Plans for Belfountain park will just benefit CVC

April 17, 2015 · 0 Comments

When I was a kid growing up in the ’50s, our family had a tradition of Sunday summer picnics.
One particular Sunday, we were picnicking in a park on Jordan Harbour between Hamilton and St. Catharines along with perhaps 20 other families.
Suddenly, a preacher stood on a picnic table began delivering a sermon to the picnickers. The fathers of the various families spontaneously approached the preacher and told him that this was not the time or place for a sermon. He was not doing anything wrong and there was nothing wrong with religion. It was just felt that he was infringing on family time.
Today a new religion is threatening to encroach on family time at Belfountain Conservation Area. This small park on the West Credit River has a 100-year history of drawing families together to enjoy swimming, boating, waterfalls, fishing, hiking, picnicking and just plain loafing. Every summer, the park is filled to overflowing.
Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is planning to usurp the unstructured recreational use of the park and turn it into a learning centre to grow their own business.
Under the supervision of CVC, the pond has been allowed to silt up. The dam has not been maintained. The terrace is collapsing and there has been a general deterioration of the lands. Now they claim to be coming to the rescue of the park with their new Management Plan.
They plan to enhance the visitor’s experience in the already full park by preaching to us about nature. They will have a visitor centre for CVC meetings and to accommodate bussed in students. They will remove the dam and therefore the waterfalls because it suits their plan.
In and of themselves, there is nothing wrong with these ideas but parks are for people and not for preaching.
Stephen Reave,
Belfountain