Mapleton council heard arguments both for and against allowing Sunday gun hunting in the township at a special meeting on May 3.
About 25 people attended the gathering, leaving plenty of empty seats at the PMD arena hall.
A call for written submissions on the topic generated 34 responses prior to the meeting, with 28 in favour of expanding hunting to Sundays and six opposed. Three submissions that arrived after the deadline added one voice to the pro-Sunday hunting side and two more in opposition. Of the correspondents that clearly indicated they lived in Mapleton, eight were in favour and six opposed.
One submission from Mapleton resident Paul Day suggested a referendum on the issue in the next municipal election.
“This would give all residents ample time to mull it over and base the decision on solid data. We’ve lived without the Sunday hunt up until now so another year or two would be bearable,” Day stated.
A referendum was also suggested by Palmerston resident Andy Tarc, the only individual who requested advance permission to speak at the meeting.
“We have here a powerful gun lobby trying to convince the people of Mapleton to add gun hunting on Sundays,” said Tarc, who added, even without Sundays, “presently you can hunt 86 per cent of the time.”
Tarc said that leaves only 14 per cent of time available for families to enjoy the outdoors “without having bullets or razor-sharp arrowheads whizzing past them.”
Later in the meeting several speakers pointed out how hunting has never been prohibited on Sundays, while another noted only “hunting” – not shooting – is banned in Ontario on Sundays, meaning target practice, skeet shooting and similar pastimes are allowed.
Tarc said the people of Wellington North “had no vote and were absolutely denied their democratic rights” when that municipality became the first in Wellington County to approve Sunday gun hunting by a 3-2 vote of council on Jan. 11.
“The mayor of Wellington North used his one winning vote to force gun hunting on the whole community,” stated Tarc. “Don’t hijack the people’s democracy. Let the people decide.”
“I can assure you process is done differently in Mapleton than it is in Wellington North,” said Mayor Neil Driscoll.
A resolution passed by Mapleton council at the special meeting allowed unscheduled delegates an opportunity to address the gathering.
“I support the notion to allow gun hunting,” said Steve Schilder of Moorefield. “I believe everyone should be able to enjoy their days off from work as they see fit. “
Schilder added he sees no reason “we are stopped from doing something we enjoy on the second of two days I get off from work.”
Moorefield area resident Donna Selinger said she lives beside an area where hunting is allowed and “on Saturday mornings its like a race course … We don’t see anyone from the GRCA until the end of the day and it’s already dark.”
Selinger added, “We don’t allow hunting on our property and I don’t think they need one more day for shooting animals.”
Mapleton resident Sherry Denstedt stated, “I have never been in favour of hunting on my property at any time because I enjoy letting my dogs loose and I enjoy walking on my property … I think it would be great for us to have a vote about it. That would make sense.”
Local resident Jeremy Moore saw no need for a referendum.
“I think this is the perfect chance for people to state their opinion,” he said. “I think council should have the confidence to make that vote. This is the chance now for the people to speak.”
Mapleton resident Wayne Mick said he has enough vacation time available that “to be honest, Sunday hunting in this township really isn’t going to affect my life a lot.” However, he noted, “I am well aware that a lot of my cohorts are not in the same position.”
Mick, who was also critical of the province for passing down the decision to allow Sunday hunting to individual municipalities, added, “I find it a little archaic to have a law that prohibits us from doing an activity based on what day of the week it is.”
The Sunday gun hunting issue first arose here on April 12, when three delegates – Brian McRae from Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and local residents Perry Blancke and Tim Bates – asked council to consider allowing it.
Council agreed to consider Sunday gun hunting in Mapleton subject to public notice and provision of an opportunity for those in support or opposition to appear as delegations. The process also allowed for individuals to write to council supporting or opposing gun hunting on Sunday.
Chris and Carey Brubacher wrote in favour of the proposition. “Our family consists of three avid, devoted and licensed hunters. We are raising our son to be a nature-loving citizen. He is an active teenager and hunting has been a wonderful outlet for him … We both work full-time jobs so we find that one day on the weekend is not enough.”
Local residents Corey and Henrietta Heimpel indicated in their letter they don’t want gun hunting allowed on Sundays.
“We have to put up with people trespassing on our property and guns blasting all week. We look forward to the peace and quiet on Sunday,” the Heimpels stated.
Rea and Kathleen Armstrong live near a GRCA hunting area in Mapleton and allow some hunters to hunt on their property six days a week. They suggested it would be more productive to lengthen the hunting season and approve more hunting tags, than to add a Sunday hunt.
“We enjoy taking our family into the conservation area and can do this safely on Sundays when no hunters are allowed,” they wrote.
At the request of Mayor Neil Driscoll, Wellington OPP detachment commander Scott Lawson provided a police perspective on the issue.
Lawson indicated any hunting-related calls to police create “many, many public and officer safety concerns,” and are “very resource intensive.”
“Any police (OPP) call for service involving firearms, specifically hunting complaints, is and must be considered a high-priority, two-officer response for us,” Lawson stated in his letter. “People with guns, potentially willing to trespass, mixed with other factors such as lack of geographic knowledge of the area, alcohol, language barriers and high-powered scoped rifles, all heightens our response considerations.”
Lawson added, “Often we arrive to find an unattended vehicle parked on a rural road with no occupants. Tactically speaking, because of the weapon aspect, it is not safe for us to start walking into a vacant parcel of land to locate the hunters. This then causes the two officers to wait, often a significant period of time, for the hunters to return. We are now ‘sitting ducks’ on the roadside (in a fully marked OPP cruiser), which puts us at an unsafe, tactical disadvantage with someone a carrying a rifle.”
At the meeting, Driscoll stated council would likely consider the issue in June. However, he later told the Wellington Advertiser the issue could be on a meeting agenda as early as May 24.
