Saving Mile 3339

The reeve of Shuniah Township says it’s insulting to all Canadians that the Ministry of Transportation is considering the permanent removal of the marker where Terry Fox actually ended his Marathon of Hope more than three decades ago.

The metre-tall white signpost, inscribed its top with the words “Mile 3339, Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope, September , 1980, has resided along the TransCanada Highway, a few kilometers east of the official Terry Fox monument, for more than 30 years.

The marker has since been accompanied by a plaque marking the 25th anniversary of the end of his run, which raised millions for cancer research and has spawned hundreds of millions of more raised in annual runs around the world.

But four-laning plans by the province call for the destruction of the small plot of land that houses the two markers, a piece of land that for 28 years was maintained and groomed by Shuniah resident Tim Pope, the man who originally erected signpost.

Shuniah Reeve Maria Harding says negotiations with the province to keep the monument in place are going nowhere.

“Every time I drive by there, I hope it’s still there,” Harding said on Wednesday. “We don’t know what the intent is. I know they’re working around it, but I can’t just hope they will see this is important, and not just the people of Shuniah, but to the people of Canada who travel through here, who know that he stopped there.”

Harding said any discussions with ministry staff begin and end with an aging Ontario Highway Traffic Act, which she contends does not allow for traffic to enter and exit the controlled highway at that particular spot.

She’s not sure why a compromise can’t be found.

“I’m not a technician, I’m not an engineer, but I think there must be some people who have some vision, or should have some vision, to see that have to move forward, and not look back 25 years when these plans were ultimately put in place,” she said.

All told, the province is twinning about 15 kilometres of Highway 11/17, a stretch of the Trans Canada that is also known as the Terry Fox Memorial Highway.

The work that threatens to affect the monuments is a 10-kilometre stretch between MacKenzie Station and Birch Beach roads.

When contacted, ministry officials would neither confirm nor deny that the post and plaque will ultimately be removed.

“MTO has been in contact with the Terry Fox family, prior to the death of (mother Betty) Fox and have had initial discussions with the Fox family, who have indicated that they would like us to continue to recognize the end point of Terry Fox’s run,” said Sharon Nye, an executive assistant in the ministry’s regional director’s office, in an email sent to Dougall Media reporters on Wednesday.

“We will be continuing discussion with the Fox Family on how best to do that.”