New national urban park in Windsor moves closer to becoming a reality

Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk declared Monday a milestone day in the creation of the Ojibway National Urban Park.

“Today is one of the more important days in the history of environmental conservation in our community,” Kusmierczyk told a large gathering at the Ojibway Nature Centre.

He shared Ojibway Shores was officially transferred to Parks Canada.

He also said the park was found to be feasible and a house next to the Ojibway Prairies was purchased with the help of Parks Canada, who contributed $1.3 million to buy about an acre of land to be included in the urban national park.

“What you saw today was this incredible spirit of collaboration, this incredible spirit of partnership, unity and that's the type of spirit that's going to get us to the finish line to create an Ojibway national park,” Kusmierczyk said.

Parks Canada is now moving to the planning phase.

Ojibway Shores in Windsor, Ont. is seen in this undated image. (Submitted)

“We have to work through all the details of how the park will be managed operationally,” said Caroline Macintosh, executive director of protected areas. “We have a study area but we do not have a conclusion on exactly what the boundaries of the park will be.”

Aside from Ojibway Shores, the provincial government is also transferring land.

Ontario’s Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks announced the province’s intent to transfer the Ojibway Prairie Provincial park lands to Parks Canada. That adds up to another 64 hectares of land for the national urban park.

“We look forward to being active partners at the table in this for weeks and months ahead as we get this done hopefully on expedited timelines,” said, David Piccini, Ontario’s minister of the environment, conservation and parks.

Windsor-West MP Brian Masse has been working towards this for over 20 years. He calls Piccini’s announcement pivotal.

“The province is the really big thing today getting them on board is certainly an accomplishment,” he said.

Masse says in order for the park to move ahead the prairie lands were vital — that’s the real news Monday. 

“That’s probably why they didn’t invite me is because I didn’t want to be Captain Obvious there telling people there, ‘you know, until we have the legislation we don’t have a park,’” he said.

Masse says national parks like Point Pelee, Banff and Jasper were created through legislation which is why he is spearheading Bill C-248 which will be debated Friday and voted on Wednesday, April 26.