• Government withholds information about Meditation Lake as public consultations close
Freedom of Information Act requests still unanswered after 49 days, now no chance to inform public before government closes public consultations on Sunday.

Freedom of Information requests were filed on April 9, just days after the development was announced. The Wilderness Committee asked Premier Doer, Conservation Minister Struthers, and the Conservation department that public open houses be delayed until the information requests were answered, but to no avail. The public consultation window opened on April 30. On May 6, the government sent a letter saying they could not answer the information request in the required 30-day period, and extended the time period for another 30 days. Now, mere days before the public consultations on this project are closing on May 31, the information requests have not been answered.

You can read the news release by clicking here.

• Meditation Lake research camp finds public support for protecting Meditation Lake from development

The Wilderness Committee established a research camp at Meditation Lake on the May long weekend, to do water quality testing and survey people in Whiteshell Park about the development.
Click here to read more about the Meditation Lake research camp

• Government information presented at the open houses

On the day the first open house was held, the government posted the first information about the proposed development online. The information boards that the government displayed at the open house are available at the following page: http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/parks/public_consult/

• Open Houses on Meditation Lake development

The government and Tim Horton Children's Foundation are running two public information sessions about the Meditation Lake development

April 30
Victoria Inn Winnipeg (near the airport)
1808 Wellington Avenue
3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

May 2
Pinewoods Lodge at Dorthy Lake
Whiteshell Provincial Park
Noon to 5 p.m.

The Wilderness Committee is inviting people to join them at the open house in Winnipeg at 7 p.m. to protest this fiasco.

• Read a letter to Wilderness Committee members and supporters from Manitoba Director Eric Reder

April 28, 2009

Dear concerned citizens of Manitoba,

Part of the Wilderness Committee’s mandate is to ensure public lands are managed in an ecologically sustainable way, and in the best interests of all people. We take this responsibility very seriously, as our members and supporters expect us to.

The key component of educating Manitobans about the decisions being made on public lands is accurate information. We can not tell people what to do, but must instead provide them with rational and logical ideas based entirely upon facts, so that Manitobans can voice their own opinions.

The Meditation Lake proposal is LUDICROUS. Apart from all the problems with putting a youth camp on Meditation Lake, the Manitoba government has not provided us with any information regarding the proposal ahead of development. That is mismanagement.

Click here to read the entire letter