A group of environmental advocates are hosting a webinar on April 18 about the impact of the planned Bradford Bypass on a provincially significant cultural heritage site.
"Sometimes fascinating places and their stories are hiding in plain sight, or are underfoot but undetected, and in some cases, they are under a planned highway. Such is the case for the Lower Landing on the East Holland River, one of our most provincially significant cultural heritage sites, and the Bradford Bypass," said Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition in a news release.
The webinar, called Don’t Blast the Past, features presentations by:
• Roddy Assance, great grandson of Chief Assance who led his people to Christian Island after the forced relocation away from Coldwater.
• Leland Porte, member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island, avid angler and family cook. Knows Lake Simcoe or Ashunyung like his forefathers did.
• Bert Duclos, cultural heritage consultant, local historian.
• Scarlett Janusas, licensed archeologist, president of the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee, Scarlett Janusas Archaeology Inc.
• Cynthia Wesley Esquimaux, Georgina Island First Nations member, chair on Truth and Reconciliation, Lakehead University, Orillia and Thunder Bay.
• Becky Big Canoe, Georgina Island First Nations member, chair of Water is Life Coalition for Water Justice.
"Local history lovers, First Nations people, story tellers, users of the Holland River, anglers, residents and environmentalists will all find a webinar about the Lower Landing on Tuesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. fascinating, and possibly infuriating," the group said.
"The Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation objected to putting a highway over this site in 1998. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is still looking at the same route and to date no alteration of the route has been proposed to avoid this site."
You can register here for the event co-hosted by the Water Is Life Coalition for Water Justice, the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition and Stop the Bradford Bypass.
