Advocacy

Tower Road shooting charges cite a *provincial notice*

Five Tower Road charges reported October 9 concern a provincial public-land notice. Ontario’s area map and Georgian Bay’s municipal bylaw answer separate questions.

Steve Coppola

Steve Coppola

— 4 min read
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A cyclist walks a mountain bike along a rocky trail beside a gravel track, with a walker farther along the bend.
A cyclist and walker use neighbouring routes through rocky woodland.

Five men face charges after police patrols on Tower Road in Georgian Bay Township. The October 9 report points to a specific provision: subsection 28(3) of Ontario's Public Lands Act, concerning disobeying a notice governing public land. That source matters for anyone trying to work out where recreational shooting is permitted.

According to the OPP release republished by Muskoka411, officers laid the charges during September 26 patrols following public concerns about recreational shooting. CP24 also reported the charges. The allegations have yet to be established in the sources reviewed here. October 9 is the reporting date; the patrol happened almost two weeks earlier.

I book my club shooting in one-hour slots on a 100-yard range. The facility and booking give that outing a defined place. Checking a patch of public land involves a different kind of preparation: finding the rule that applies to the particular place and activity.

What section 28 actually does

Under section 28 of the Public Lands Act, the Ministry can issue notices prohibiting, controlling or governing uses of public lands and roads under the Minister's jurisdiction. Subsection 28(3) makes contravening such a notice an offence.

The statute also explains how notice can be given. Subsection 28(2) provides three routes: newspapers or other media the Minister considers appropriate; posted signs meeting the stated visibility conditions; or the marking system described in the Trespass to Property Act.

For the sign route, the law specifies visibility in daylight under normal conditions from the approach or each point of access. A claim about a sign would therefore raise questions about the particular access and conditions. The other statutory routes also matter when reading a charge described simply as disobeying a notice.

The exact Tower Road notice was unavailable in the sources I reviewed. Its wording, boundary, effective date and method of publication remain unverified here, as does any court outcome. That leaves a firm limit on what this report can establish about the five men or the notice itself.

The useful starting point is the legal provision police cited. It identifies the kind of document an owner should seek when checking a restriction. The next step is to obtain the notice and read its actual terms, including the area and activity it covers.

The Atlas helps locate the policy

Ontario's Crown Land Use Policy Atlas provides area-specific land-use policies, boundaries, policy reports and amendment information. It is a useful starting point for understanding how an area is managed.

Ontario also spells out its limits. The maps are illustrative; private-land information gives a general impression rather than a detailed survey; and the province does not warrant that the information is complete or current. A coloured area on a screen needs to be read with those limits in mind.

My practical reading is to keep the location and proposed activity together throughout the check. An area policy can help identify the relevant land. A specific notice can govern a particular use within it. A saved map pin or an old discussion of a popular spot leaves that second question open.

The province's recreational-activities guidance directs people to a ministry work centre to find out whether local restrictions apply to their intended activity. Giving the office the actual location and asking about recreational target shooting makes the enquiry specific enough to be useful. Request the current notice or other restriction, its geographic scope and any conditions that apply.

The township bylaw asks a separate question

A curving gravel road passes a small timber cottage behind pine and autumn trees.
A gravel road runs beside a cottage screened by trees.

Georgian Bay Township also has a current municipal firearm-discharge bylaw. Its official page identifies bylaw 2026-028, approved at the May council meeting. Older reporting about a proposed bylaw needs to be checked against that enacted text.

The bylaw itself addresses matters including landowner consent, prohibited areas and discharge on or across township property. Its definitions and exemptions belong in the same reading as its prohibitions. Pulling one exception out of the document can give a misleading impression of the rule.

Section 5.6, for example, concerns property owned, managed or controlled by federal or provincial agencies where firearm discharge is expressly permitted under applicable laws and regulations. That condition is important when assessing the exception. The bylaw also preserves the requirement to comply with applicable provincial and federal law.

The police account identifies the Tower Road charges under the provincial Public Lands Act. The municipal bylaw supplies a separate question for someone planning an outing in the township; the report does not establish that these five men were charged under it.

Access rules should be easy to find

I want lawful recreational access to remain practical for licensed owners. That requires restrictions people can locate, read and connect to the ground in front of them. A useful answer should identify the governing document and its boundary clearly enough that an owner can plan around it.

For this story, the most valuable missing source is the actual provincial notice. Until it is available, the statute explains the mechanism and the official guidance explains where to ask. Keeping those limits visible is part of giving owners a useful account of the charges.

The free weekly Dispatch follows Canadian ownership and policy developments with links to the sources.

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