Is it Tresspassing?, River and creek access

Hello

I take a canoe down a local river that has a creek of it that goes into a rock quarry. The rock quarry is private land. Can I get a trespassing charge if I never touch the land surrounding the water??

Hooker

I think that as long as you do not touch land you are not trespassing, private property own only the land, not the waters
what is unfortunate is that our government allow land to be sold around any water body , in many other country ,they always leave access for public recreation , all lakes and rivers should belong to ALL Ontarians

I think you are good to go. Below is a clip from the Ontario Navigable Waters Act.

The Act is relatively silent about the complete definition, saying only that a “navigable water” includes "a canal and any other body of water created or altered as a result of the construction of any work.

Briefly, if a craft is able to pass over a body of water, the body of water would be considered navigable. The craft could be as large as a steamship or as small as a canoe or a raft."

Thanks for the great information. Much appreciated.

Not sure about those answers....years ago we went duck hunting the south end of scugog on the east side......we got kicked out by security as they said it was private waters and it was a private duck hunting club....we entered by aluminum boat from the main lake......still kicked us out...said we were trespassing......ya security guards in boats...go figure.

Cheers. Greg

There are lots of bullies who will try to convince you otherwise, but the law states that the waters are open for all. There is a guide who has done a bunch of write ups taking the bluffs marina to task as they have been very aggressive in trying to keep fisherman out of the marina and he has faced them down a few times over it.

It's a grey area because most law enforcement don't know that law.


Has Elrik mentioned. Navigable water is not private proprety....That includes marinas.


It is illegal to try to put a stop or temper with any LEGAL fishing, hunting and trapping activities and his a criminal offence under Canadian Laws.


Dock owners, land owners around lakes and marinas think they own the lake/waters where they are establish. IGNORANCE!

Its legal just don't touch shore or bottom. I asked bout in in my police foundations course because its something I have always wondered about for years.

This duck club said they flooded the area so it was private water....it sure was a honey hole for mallards..lol

Doesn't matter...Simcoe was flooded and what was land became water and the land owners don't own it.

I'd tell those mall cops to stuff it lol

There are lots of bullies who will try to convince you otherwise, but the law states that the waters are open for all. There is a guide who has done a bunch of write ups taking the bluffs marina to task as they have been very aggressive in trying to keep fisherman out of the marina and he has faced them down a few times over it.

Before you go blabbering a stuff you don't know about, do some research. Areas of Lake Scugog are definitely private property including the water above the lake bottom. Just becuase a minor overswollen creek bed may lead into a quarry does not mean it's navigable water. There are other deeded lake beds, you do the research before you get otherwise unknowing people in the brown stuff.

Doesn't matter...Simcoe was flooded and what was land became water and the land owners don't own it.

I'd tell those mall cops to stuff it lol

Mall cops eh? You too check the property deeds before you babble.

I thought if you weren't anchor or touching the river bottom you are good to ?


A lot of people claim they own a lot of spots these days. Also, shouldn't there be signs up on the water stating they own that side of the lake so no one can enter in ?

As it has been stated above if a deed says the river or lake bottom is owned by someone its owned by someone. As for posting you only need to post no trespassing signs at each point of access, so if you have 1000 acres and your signs are 1km apart doesn't mean a guy can enter half way just because they dont see a sign.

Well aren't you a pleasant ray of sunshine.

I wasn't actually responding about the specific Scugog comment, but on his saying that his experience indicates that private land =s private waters. The example I did use was about bluffers marina, where the law has been found that it is a navigable waterway, and that the marina is not in the right. The Scugog marsh is a very unique situation and while there are ALWAYS exceptions, what I said stands true for the majority of situations.

The original poster never stated that the quarry is only accessible because the creek is swollen. That is your assumption. I do agree that if the creek is only accessible because it is flooded, that I wouldn't define it as navigable waters. As far as the law is concerned I don't know where that line is drawn, but personally I take navigable waters to mean that a boat can traverse the waterway during normal water level conditions. If raised water levels flood some timber on the shore of a lake or river I would fish it, but I wouldn't use flooding as an excuse to go into otherwise closed off private waterways.