Gros Cap Bluffs To Be Sold?
Posted by: Dan Brosemer (odin) on April 06, 2001 at 18:21:43
from the houses-on-my-picnic-spot? dept.
Margaret Moncrieff writes: "Some of the residents of Gros Cap, Ontario (within the Sault Ste. Marie area) are concerned about the possible sale and development of the Gros Cap Bluffs into waterfront homes. At present, we are trying to raise public awareness of this issue to see what options there are in preserving this well-known, beautiful, natural landmark of the North. The following is a letter that has been submitted to the Sault Star." We hope Margaret will keep us informed. What do you all think of this? Update: The Sault Star today (April 11) has a story about local residents asking the higher levels of government to purchase the land for a park. Time for letters!
Letter to the Editor:
There must be some way of preventing the development of the Gros Cap Bluffs into waterfront homes while still allowing the Pandzics their right to receive their long awaited retirement investment. Access to the Gros Cap Bluffs has been graciously given to the public by the Pandzics for almost forty years, and people have been enjoying its beauty for generations before that. It is a well-known landmark in the Sault area.
Many people from Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding communities travel to the bluffs to enjoy their majestic beauty. Some go to watch the sunset, others hike up the outcropping of rocks to watch the sunrise. Families gather there to have picnics, take walks and enjoy the magnificent view of the place where Lake Superior meets the St. Mary's River.
The bluffs provide year round recreational opportunities, unique to our northern community. Many people access the bluffs to enjoy activities such as hiking, picking blueberries, bird watching, rock climbing and ice climbing while others go to sit on the rocks in silence and awe, while looking over the rugged shoreline of Lake Superior. The fall season offers a breathtaking view of one of nature's most colourful landscapes.
This gem of nature, unique to this area, invokes a deep feeling of spirit in all who visit her beauty. It is one of our northern treasures. Let us keep it as an area that our children can enjoy for generations.
privatisation rears its ugly head again and again
I know of two things about Gros Cap. One is fromby aj on 2001-04-08 16:50:10
my wife who was told by a former Ojibway secretary that
Gros Cap looms large in the scheme of things. It was
apparently the site of a major battle in pre contact times
between the Ojibway and this I am not sure of but apparently
the Iroquois or was it Mohawks. Either way it is a
historic site of great importance to our native peoples.
But this is only hearsay or oral history and it
would be time to one get the oral history, two do a dig
an archaeological scientific study and three declare it
a national battlefield historic site and as such to be
protected in perpetuity.
My wife corrects me it was Ojibway Sioux not ...
and there are some bones there.
Here comes the issue of privatisation. Obviously
it's public land even if it's erroneously considered
private. As you all know I am sure by the rereading of
the Robinson Huron treaty it turns out we are all
squatters on Indian land.
But the plot thickens here. When I was formulating
a taxation policy as a green candidate I thought I found
brilliant formula we should not tax farmers and natives
as the farmers give us the food and the natives gave us
the land ... which an Ojibway friend of mine shot down
with the simple phrase without thinking as a gut reflex
response IT WAS NOT OURS TO GIVE.
So read the anarchist website black bloc where you
will find the following property is an invention of
the agricultural revolution. Which is why North American
Indians had slavery ownership etc depending on their
primary activity, but hunters gatherers do not have the
concept of property or land ownwership or slavery and a
whole host of our ills.
So back to Gros Cap. If we play the property
game even then it should not belong to a private
individual, but to the community at large.
The Ojibway don't own it either but that does not
mean that anyone has a right to desecrate a battlefield.
What should be done with it. Leave it alone. But
nearby set up an interpretive centre with maps of North
America outlining the various tribes and their extent
migrations and ecology. Then discuss pre and postcontact
warfare and label the famous or infamous battle sites
featuring prominently our local site the Gros Cap
battlefield.
A Jablanczy
The second subsidiary issue is the geological
significance of Gros Cap. This I won't get into but
apparently it is a very important geological site. This
could also be used as a tourist destination draw, an on
site geological interpretive centre.
Neither of these native historical site of a
major battle nor the geological importance should be used
to commercialise and degrade the site. Nor should it be
parkified prettified, but left alone in its wild beauty
yet accessible to all.
The notion of private development is of course
anathema.