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Meditation lake: Rangers toss out Whiteshell info table

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Posted: 05/17/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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

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WINNIPEG — PARK rangers pulled the plug on an information table set up by environmental activists in the Whiteshell Saturday, barring the group from chatting with campers about a planned Tim Hortons kids' camp at Meditation Lake.

"We never even got the banner up before the parks staff told us to take the table down," said Paloma Corrin, a campaign assistant at the Manitoba office of the Wilderness Committee.

The group has been the chief opponent of a planned $10-million camp for disadvantaged kids to be built on the shores of pristine Meditation Lake. Environmentalists say the province has been secretive about the deal with the Tim Hortons Children's Foundation, and say the project threatens to damage the ecology of a lake that's only accessible by foot. The province says the project will give inner-city kids rare access to the wilderness and is a good fit for a lake in a relatively developed provincial park.

Senior officials at Manitoba Conservation said they were still trying to gather all the details about Saturday's incident, but noted that the Wilderness Committee has been allowed to set up information tables many times in parks.

"By no means would we take down a table just because a group was against a project," said assistant deputy minister Fred Meier. "People are free to express their opinions in parks."

Meier said Manitoba Conservation has asked the Wilderness Committee to give the government notice when and where a table might be set up so park staff can ensure the location is safe.

Activists set up the table Saturday afternoon on the gravel shoulder off Highway 309 at the turnoff to Meditation Lake. Corrin said the group had barely hung a banner reading "Public Consultation Before Park Development" when a park warden arrived, issued them a warning and asked them to leave.

The Wilderness Committee has a permit from Manitoba Finance's consumers' bureau that has allowed the activists to set up information tables in provincial parks in the past.

On Saturday, though, the ranger said the Wilderness Committee needed another type of permit from the parks branch.

Later Saturday afternoon, Eric Reder, the Wilderness Committee's provincial director, said he got a call from a Manitoba Conservation official who acknowledged that the table in the Whiteshell should have been allowed to remain.

The Doer government is expected to make a decision on the Tim Hortons camp proposal after the public consultation period ends May 31.

Meanwhile, the Wilderness Committee has set up its own research station on the shores of Meditation Lake to take water samples and gauge the number of backwoods campers and hikers who use the lake.

As many as eight researchers are spending the weekend in the camp and may continue taking water samples next weekend.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 17, 2009 A4

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