3 northern communities to partner to operate Mississagi Provincial Park

There's a new partnership between three northern communities to operate Mississagi Provincial Park, 25 km north of Elliot Lake, Ont.

The province had run the park seasonally between 1965 and 2013, but announced its closure in 2012.

The City of Elliot Lake assumed operations the following year, and has been operating the 87-site campground, and surrounding property ever since. The municipality does have a management agreement with the province for minimal support, including theOntario Parksreservation system andsome park wardentraining.

Now the city has partnered with Serpent River First Nation and Mississauga First Nationto form the newly incorporated Mississagi Park Foundation. The foundation will operate the park once a new management agreement is negotiated in the coming months.

The plan for transition from city to foundation is scheduled for winter 2023.

"With the First Nations being at the table, we hope to broaden the scope of what the park can offermore than we could when it was simply just the City of Elliot Lake operating a provincial park," said Daniel Gagnon, chief administrative officer for the City of Elliot Lake.

Within the first four to five years of the municipality taking over the provincial park it lost an average of $50,000 to$60,000 annually.

"It's a loss but it could also be seen as an investment because of the tourism value," Gagnon said.

The demand for outdoor activities like camping since the pandemic has meant an improvement for revenues from the park.

"The trend has improved on the bottom line and we've only lost about $30,000 in the last two years," Gagnon said.

"The park is still a huge asset to the community," he added.

Indigenous culture opportunities

The partnership aims to create more avenues for Indigenous learning and cultural opportunities, along with other benefits.

John Trudeau, a councillor with Serpent River First Nation, said the area north of Elliot Lake is traditional territory for Anishnabek People.

"In this day and age we sought out to develop partnerships and to actually be part of our economic development initiatives," he said.

Trudeau said the First Nations likely could get some grants and other funding to help with expansions, programs and other projects at the park.

"There's lots of things we can do, and that can be done,"

"We need jobs, we need our young people to stay in this area and to grow and be a part of this area. There is tremendous opportunity here and we're going to be working to push forward those opportunities," he added.

Vision: a leading wilderness park

Gagnon said having a shared partnership with the two neighbouring First Nations will help generate more revenue and mitigate costs that the City of Elliot Lake has been incurring since 2013.

"The foundation can improve the assets and move on from there, so it's win-win all the way around," he said.

Gagnon said part of the foundation's vision is to operate the park in coldermonths with winter camping. There are also plans for an education centre for ecology and geology, and new programming tailored to Indigenous cultural tourism.

Gagnon said he is hopeful Mississagi Provincial Park can become a leading wilderness park in northern Ontario.

"It currently has limited cell signal and we want to keep it traditional and rugged but to be a leading wilderness parkand provide that culture, education and recreation all in one package which we think is somewhat unique."