A trio of Saugeen Shores residents used their wits to decipher several clues and strike gold in a treasure hunt through Ontario’s capital.
Logan Bertin, 28, his sister Aimee Bertin, 30, and his partner Stephanie Gomes, 27, were the ones to discover the regional prize that was hidden in Toronto as part of trade publication The Northern Miner’s Great Canadian Treasure Hunt.
The Bertin siblings and Gomes set off for Toronto last week after receiving a clue in the contest, and two days later they had found the treasure. Their prize? Six ounces of gold, valued today at more than $42,000.
“It’s fantastic. It’s not necessarily a crazy life-changing amount of money. It’s not millions of dollars. But it is fantastic for us and it really helps us in a lot of ways,” Logan says. “We’re really excited about it.”
Logan says his sister received an email clue last week from The Northern Miner about the treasure hidden somewhere in Toronto, and then they decided to take their shot. They had to find clues in a carefully worded article about mining to try and figure out where to go in the city.
“Their goal is to get people in the public more interested in mining, getting into that industry. So they want to teach you a little bit about it,” Bertin says. “So you read this article and it’s full of clues about where to go, and where to look around Toronto.”
“I can say that I know a lot more about Canadian mining history than I ever thought I would.”
Logan says their hunt took them all around Toronto, and included stops at the Royal Ontario Museum, the original Toronto Stock Exchange building in the financial district and where they found the treasure, on Toronto Island.
“We were riding subway lines, trying to find it, just having a good time going around Toronto and learning some new stuff while we were at,” Bertin recalls. “They had a pretty good hiding spot.”
The trio have been engaged in The Great Canadian Treasure Hunt since last year. The Northern Miner launched the contest in August 2025, inviting anyone to try and find the grand prize of more than $1-million in gold coins hidden somewhere in Canada. The company’s webpage has a cryptic poem written on it, which serves as the “master clue” in guiding treasure-hunters towards the location of the treasure.
“We’re definitely looking for the big one. We have been since August, doing a little bit of research here and there,” Logan explains. “But, this one was close by so we were able to just hop in the car and go take a look, rather than having to fly anywhere.”
Regional prizes are also being offered along the way. In addition to this one found in Toronto, other treasure hunters have also deciphered clues to claim gold prizes that were hidden in Dawson City, Newfoundland, Cobalt and elsewhere.
Logan says he definitely had the feeling they weren’t the only ones out looking for treasure when they trekked around Toronto.
“As you’re looking around you kind of start to spot a few people. I saw some people kind of looking under things as they were walking around, taking pictures, feeling the bricks on the side of the wall,” he recalls. “Nobody is really talking too much about it, but you definitely know there are some other people who are in on it.”