Fellow LJNA members and Lake Joe & Portage Lake Neighbours:
It was a splendid September on Lake Joe, warm clear days and cool nights, perfect for long boat rides, stargazing and hikes in the woods. With colder weather around the corner, thoughts have turned to winter plans, mouse proofing, and boat storage.
We’ve been busy since our AGM in August. Two volunteers have recently stepped up to be directors on the Board. Welcome to Ben Sainsbury a lifelong cottager on Portage Lake and to Lindy Foote a brand new member of our community. We are pleased to have your voices and energy at the table.
As usual, this enews has an update from the Board and some of our partner organizations as well as news from the community. Please be in touch with any feedback or questions.
Many thanks to the members for your trust and commitment. Your ongoing support and engagement are so important to the work we do. If you have yet to join for 2024, please click HERE for more info and to make your payment.
Very best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving! Nancy Cohen
Over 95 people were in attendance plus 12 by Zoom representing over 70 member families from North Lake Joe and Portage Lake.
The meeting opened with conversation led by member Scott Francisco about our shared values, hopes and concerns for our Lake Joe. After collecting these on note-cards and the whiteboard, Scott fed submissions into an AI tool to produce a story entitled: Legacy and Evolution: A Love Letter to North Lake Joseph. The purpose of this experiment was to create space to hear and interact with each other, and to extend the conversation to others who were not in the room. The result was intentionally humorous, but underlined how much we have in common with our neighbours around the lake and also provided helpful feedback for board priorities.
This was followed by updates from the Board.
- Accomplishments this past year include our new ONCA compliant corporate bylaw, continued advocacy at the municipal level, continued lake health monitoring, a new Instagram account, an education initiative on loons.
- Board plans for the upcoming year include: Webinar on Planning topics with Seguin planning, developing a welcome package for new neighbours, and adding more activities to the LJNA calendar.
- An update of financials was presented and the motion to dispense with audit requirements was approved with no objections. The slate of directors was elected unanimously.
Following the board update, Founding President, Cecil Hayhoe spoke about the process and the goals of Seguin’s planning bylaws. These were developed through wide engagement with all of Seguin residents and aim to limit the density and intensity of development on the lakes. Cecil underlined the importance of making our voices heard when requests for unreasonable exceptions come to Council.
We were honoured to once again welcome to the AGM, Mayor Ann MacDiarmid, and Councillors Terry Fellner and Greg Getty.
- The mayor gave an overview of recent activities of Council including a new strategic plan (thinking about 30 years and not just 5), the development the rec centre in Parry Sound, the status of Official Plan review, the establishment of a reserve fund to help address Seguin’s infrastructure deficit and the implementation of development fees to fund servicing in the MZO lands near Parry Sound.
- Greg provided an update on the Rosseau Nursing station and mentioned a new program for virtual care available in this area. Please see this website for more information.
Thank you to everyone who took part of their long weekend Saturday to join in, to our set-up and clean-up volunteers and especially to Gordon Bay Marine and Maple Leaf Marinas. Each year, we get positive feedback from attendees but if there’s something you would like to see, or something we can improve, please be in touch now so we can incorporate it into our planning for next year
Update on Municipal Matters – Recent Planning Requests
Seguin’s OP Review is restarting! The Official Plan sets the land use policies for the township. The review of the OP, started several years ago by the township, had been on hold while the province revised the policy framework. We look forward to working with staff and Council to bring the views of the LJNA membership to the table.
As reported previously, the LJNA and many neighbours submitted letters and made presentations objecting to two applications being considered at the July 15th Public Meeting of Council. One on Hamer Bay and the other on Stanley Bay. Subsequently, a revised plan was submitted for the Stanley Bay project and this was approved by Council. The request in Hamer Bay was declined by Council at the Sept 3rd meeting. We recently heard that the owner is appealing this decision to the OLT. Your Board is evaluating options for our participation in this appeal.
Summer Activities Reports
Benthic Sampling Day – Update from Lynda McCarthy
We had a good sized crew show up for the annual benthic sampling day: 5 kids and 10 adults including a retired limnologist from the federal government.
Thank you to the Bakemeier, Marsh, Newton, and Wilkinson families for their help and to the Goldhars for hosting.
Click HERE for reports and an overview view of the program
Pencil in Thursday Aug 7th 2025 and plan to join us for another fun and educational day!
Forest Walk - Sarah Wilson
We had seven people plus our family, and they were very enthusiastic and there were lots of questions. Thank you to Rocky Crest for hosting us.
Cycling Meet Ups – Nancy Cohen
The LJNA hosted two cycling meet-ups this fall. The first drew a group of 10 riders and the second drew 5. Some went to Mactier and back (23km), and some went along the Healey Lake road (almost 50km). Many others are interested. Look for more rides in 2025!
Loon Project Update - Syd Smith
During our mid-September weekend visit to the cottage we enjoyed the extended summer weather. While out on the water, I observed 5 loons in North Lake Joe. Over the summer I observed the breeding pair located near Gordon Bay with one chick. Nick Pemberton, has observed the same pair with two chicks. This is a good indicator of lake health and the well-being of our loon population.
Please remember to be wake aware and respectful of our migratory birds.
Stay connected with LJNA activities and news:
An important part of our mission is to connect the neighbours on Lake Joe North and Portage Lake
This summer, we launched an Instagram account to share exciting initiatives, events and programming our volunteers are working on.
Tell you friends and family about our newsletters. Members can add up to 4 emails addresses to their account. Others can subscribe to our Enews at ljna/subscribe.
Seguin Township News
Webinar - Update on Environment and Climate Change
This summer the Seguin Township hosted an interactive webinar to share how their commitment to prioritizing the environment is applied in their day-to-day operations, what they are planning for in the future, and how you can get involved. Here’s links:
Stay in touch with Seguin activities by subscribing to their news feeds. More info HERE.
Update from Councillor Terry Fellner – Ward 4
Hi Everyone
Hopefully everyone had a great summer and with September almost over (hard to believe) the fall weather is quickly approaching. Seguin council and staff have working diligently through the busy summer months, we finally have permission from the Province to finish off our Official Plan Review, there will be more public consultation this fall and we hope to have things finalized for submission in 2025.
I want to mention a couple of the special projects I have been working on:
Last December I helped the new Seguin Recreation Committee host the first annual free turkey dinner for Seguin Residents. The event was held at the Orville Community Centre as it has the largest commercial kitchen of all the Seguin facilities. The idea was to offer a free Christmas fresh turkey dinner to all, at no expense to the taxpayers of Seguin. The initial event was funded by a few residents of the township.
We had over 60 volunteers, cooks, carvers, potato peelers, dishwashers, table servers. We hosted 2 servings of 150 people in the hall and delivered over 70 meals to shut ins. All of Seguin council were involved and at the hall, Seguin staff volunteered and washed dishes, delivered meals, bused tables and private citizens from every end of this township (and we are a big township geographically) came and baked pies, decorated the hall, served tables, whatever needed doing. It truly was a “community for the community event”
The majority of the people we fed that night were seniors, with some young families mixed in, hopefully we made a difference for a lot of them and I believe we did. I can honestly tell you it was one of the most personally gratifying events I have ever helped organize.
This year we want to feed more, we are targeting 2 sittings of 200 people and 100 home deliveries, the need is there and I believe now we have the experience to deliver, most volunteers have signed back up for this year, the event is scheduled for the second Saturday in December in Orville. Our budget this year is $ 4,000.00 and we hope that the community in large could help us with reaching this financial goal. Donations can be made by cheque to the Township of Seguin, marked Christmas Dinner, a charitable receipt will be issued promptly for any donation. To volunteer contact Councillor Gail Finnson at gailfinnson@seguin.ca.
The second project I have been involved in is the new community pool and wellness centrewhich is being built beside the site of the new high school in Parry Sound. This pool has been over 40 years in the making and has finally become a reality. The site has been serviced, the general contractor is on site working on the footings & foundations with the goal to have the steel skeleton erected by years end. The funding was applied for and approved by the federal and provincial government prior to Covid, as we all know post Covid costs for everything have drastically escalated. We have a fundraising committee chaired by our mayor Ann who are well on their way to raise the additional funds required to fully fund the project. Until November 24 there is a matching donor who will match up to a total of $ 100,000 for any donation received, charitable tax receipt will be issued for any donation over $ 25.00. I urge you to have a look at the information attachedand see if perhaps you could make a difference.
Any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me at terryfellner@seguin.ca or give me a call 519 831 5526.
Of Interest and Partner Updates
Safe Quiet Lakes - Dr. Chris Houser Shares His Research on Boat Wakes
Dr. Chris Houser, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Waterloo, has been conducting research on the impact of boat wakes for the past two years. He shared his recent work in a webinar hosted by Safe Quiet Lakes this summer. The research found that boat wake energy represents a significant source of wave energy on our lakes. Depending on location, recreational boat wakes accounted for 60% of all wave energy up to over 90%. Click HERE to watch.
PumpkinFest is an annual celebration held in the Village of Rosseau on Thanksgiving Saturday. It is a 'free' family event that draws thousands of people from the whole Muskoka area. It offers a host of free events and activities for the whole family including children's pumpkin painting, cupcake decorating, face painting, Bouncy Castles and games galore as well as music and entertainment; all free. There will be food and craft vendors to suit all.
MLA 12th Annual Food Drive – until October 27th
The MLA 12th Annual Food Drive is partnering this year with the Manna Food in Bracebridge. Non-perishable food items can be donated at many convenient locations including Gordon Bay Marine and Muskoka Lakes Marine in Rosseau.
