Who We Are

About Wiidookdaadiwin

  1. Huronia Lookout Chair: Harold Parker
  2. Springwater Mayor and Simcoe County Warden: Tony Guergis
  3. George St. Germain
  4. Beausoleil Island Chief: Rod Monague
How Did We Start?

A Shared Vision

In 2002, Harold Parker and Tony Guergis had a shared vision: to repurpose a closed landfill site and create a county-wide gathering place to celebrate history, education and culture.

The site, known to Harold from childhood, is located at George Johnston Road in Springwater Township and offers an amazing vista of some of Simcoe County’s most prized features: Minesing Wetlands, Georgian Bay, ski hills and trails. The site also sits amongst land occupied by indigenous people for thousands of generations.

In 2005, the County granted approval for development of a proposal to utilize the site, subject to Ministry of the Environment Approval. Full approval from the Ministry was announced in the fall of 2017.

A working committee of like-minded people was formed to continue to move forward on the vision of Harold and Tony.

The vision for the site included an opportunity to speak to the entire history of this place: thousands of years of usage by indigenous nations, the colonization of the area by Europeans and a new paradigm of cooperative development

Who We Are Now?

Wiidookdaadiwin

We started as the Huronia Lookout Committee.  After nationally-recognized artist Marlene Hilton-Moore completed the bronze icon sculpture, the Elders of the Chippewa Tri-Council gifted the name “Wiidookdaadiwin” which translates to ‘Working together and helping one another.’  The committee then adopted the name Friends of Wiidookdaadiwin.

Our Spirit & Icon

Where Are We Now?

Phase One

The project received full approval from the Ministry of the Environment in the Fall of 2017.  While site development was underway, the Icon was temporarily installed at the Simcoe County Museum.

Phase Two

When the site development and landscaping was completed, the Icon was transported from the Simcoe County Museum and installed on the Wiidookdaadiwin site.

Phase Three

Grand opening of the Wiidookdaadiwin site Spring of 2024

More than a view

The Site

Now that the Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout is complete, you will find much more than just a great view – it will be a hub of cultural significance, it will foster an interest in our heritage, and it will demonstrate how beauty can be preserved.

Donation
More than a view

Visitors and
students will find

An Historical Icon Sculpture created by Marlene Hilton Moore of Simcoe County. The icon sculpture will recognize the First Nations, explorers, settlers and military that traversed the lakes, rivers, islands and portages in the area between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. The bronze statue depicts an explorer and a member from First Nations, complete with Eastern Ojibway birchbark canoe.

Information storyboards are located throughout the site explaining the history, natural heritage, County Forest, recreation trails and Fort Willow.  In addition, the site will include trails, walkways and gardens where indigenous  plantings will be identified in English and Ojibway.

The Vista

From the height of the site, as you focus on the Collingwood Grain elevators at the centre point on the horizon, shift your gaze to the right and you will see the outline of Georgian Bay, part of the largest body of freshwater in the world. Continuing to the right, the Copeland Forest lies at the north western toe of the Oro Moraine, from which the waters carry into the Coldwater River, the Sturgeon River and Willow Creek.

As your eyes return to look straight ahead of you, they will land upon a multitude of nature’s gifts: a Boreal forest, a Carolinian forest, Bogs, marshes and the Nottawasaga River winding its way back to Wasaga Beach.

The Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere, rises in front of your sightline. You can also see a portion of the 730 kilometer Bruce Trail wind its way through the wetlands.

As your eyes continue to scan, they will land upon a Canadian National Historic site, Willow Creek Depot. Here is the convergence of the Nine Mile Portage, the Ganaraska Trail and the Trans Canada Trail. The internationally renowned Minesing Wetlands lay before you, a most biodiverse wetlands designated as an Internationally significant Ramsar boreal wetlands. It is almost impossible to find another single location that will provide you with such breadth and beauty of nature.

Wiidookdaadiwin

Contact Us

c/o County of Simcoe Administration Centre1110 Highway 26 Midhurst, Ontario L9X 1N6

Phone: 705-726-9300
Toll Free: 1-866-893-9300

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