Cross-Country Race

Eildon Hall Museum, Sibbald Point Provincial Park, Georgina: Cross-Country Race Approximately 44°20’0.73″N 79°19’36.08″W facing West, circa October 19, 2005

During a regional cross-country meet, several of the hundreds of participating local public school children race past the house where my Scottish ancestors settled in the 1830s. Since the 1950s that house has operated as a public museum, and its surrounding 225 hectares of farmland have been preserved for public use as a provincial park—one of the closest to Toronto—including the regional outdoor education facility. Meanwhile, Ontario has been quietly divesting itself of such public responsibilities over time to the extent that the province funds its parks worse than any other province in Canada and only better than four states of the USA. Every year there are rumblings that time is running out for this museum and park.