The recent placement of a “For Sale” sign at the northeast portion of Grey Sauble Conservation Authority’s Hibou Conservation Area near Leith has raised concerns by many local groups and residents. The sign, posted by Atlas World Real Estate Corporation, was installed on the property on Friday, April 10, 2020.

Grey Sauble Conservation Authority (GSCA) became aware of the situation on the evening of Saturday April 11th, following Facebook posts regarding the impending sale of Conservation Authority owned lands.

Hibou, which consists of approximately 329 acres of land along the shoreline of Georgian Bay, was acquired by the then North Grey Region Conservation Authority (now GSCA) in the early to mid-1970’s following a successful fundraising campaign. A member of the active Friends of Hibou group remembers "The local government of the day and the community put a significant effort into the purchase of that beautiful piece of property,  as did the province of Ontario." GSCA has been maintaining these lands as a public access conservation area since this time, with the support of the Friends of Hibou.

Recently, through the placement of the “For Sale” sign, GSCA staff became aware that another party registered a title interest in this portion of the Hibou property. GSCA is actively working to ensure that this misunderstanding is rectified as quickly as possible. As far as Friends of Hibou is concerned that property was purchased at the time of the original purchase from the McLaughlin estate in 1972.

“I would like to assure everyone that the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority is not selling, and has never sold, any portions of Hibou”, said Tim Lanthier, Chief Administrative Officer for the GSCA. “Hibou is a very special place for the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority and for the community. This is one of our flagship properties and we have been actively developing plans with community partners to invest in and improve Hibou over the next few years. Additionally, we have been working with the ‘Friends of Hibou’ to host a special family friendly event in June. Unfortunately, due to recent world events, this event will now be postponed until 2021”.

The GSCA will continue to work with our solicitor to rectify this situation by whatever means necessary and will provide further updates to the public when this issue is resolved.

source: media release from GSCA and communication with Friends of Hibou