‘It’s our livelihood’: Rural Ontario town worries as Ottawa plans military radar site

Ontario's provincial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday, July 6, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The first sign that something was afoot in the rural Ontario community of Clearview came about a year ago, when Mayor Doug Measures found out that a local farm was registered to the Crown months after it was listed for sale.

A few months later, he learned at a meeting with federal government officials that the township of nearly 15,000 people, about 40 kilometres west of Barrie, Ont., had been chosen as a receiving station site for Ottawa’s over-the-horizon military radar project.

Three days after that meeting, Measures said some farmers and property owners in Clearview got letters from the Department of National Defence asking if they would be interested in selling their land.

The move was met with strong opposition from residents and their elected officials.

“I had no idea that this was happening, so it was a complete surprise to all of us,” Measures said, calling it “a very frustrating situation.”

The radar system, with an estimated cost of $6 billion, is being built to monitor airspace from the Canada-United States border to the Arctic for incoming missiles. It’s part of Canada’s commitment to spend $38.6 billion over the next two decades to bolster the North American Aerospace Defence Command, and done in co-operation with Australia, which built a similar early warning radar network system.

In addition to the radar receiving site in Clearview, DND has chosen Kawartha Lakes, northwest of Peterborough, as the location for a transmitting station. The sites will include large antennas, up to 45 metres tall in some cases, with supporting infrastructure.

‘Very concerned’

Terri Jackman, who lives in a farmhouse across from the proposed site in Clearview, said three officials from the Department of National Defence visited her property after she received a letter inquiry.

She remembers being told that the trees across her house would be cut down and there would be night lighting and security cameras pointing away from the site toward the neighbouring properties.

“So, my house would probably be under surveillance with the security cameras because I’m just across the road from it,” she said. “I was quite shocked of course. I was angry, I was upset, I was very concerned about what I was hearing.”

Jackman and her husband, who died a few years ago, moved into the house in 1988.

“We built a lot of memories there … I was planning on living there until I could no longer take care of it myself,” she said.

The Department of National Defence said it has been in “regular contact” with local communities, Indigenous rightsholders, municipalities and provincial officials about the project, sharing details as they become available.

But that hasn’t eased tensions and wide-ranging concerns, locals said.

The radar project would change the town’s economic landscape and if it goes ahead as advertised, vast swaths of prime agriculture land could be lost, they said.

Some worry whether it is safe to live close to a radar receiving site, while others are fearful about the environmental impact as the proposed location is not far from Minesing Wetlands, a conservation area with ecological significance.

Anxiety about displacement, expropriation of land

More importantly, those who received letters from DND but refused to sell their properties are anxious about displacement and expropriation of their land, although the department said that it has no expropriation plans at this time.

Clearview’s mayor said DND has so far purchased an entire parcel of land that includes three properties, a farm and two neighbouring homes, for a total of around 750 acres. He said that while the federal government signalled it may seek to acquire an additional 4,000 acres, there hasn’t been any indication of when, how, and if it would make the purchase.

The uncertainty has left many residents’ lives in limbo, Measures said.

He said he is all for national security and protection, but he is against using “some of the best agricultural lands in central Ontario” for that purpose.

“We have two competing issues right now. It’s national security or food security,” he said, adding that people in his town are more worried about the latter.

DND said it conducted public consultations online last year, collecting more than 400 responses, and held two public engagement sessions in September.

Measures said many questions were asked in those sessions but only a few answers were actually provided. He has wondered why Canadian Forces Base Borden, located half an hour south of Clearview, couldn’t house the receiving station. Another option could be the Crown-owned lands in northern Ontario, he said.

‘Set of complex and inflexible requirements’

The Department of National Defence said choosing a site for the radar project is determined by a “set of complex and inflexible requirements” that include latitude, land size, environmental constraints, a suitable distance from radio noise sources and proximity to electrical power sources.

In a statement sent to The Canadian Press, DND said it has purchased the required land for the preliminary receiving site in Clearview and the transmitting site in Kawartha Lakes. Environmental requirements will be strictly followed, it said.

“Should future lands be required, DND will approach any property acquisitions fairly and respectfully,” it said. “Our goal in acquisitions processes is to be collaborative, have clear communication, and offer fair compensation.”

The department did not answer a followup question about the possibility of purchasing another 4,000 acres in Clearview.

It said it’s currently looking at possible locations for two additional sites in southern Ontario, but assured that’s it is “not currently working on expropriation of land plans.”

Work on the sites in Clearview and Kawartha Lakes is expected to begin early this year, with initial capabilities to be installed by the end of 2029, the department said.

‘It is our livelihood’

But Jackman, the Clearview resident-turned-activist, said she is cautiously optimistic that the federal government could still be convinced to reconsider its decision. She has collected more than 2,000 signatures for petitions calling on Ottawa to stop building on already purchased land in her town.

“There are nights I don’t sleep very well thinking about it and I know I’m not alone on that,” said Jackman. “Everyone I speak with on this says the same thing.”

Among them is Rachel Brooks, who fears losing her family’s large farm and business as she waits for what comes next.

She moved to Clearview in 2009, after marrying her husband who has been living there for 45 years. The couple raised three children in their farmhouse on 100 acres of land.

Her husband farms corn, wheat, soy and canola. As their kids grew older, Brooks started her own business raising sheep and the size of her flock has now grown to 400.

She estimates that between 50 and 60 local landowners received the letters from DND asking if they would sell their land. Even though she replied “no,” she is still stressed about what might happen.

“I don’t want to uproot my home and my family,” she said, adding she’d hoped her children would continue living on the family farm.

“There is a lot at stake here because it’s not just our home as farmers. It’s our home, it’s our business, it is our livelihood. It is a culture ... it’s a big deal,” she said.

“At the end of the day, what’s going to happen is what’s going to happen, but ... we’re fighting.”

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press