MELDRUM BAY—The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has turned down a lease request from the Dawson Citizens Improvement Association (DCIA) that would have made the Mississagi Lighthouse and park operational again.
“It’s really disappointing,” stated Anne Steele-Giffin, a member of the DCIA board who had posted online last week that DFO had turned down the DCIA proposal. “The DFO said they are not giving leases (for lighthouses).”
Jennifer Clarke, president of the DCIA board said, “They indicated they are not in the position to give out leases for any properties they oversee. We didn’t get a ton of information, but they have stopped giving out leases as a whole.” However, “we are still going to inquire further and make an effort to get a lease.”
“The lighthouse and park campgrounds are good as they bring tourists to Western Manitoulin, and it helps support the economy there,” said Ms. Clarke. “We still have people driving out to the lighthouse property and finding out they can’t get in.”
“We have plans to go back to them on this—we aren’t giving up. We have plans to go back and forge ahead with our request for a lease,” said Ms. Clarke. “We need to get more information from DFO. We know someone else has inquired about leasing the property as well. If some other group or person wants and can get a lease on the property we would be very happy with this.”
“The most important thing is to have the use of the property and improvements made on it,” said Ms. Clarke. “The longer it sits without maintenance the harder it will be to get it back to being able to be in operation again.”
“It’s really too bad the DFO won’t allow us to lease the property. It is good for the economy, and tourism on the Island,” said Ms. Steele-Giffin. “And it would be nice to have another attraction for people to visit the Island such as the Providence Bay beach and Bridal Veil Falls. Manitoulin Island needs the lighthouse to be open one way or the other.”
As was reported in the April 10 edition of The Expositor, there is interest among members of the public to volunteer their time to help the DCIA in making the Mississagi Lighthouse operational again. About 40 people, including members of the public and the DCIA met in Meldrum Bay in April to gauge interest towards making the lighthouse operational again. As had been reported previously, the DCIA, with the assistance of LAMBAC and Annette Clarke, Western Manitoulin economic development officer, had made an application to DFO to acquire a long-term lease for operations of the lighthouse.
“We had a very large show of support from people who are interested in getting the property open again. It is disappointing that we may not get this opportunity,” said Ms. Clarke. “And at the meeting it was not just residents from Western Manitoulin in attendance, it was Island-wide.”
“We have no intention of walking away from our idea just because DFO has said no at this point,” said Ms. Clarke. “We need to take the right steps forward; you never know what the future might bring. The committee is still discussing the next steps we are going to take. We aren’t giving up.”
A decade ago, DCIA was in negotiations with DFO about acquiring the lighthouse, all of its buildings and the property but were unsuccessful. DCIA produced a business plan and in the summer of 2022 decided to start the process to try to lease the lighthouse and property. The DCIA toured the property and buildings and discussed with Annette Clarke making an application to lease the lighthouse.
