AGency One

The mayor of Fort Frances is hoping the issue over Point Park is now over.

The town was forced to pay $1.5 million for the legal fees of the four First Nations that opposed the town’s ownership claim to the park.

A court ruled against the town last year and ordered the town to pay the legal fees of the First Nations, as well as those of the provincial and federal governments, who were also parties in the case.

Andrew Hallikas says the money owed to the First Nations has been paid.

“I am very pleased to put this litigation behind us,” says Hallikasa.

“Of course, it’s a financial blow to the municipality. But when you undertake litigation, you also undertake the risk of costs. We lost litigation. Costs were awarded to the other party, and we have to pay them.”

The town did not pay the legal fees of the provincial or federal governments, which also totalled close to $1.5 million.

With help from Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford and Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski, the town was able to get those costs waived.

“We thought that was a bit of a David and Goliath thing,” says Hallikas in explaining the decision to reach out for assistance.

“The amount of money that we would pay the country of Canada is a drop in the bucket to them, but it’s a huge amount of money to a small municipality like us. And ditto Ontario.”

“We thought that there was a possibility that we could get them to waive their fees. So we spoke to our elected representatives.”

Hallikas credits both Rickford and Powlowski for helping the town.

He insists the payment had no impact on this year’s budget.

The money, he says, was taken out of reserves.

“It’s not affecting any property taxes at all because, like any municipality, we plan. We have a fund for contingencies, and the money came out of our reserves. It doesn’t affect any tax rates,” emphasizes Hallikas.

Hallikas says he is now focused on moving forward and improving relationships with the First Nations, which it took to court for nearly 30 years.

He has already had several conversations with their leadership since last year’s court ruling.