Temagami: A Debate on Wilderness

Ken A. Armson, a former executive co-ordinator of the Ontario Ministry
of Natural Resources’ Forest Resources Group, is currently a forestry
consultant.

This is a collection of most of the papers presented at the first annual
conference of the Institute of Northern Ontario Research and Development
held at Laurentian University in October 1990. The twelve papers are
separated into three sections: Aspects of Resource Development;
Environmental Perspectives; and The Native Dimension. The five papers in
Section 1 range from discussions of multiple-use management and data on
tourism to comments from a sawmill owner. In Section 2, one paper deals
with the general subject of provincial wilderness parks, another looks
at the area in a historical context, and the third is a short
environmental polemic. There are four papers in the final section. The
first merely lists dates and actions from 1877 that are related to
Native land claims in the area. A second is a comprehensive account of
the archaeology of the area. The remaining two papers deal
sympathetically with the Temagami Indian land claim—a claim rejected
by the Supreme Court of Canada subsequent to the publication of the
book.

The book in no way represents a debate; certain objective papers
presented at the conference were omitted. A rigorous and disciplined
presentation of the issue, which is the essence of a true debate, has
eluded the authors and editors of this volume.