‘It’s just irritating’

Cape Bretoners urge better law enforcement at Big Glace Bay Lake

GLACE BAY — Ali Anningson took instant notice of a blue, rectangular sign every time she visited the beach at Big Glace Bay Lake this summer: “No vehicles.”

Yet the Port Caledonia native can’t fathom why on a busy July weekend she saw more than a dozen parked vehicles beyond that Government of Canada sign.

“Every time I went to the beach, I saw that they put a sign that said, ‘No vehicles,’ “said Anningson, who lives in St. Stephen, N.B., but spends her summers in the Big Glace Bay Lake area. “I thought that that was wonderful because I knew that it was a piping plover area. So one day I went down first thing in the morning, and it was fine.

“The next day, I went down in the afternoon — on a hot day, when we had that heat wave — and the beach was just packed. So I parked a bit further away. But when I walked up, I just saw a dozen cars parked past the ‘no vehicles’ sign. And over the days I would go back to the beach, I kept noticing that people weren’t just parking there, but they’d be driving quite a distance down the beach itself to park in other places.”

“I just found it all quite irritating. But I also found it weird that nobody was doing anything about the entire time I was there.”

She didn’t want to approach anyone who had parked beyond the sign to let them know what they did was illegal.

“I didn’t want to be confrontational,” she said. “But I felt I had to say something to someone.”

In her frustration, she fired off an email to the Cape Breton Regional Police, asking why no one was out patrolling and looking out for illegally parked vehicles.

‘IDIOTS OUT THERE’

The issue doesn’t surprise Jeff McNeil in the least. In fact, the president of the Port Morien Wildlife Association said he’s downright dejected every time he hears of another individual or group riding vehicles on a road leading to the beach.

“Do we have idiots there that drive their trucks onto the beach and do stuff they’re not supposed to? Yes,” he said. “It seems a blind eye is turned to vehicular traffic. We try to do good, and yet we couldn’t even get permission to use an ATV to remove garbage from the beach.”

As far back as 2019, McNeil said, his non-profit group received word that Public Works and Government Services Canada “transferred the land at Big Glace Bay Beach to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Along with that transfer, a stipulation on transfer was that the road to Big Glace Bay Beach be left open as an access route to the beach for people to enjoy.”

The bigger problem came to the ownership of the road. According to McNeil, there is no official owner of the private road.

“They actually had that road closed and listed as non-existent,” McNeil said. “And we fought with Public Services and Procurement Canada on it, and we had guarantees before we went in there that that road would be open. That road isn’t owned by the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, nor the province. It’s a private road, but it’s listed as ‘owner unknown.’

“In our talks with the feds on the issue, we said, ‘Hey, the road isn’t listed. The road needs to be listed because the road is there.’ So now they have markings on where the road is.”

HOPED TO SEE A BLOCKADE

McNeil said he and his association had hoped to see some sort of blockade set up to prevent any motorized vehicle from riding along the beach.

So far, he added, “nothing has been done to address that issue,” McNeil said.

The Port Morien Wildlife Association was also given assurances that vehicles can use the road up to a point but no one can use anything with a motor elsewhere.

BIG GLACE BAY CO-DESIGNATION

On July 25, the Cape Breton Environmental Association announced that Environment and Climate Change Canada had co-designated Big Glace Bay Lake as both a National Wildlife Area and a Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

“As the area is now co-designated, we will be working towards public engagement to discuss management planning for the site,” according to a note the association received from Ted Barney, a program officer with the Atlantic Region’s Canada Wildlife Service division of the government agency.

“This will include planning for the road, parking and ensuring vehicle use does not extend on to the beach and destroy habitat.”

COMPLICATIONS WITH ENFORCEMENT

Police enforcement of illegal parking at the beach could be tricky, according to Cape Breton Regional Police spokesperson Desiree Magnus.

In an emailed statement, Magnus said that regional police officers would be able to “respond to matters of crime and public safety on beaches in our area.

“But in this case, the maintenance, protection and access to the land itself falls to the responsibility of Environment

(and Climate Change) Canada. Should they require any support or assistance from police, we will work together to help address any concerns for criminal activity and/or public safety.”

Magnus noted that frontline officers will be made aware of the “potential that vehicles may be driving on the beach causing a risk to public safety,” she said.

BLIND EYE OFTEN TURNED

But even with all the signage indicating the piping plovers and no parking on the beach, McNeil said he’s baffled that some people would continue to ignore both.

“I say if you’re caught up there, you should be handed a fine — and a significant amount at that,” he said, “because you’re in an endangered bird area.”