’s plans and other development. They will be held at in the evening of April 30 at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg and the afternoon of May 2 at the Pinewood Lodge at Dorothy Lake.

The province has been working with The Tim Horton Children’s Foundation for the past year to chose an appropriate site.

"We have 110,000 lakes in this province and some of them would clearly not be environmentally suitable," Struthers said. "We took our time to make sure that we found a lake that really worked from the perspective of the foundation but also one that allowed us to move forward in a balanced way to protect the environment."

The proposal has come under fire from cottagers and an environmental group because of the province’s refusal to develop a management plan for its protected areas and because of the secret nature of the talks to date.

Newnham said the site near Meditation Lake — it will accommodate 260 youth during the summer — was chosen because it’s close enough to the city but still in a wilderness area. Programming will be aimed at teaching leadership and wilderness camping skills to underprivileged youth.

The foundation operates six other camps for disadvantaged youth in Canada and the U.S.

The Whiteshell camp would include several year-round buildings, Newnham said, consisting of two sleeping quarters that would accommodate 65 of the youth, a dining hall, a health and wellness unit, a creative arts centre and a maintenance building.

The province will help by extending a road to the site. Hydro must also be extended.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

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20 Commentscomment icon

The site of this camp is the only public access to Mediatation Lake at this time. While the image provided with the article includes a "proposed" public hiking trail to access the lake, it does not specify that this public access will actually develop. Hence, the largest issue with the location of this camp is that it essentially converts once public land to private property and removes the only access for all Manitobans to Mediatation Lake.

For some out there, there are many camps like through parks and recreation during the summers. Or put your kids into Air, Sea, Arm cadets! It is totally free, they can travel the world free. Sea cadets has different camps like in Kingston Ont. and Comox, B.C. all free for the kids to learn so much is endless. I know a lot of parents don't know this...

One final note, I really don't understand how people can be lead like cattle to Tim's just for a cup of hot water and acidic flavour from a bean!!! Wasting all that time and fuel when you could make it at home and save tons of cash!!!!! Ever heard of the Latte' Factor....lol...Read the book, I dare ya..

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Most people wouldn't be against Tim Horton's doing this if it weren't for one plainly obvious situation here. Nothing wrong with building anything for the underprivileged youth but NOT at this lake.Do it someplace else. If it had been some kind of development company looking to build a mess of cabins, bet the government wouldn't have allowed it nor should they have. I'd never visit Tim Horton's for any reason even if I did drink coffee or eat frozen-then-baked pastries, still wouldn't frequent their establishments. They're not very environmentally friendly establishments to begin with, they actually encourage those long, long, very long lines of cars in their drive-thru's and Winnipeg does have Anti-Idling Laws but nobody would ever ticket a Tim's Location or a customer huh? Yep, looks like this will be rammed down the throats of all who enjoy and frequent Meditation Lake and I guess the government of the day won't be around to see what happens in the next few decades now that Timmies will be adding hundreds of polluters to one very vulnerable spot that we already knew was in serious trouble to begin with. Perhaps a lawsuit or 2 will be in order in a shortwhile-could happen, wait and see.....

Holy crud...what a bunch of whining baby complainers..... it's a relatively modest camp on a lake... big whoopie. What we really need is the 12 story luxury Timmie's Luxor at Grand Beach!!!!

Shame on the people of Manitoba... always something negative to critcize but never a contribution...
I think this is an excellent idea, remember God gave us this land to live off. I bet you didnt make a stink, when they were building your house which probally sits on what once was pristine land. We need to do anything possible to help nurture the youth today, because obviously we have taken a wrong turn somewhere. This camp will provide youth a safe enviroment while possibly stearing them away from the life of crime and street gangs. BRAVO!!!! Tim Hortons

"D" I know where you're coming from..I worked full time, raising my daughter by myself. I could not find a camp that my daughter could go to at no cost, or minimal cost to myself. I always read the Free Press about the "Sunshine" fund...looking for donations to send a kid to camp. This was approx. 30 years ago. I could never find a phone number in this column,where I might apply for my daughter to go to camp. I can still remember to this day, being very close to tears about this. It seems that there are no "freebies" for hardworking "middle class" or "lower class" families. We could hardly pay the rent and utility bills and lots of times had peanut butter sandwiches for supper. Hardly money for eye glasses, dental work or prescription medications. I drove a "beater" and could hardly pay for the gas etc. to get to work and back. And to go to the beach for a day...we couldn't afford the gas. Bottom Line..."We were Poor". And there are no "freebies" for our "disadvantaged" children. I'm close to tears again when I think of the hard times we had, because I worked full time!!!!!

Face facts, complainers: there isn't another lake they could choose that would escape your vitriol, is there? You do get that the idea here is to find a place that's remote enough to provide wilderness camping programming but not so remote as to make the cost of access prohibitive? Surely in a province of 100,000 lakes, putting a small camp near one isn't much of a stretch. This isn't paving paradise to put up a drive-through.

How about Tim Hortons spending some of that money to build turning lanes into their stores? Customers blocking one lane of a busy two lane road during rush hour just so they can have their "Timmies" is idiotic. Our roadways should not be held hostage by some ignorant company that refuses to take responsibility for their poor planing. Just think how much money the city could make by putting up a few no stopping zones and ticketing those who think their coffee is more important than other people getting to work on time.

I cant believe how people talk about UNDERPRIVILAGED OR DISADVANTAGED KIDS WHY DONT YOU PEOPLE GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSES AND FOSTER THESE KIDS, THEN THEY WOULDNT HAVE TO BUILD THESE CAMPS.

i love meditation lake, and am not looking forward to tim horton's ruining it. the reason why meditation lake is so amazing is because of the fact that it is undeveloped. there is no car access to the lake, just a beautiful hike. pick another lake timmy ho's.

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