The Town of South Bruce Peninsula is asking the Court of Appeal to set aside a judgment declaring a stretch of Sauble Beach — north of the famous Welcome Sign at Main Street — as Saugeen First Nation reserve land.
South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Garry Michi confirms the town filed its appeal earlier this week of Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Vella’s April 3 ruling, which found about 1.4-miles of beach is reserve land that was never surrendered by Saugeen.
Justice Vella also declared no third parties have any interest in “the reserve portion of Sauble Beach.”
The Notice of Appeal from the town and some private landowners asks for Vellas’ judgment to be set aside, and for Saugeen’s action to be dismissed.
South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Michi says there’s really two things the town wants: clarification of the actual location of the eastern boundary of Saugeen First Nation, and ensuring public access to the beach is maintained.
“Justice Vella raised the question on where that eastern boundary is, and we want to know where it is also,” Michi says in an interview. “If they say where it is, and we’re all in favour, then we can remove that appeal just as quickly as it went in.”
- Court Rules In Favour Of Saugeen First Nation In Sauble Beach Boundary Claim
- Sauble Beach Court Ruling Raises Unresolved Questions, Town of South Bruce Peninsula Says
- Saugeen Chief Shares Optimism About Upcoming Tourism Season At Sauble Beach
Treaty 72 and an 1855 survey conducted by Provincial Land Surveyor Charles Rankin are at the heart of legal proceedings concerning Sauble Beach.
Superior Court Justice Vellas found Rankin did properly locate the “spot upon the coast” intended to serve as the eastern boundary of the reserve, but then moved it about 1.4 miles south “in accordance with acceptable boundary principles of the day as applied to deeds” and in doing so “deprived Saugeen of their unsurrendered reserve coastline” promised in Treaty 72.
According to Vellas’ reasons for judgement, Rankin moved the north terminus of the east boundary of the reserve to around the road allowance between Lots 25 and 26 (near Main Street now) rather than within Lot 31 (near 6th Street North now) to resolve an ambiguity which arose, as his survey line from Lot 31 crossed wet sand when it ran south.
The town argues Justice Vellas erred by “unilaterally altering the reserve’s east boundary.” The Notice of Appeal says the trial judge’s declaration does not identify the extent of the land that forms part of the reserve, and didn’t endorse a plan or survey.
A statement issued last week by the town says the judgment raises “important and unexpected questions” including the actual location of Saugeen’s east boundary, which have “serious implications, including for land east of Sauble Beach currently owned by the town, businesses and community members, and Lakeshore Boulevard itself.”
In its notice of appeal, the town claims the necessary effect of Vellas’ findings to relocate the east boundary would capture about “144 acres of land east of Lakeshore Boulevard and south of Main Street.”
“The trial judge’s creation of a new east boundary for the reserve overrides core principles of property and survey law, and has serious implications for the interests of private landowners who had no notice that their lands would be affected by this judgment,” the appeal document explains.
Michi says the town also wants to ensure public access to Sauble Beach is maintained. The town’s appeal doesn’t ask the court to make a declaration concerning public access, but does claim Justice Vellas failed to appropriately weigh and reconcile competing interests at stake in her ruling, including that “a number of businesses along Lakeshore Boulevard rely on foot traffic from the public’s free access to Sauble Beach guaranteed by the town.”
In a recent interview with Bayshore Broadcasting News, Saugeen Chief Conrad Ritchie said he doesn’t foresee a restriction on public access to the beach.
Michi says the town hopes to “sit down” with Saugeen and “discuss all that.” He says the town has offered to help with beach management and paid parking, but Saugeen hasn’t “come back to us yet.”
“It’s just a matter of us getting together and working together,” Michi explains.
Justice Vella did address the issue of public access in her April 3 ruling, dismissing a submission from Ontario seeking a declaration of a public right of access for recreational use.
“Perhaps what is required is that the parties – all of them – begin to trust each other. After all, the beach is going nowhere whomever assumes stewardship over it,” Vellas says in her ruling.
Meanwhile, Michi says the town has removed all signs and taken its possessions out of washrooms on the beach declared Saugeen reserve land.