Pinery Provincial Park. Photo courtesy of  @PineryProvPark via twitter.Pinery Provincial Park. Photo courtesy of @PineryProvPark via twitter.
Sarnia

$20K Revenue Loss At The Pinery

The Pinery's closure has had a significant impact on the provincial park's bottom line.

Ministry of Natural Resources spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski says the park has lost approximately $20,000 in revenue since its closure earlier this month.

The Grand Bend park was closed November 9, when the ministry was told that an indigenous family led by Maynard T. George had plans to reclaim the land, saying it belonged to his great-grandfathers descendants.

A previous attempt was made by the same individual in 2014.

Kowalski says over the past two weeks, four school trips were called off, one event was relocated and about 75 camping and roofed accommodation reservations were cancelled.

She says there are currently 23 staff members at the Pinery, who have all still been reporting to work regularly to do general maintenance, administrative work and maintain facilities, unless directed otherwise.

While the situation remains complex, Kowalski confirms that individuals staging the land claim have not made threats to harm people and that the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation has not provided any funding to Maynard George concerning this dispute.

Kowalski says the situation continues to be monitored on a day-to-day basis.

Individuals were asked last week to move a trailer placed at the entrance, however, a date to reopen the park still hasn't been announced.

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