To Holly King, Section Head, Directorate Real Property Services, DND;

"Ancestors of mine farmed the land in Sydenham Township (which is now part of the Municipality of Meaford) since settling there in the 1850s. Mine was one of the over 100 families whose land was expropriated in 1942 to establish the Meafrod Tank Range. This Department of Defence training facility later became known as the Land Force Central Area Training Centre.

There was a lot of ill-feeling at the time because not only were my ancestors losing their land and homes, they were only receiving a pittance for it. However, my family made the sacrifice to support Canada during the war effort, as did all the other families.

My ancestors often fished at Cape Rich, now part of the Department of National Defence property in Meaford. I also know that throughout the training grounds there are gravesites and family cemeteries, and the buildings that the expropriated families left behind, including schools, churches, hotels, summer camps, and of course, homes.

My ancestors were told the land would be used for training purposes only and that they could buy the land back after the war, but this clause turned out to be non-binding. If the Department of National Defence were to make land that was expropriated for training available to TC Energy for their pumped storage facility (instead of using it for anything but training as originally promised) I and other descendants of those landowners would consider it a huge slap in the face of those farmers and fishers who were forced to give up their land at a difficult time and under difficult circumstances.

My mother passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 100, and her stories of those 1940s times are now lost. I do hope that this history is not lost on the Department of National Defence and that you put the interests of the families and communities that supported you, as well as the environment, over that of corporate greed."

a Letter posted on SGB site sent to DND.

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