Northern Ontario farmer worries flooding could take his property and nearby homes

Jonathan Migneault · CBC News

· Posted: May 02, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

A fourth-generation husbandman successful northeastern Ontario worries the adjacent Goulais River volition yet destruct his household workplace and respective homes downstream from his property.

Every outpouring Matt McDonald says portion of his spot is flooded by the Goulais River arsenic h2o levels rise.

McDonald says his onshore has gradually eroded for years, and it's due to the fact that of blasting that occurred successful 1931, erstwhile his great-grandfather owned the farm.

"I cognize we're successful the floodplain and I get each that," helium said.

"That's each portion of wherever we live. But erstwhile the authorities does things, similar erstwhile I bash things, I've got to instrumentality ownership for it."

What was past Ontario's Department of Highways blasted a transmission astatine the Goulais River's borderline to support Highway 552 West from flooding.

The program worked, but it had unintended consequences.

That caller transmission redirected the stream straight to the McDonald household farm.

Two years later, successful 1933, the section built a chromatic obstruction to support the farm.

Glynn Rouse, who was a subordinate of the Goulais and District Local Services Board, wrote a missive successful 2006 to Mike Brown, the Liberal MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin astatine the time, successful which helium voiced his concerns astir the McDonald workplace property.

In his letter, Rouse said that chromatic obstruction proved capable for much than 20 years. But by 1963 it had eroded, astatine which constituent the state lined the spot with shale stone to forestall further erosion. 

That proved to beryllium a short-term solution.

"At contiguous it erodes 10 to 20 metres each year," Rouse wrote successful 2006.

"It is the interest of Goulais residents that a breakthrough is nary longer a substance of if, but erstwhile ... And the 'when' appears to beryllium imminent."

In 2007, Rouse received a missive from Donna Cansfield, who was Ontario's curate of proscription astatine that time.

In the letter, Cansfield outlined immoderate enactment that was done successful 2004 and 2005 to realign immoderate roads successful the country to support them from flooding. 

But Cansfield did not code the concerns astir the McDonald farm.

McDonald says if thing is done to forestall flooding each spring, and the erosion that comes with it, the conception of the Goulais River adjacent his spot could yet go an oxbow lake, which is erstwhile a meandering stream is chopped disconnected and forms a U-shaped lake.

That would not lone flood astir of his property, but besides homes downstream from his farm.

"And it's not a substance of if, it's erstwhile it's chewing done and everything's underwater," helium said.

In a statement, Tanya Blazina, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Transportation, said the state is alert of the situation.

"MTO has carried retired assorted treatments to code erosion on Goulais River to support Highway 552 successful the past," she said.

"We are continuously monitoring and assessing the situation."