Northern Ontario farmer worries flooding could take his property and nearby homes

A fourth-generation farmer in northeastern Ontario worries the nearby Goulais River will eventually destroy his family farm and several homes downstream from his property.

Every spring Matt McDonald says part of his property is flooded by the Goulais River as water levels rise.

McDonald says his land has gradually eroded for years, and it's because of blasting that occurred in 1931, when his great-grandfather owned the farm.

"I know we're in the floodplain and I get all that," he said.

"That's all part of where we live. But when the government does things, like when I do things, I've got to take ownership for it."

What was then Ontario's Department of Highways blasted a channel at the Goulais River's edge to protect Highway 552 West from flooding.

The plan worked, but it had unintended consequences.

That new channel redirected the river directly to the McDonald family farm.

Two years later, in 1933, the department built a stone barrier to protect the farm.

Glynn Rouse, who was a member of the Goulais and District Local Services Board, wrote a letter in 2006 to Mike Brown, the Liberal MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin at the time, in which he voiced his concerns about the McDonald farm property.

In his letter, Rouse said that stone barrier proved sufficient for more than 20 years. But by 1963 it had eroded, at which point the province lined the property with shale rock to prevent further erosion. 

That proved to be a short-term solution.

"At present it erodes 10 to 20 metres each year," Rouse wrote in 2006.

"It is the concern of Goulais residents that a breakthrough is no longer a matter of if, but when ... And the 'when' appears to be imminent."

In 2007, Rouse received a letter from Donna Cansfield, who was Ontario's minister of transportation at that time.

In the letter, Cansfield outlined some work that was done in 2004 and 2005 to realign some roads in the area to protect them from flooding. 

But Cansfield did not address the concerns about the McDonald farm.

McDonald says if nothing is done to prevent flooding every spring, and the erosion that comes with it, the section of the Goulais River near his property could eventually become an oxbow lake, which is when a meandering river is cut off and forms a U-shaped lake.

That would not only flood most of his property, but also homes downstream from his farm.

"And it's not a matter of if, it's when it's chewing through and everything's underwater," he said.

In a statement, Tanya Blazina, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Transportation, said the province is aware of the situation.

"MTO has carried out various treatments to address erosion along Goulais River to protect Highway 552 in the past," she said.

"We are continuously monitoring and assessing the situation."