Council incumbents are responsible for Point Park pricetag

On January 7, 2026, I published a short letter in the Fort Frances Times pointing out the responsibility of certain incumbent councillors in Fort Frances for the Point Park litigation boondoggle. You can read my letter here. Below is an expanded discussion of its contents, including some links to supporting material.

As we move into a municipal election year, the conclusion of the long-running Point Park litigation should prompt sober reflection and concern about the suitability for re-election of those who have presided over this multi-million dollar waste of taxpayer dollars.

After 3 decades of litigation and nearly $5.5 million in spending, the court dismissed the Town’s claims to Point Park in their entirety. The court confirmed that the Town never held title to the park and that its lease expired in 2009. It also wholly rejected the Town’s flawed interpretation of the historic Order-in-Council and found no fiduciary obligation owed to the Town by Ontario or Canada.

These conclusions were neither novel nor unexpected. Earlier rulings had already signalled that the Town’s legal theory was weak. It heavily depended on strained historical interpretation rather than the governing documents themselves. At its most absurd level, the Town argued that its mere tenancy on the park had somehow morphed into an ownership right. The municipality’s own files showed it had asked to purchase the park in recent decades and been rebuffed by the government. Ratepayers are now likely on the hook to pay a further 7-figure cost award to the successful opposing parties. The only winners, it seems, are the municipality’s lawyers.

The current council has quickly moved to save face by pointing fingers at their predecessors, as though the toxic anti-Indigenous politics of Fort Frances have not permeated recent municipal business under their watch too (see: the handling of Colonization Road, the foot-drag on council’s reconciliation and public art policies, or the resignation of Councillor Mandi Olson).

Council’s cap-in-hand statement from June 24, 2025 would also have you forget that these people snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. They entirely abandoned the May 1, 2019 declaration between the municipalities and First Nations which contemplated a more collaborative (and far less expensive) future for the Point Park.

Nor has it been candidly acknowledged by the Town how and why this litigation was prolonged – by current councillors – despite repeated warning signs. Nearly one-fifth of the total $5.5 million was spent in just the last three years – by the current council – despite mounting warnings.

The fact is that the litigation was re-activated in 2021 after the then-mayor unlawfully instructed the Town’s lawyer to do so. Those instructions were given without council authorization. This prompted my resignation from the Town committee responsible for the file. At the time, I publicly documented that instructions were being issued without council approval and contrary to democratic governance.

But my then-colleagues – rather than do their jobs and demand better – sat on their hands. They continued to look the other way in the face of repeated and similar abuses, including numerous findings by the municipal integrity commissioner. It was easier to cast the squeaky wheel as the bad guy than to confront the misdeeds of their peers. And so went their willingness to launch taxpayers headlong into losing-battle litigation.

None of this is ancient history. Three councillors that presided over those governance failures last term continue to hold office today (and some, apparently, show ambition to run for mayor). Yet there has been no meaningful reckoning with how they have brought taxpayers into this mess – their tolerance for unauthorized decision-making, their complacent oversight of runaway legal spending, and their eagerness to vilify the whistleblower rather than deal with serial abuses of office.

As we near the end of the current term, Mayor Hallikas’ discomfort with the municipality’s direction on the Point Park file is evident from his record of forward-thinking leadership and public remarks. One suspects that council's return to litigation was not his preferred route. But as his would-be successors line up to measure the drapes of his office, taxpayers are right to ask each of them whether there is a single time in office that they made the right call on the Point Park file or if they just went along for the ride for fear of offending the old guard of Fort Frances, pushing back on high-price lawyers, or crossing swords with their friends around the table when it was time to ask tough questions.

While it is true that the voters are never wrong, it is also true that elections result in the representation we deserve. When we head to the polls this fall, the ballot question will be whether we are willing to reward the costly mistakes and poor judgment of these incumbents, or whether we believe Fort Frances deserves a change.

Douglas W. Judson is a lawyer. He was a councillor for the Town of Fort Frances from 2018-2022.