The Town of Fort Frances will not need to pay the legal costs to the province and federal governments following lobbying efforts on their behalf.
Early Wednesday evening the Town of Fort Frances published a letter, attributed to Mayor Andrew Hallikas and CAO Marcel Michaels, announcing that the region’s federal and provincial government representatives had lobbied their respective levels of government to alleviate the town’s financial burden in relation to the Point Park litigation.
The letter notes that the litigation regarding Point Park between the Town, Agency One, the Province of Ontario, and the Federal Government of Canada (the Crown) reached its conclusion on June 17, 2025.
With the conclusion of the litigation, the Town was ordered to pay the legal fees of Agency One, the Province, and the Crown.
The letter notes that the mayor asked Greg Rickford, Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Kenora-Rainy River and Marcus Powlowski, Member of Parliament (MP) for Thunder Bay-Rainy River for their assistance in helping to alleviate the cost of the legal fees.
“Thanks to the lobbying efforts of Mayor Andrew Hallikas, MPP Rickford and MP Powlowski stepped in to advocate on behalf of the Town,” the letter says.
“Mayor Hallikas worked closely with both the MPP, MP, and their respective staff to ensure that the least amount of financial burden would be placed upon the taxpayers of Fort Frances.”
The letter credits the efforts of Rickford for the provincial government waiving its portion of the legal fees which amounted to $740,000.
“MPP Rickford also reached out to his federal counterpart and lobbied on the Town’s behalf which we thank him for,” the letter says.
“We thank MP Powlowski who lobbied with the Crown to have them follow suit with the Province. Through many discussions with members of the federal government, he was successful in his endeavour. The commitment and effort of MP Powlowski and his staff towards assisting the Town concluded in the Crown waiving their fees, which totaled to $791,000.”
The Town says the total abatement on behalf of the governments saves taxpayers over $1.5 million.
An additional $1.5 million was owed to Agency One to cover their legal fees which the Town says did not affect taxes paid by the Fort Frances Tax Payers.
The Times contacted Mayor Andrew Hallikas for clarification on where the funds to pay these fees have come from but Hallikas was unable to meet our publication deadline and will speak to the Times for a follow-up article on the matter.
The letter concludes that they hope it’s a step towards improving the relationship with the member communities of Agency One.
“The Town considers this to be one step closer toward improving our relationship with Agency One and the First Nations communities that comprise it: Couchiching, Mitaanjigamiing, Naicatchewenin, and Nigigoonsiminikaaning.”
