The Globe and Mail: Portage Ban Provokes a Very Canadian Fight

The Globe and Mail has a good article about an urban portage route in Ontario that has been banned.

"If this was a little more than a year ago, we would stop Mr. Turnbull’s beaver-embossed canoe right here, just south of the north falls, and step out onto Burgess Island. We would heave the vessel over our heads and portage some 80 steps up a gravelly path to cross a two-lane road and enter Lake Muskoka.

But that’s illegal now, the well-worn route banned by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in May, 2013 for safety reasons – the province says the waterfall, rapids and dam pose a risk to swimmers and canoeists. The government’s move has ignited an intrinsically Canadian legal battle over whether the public has the right to portage. The Ontario Court of Appeal will hear the case on Monday."

The case is now going to court, and has ignited a fair bit of controversy with some claiming the "right to portage". Read both the Globe and Mail article, and Hap Wilson's article to learn more about the controversy.