Southern Ontario Communities Organize Opposition to Military's Plan for Radar Installations
Proposed Clearview receiver site for the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar
Residents in two rural communities in Southern Ontario, Kawartha Lakes and Clearview Township are organizing in opposition to the plans of the Department of National Defence (DND) to use their communities as sites for receiving and transmitting for its new Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) project. Residents and local councils are greatly concerned that the land was purchased and plans made without notifying them and these major military installations are being presented as a done deal.
A-OTHR is part of the modernization plan for the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). Canada has pledged to spend over $38 billion on the modernization which is under the command of the U.S. military. The Department of National Defence (DND) determined in 2022 that it would establish the over-the-horizon radar project to cover the area from the U.S. border to the Arctic and that the suitable locations for its receivers and transmitters was in Southern Ontario. Canada is purchasing its A-OTHR system from the Australian firm BAE Systems Australia for $6 billion.
Over-the-horizon radar is a long-range surveillance technology that can detect targets from a distance of thousands of kilometres. It operates by refracting high-frequency (HF) radio waves off the ionosphere, allowing them to bend around the earth's curvatures.
The project requires two "receive" sites and two "transmit" sites for antennas and supporting infrastructure. Privately-owned land was purchased by DND in 2023, the transmit site at 0 Thistle Trail, Kawartha Lakes, Ontario and a preliminary receive site at 2225 Sideroad 15 & 16, Clearview Township, Ontario. The Clearview land is 288 hectares of agricultural land that was in production at the time of the purchase, while surrounding land is also predominantly agricultural. The antennas at the receive site will be six metres tall, at the transmit site up to 45 metres tall. The installations will be heavily fortified. To date the other transmit and receive sites have not been identified.
DND carried out what it called "consultations" in September in both communities and online but residents point out that they can't be called consultations when decisions are already made and land purchased, and that landowners in the surrounding area are fearful that if they do not agree to sell their properties they will be expropriated. They are also raising concerns about the impact of the project on surrounding agricultural land and residences, including impacts on safety, health impacts from electromagnetic radiation, reduction in property values, noise pollution and damage to local ecosystems.
Opponents of the plan in the Clearview Area have established a Facebook page for Clearview ROAR (Resident Owners Against Radar) which is campaigning against the destruction of some of Canada's best agricultural land for the radar site. A petition initiated by a resident of the area with 1632 signatures was presented to the House of Commons on February 4. The petition noted that the DND had purchased 700+ acres of prime farmland for an A-OTHR site in Clearview Township and sent "Solicitation of Interest in Land Sale in Clearview Township" packages to residents over a large area of prime farmland asking if they are interested in selling their land, noted that Ontario farmland is disappearing at the rate of 319 acres per day, and that the project would overlap the Minesing Wetlands which provides irrigation of crops, cleans drinking water, helps control flooding of surrounding areas including the 25,000 residents of Wasaga Beach, and provides recreational and economic benefits to the region. The petition calls on the government to stop the building of any A-OTHR site on the already purchased property, prevent future acquisition of prime farmland and the building of any A-OTHR sites on prime farmland in Clearview Township, and register the previously purchased property with the Ontario Farmland Trust.
The blackmail that patriotic Canadians should sacrifice for the defence of the country as justification for such projects that serve only the interest of the U.S. war economy by having Canada play an even bigger part in the U.S. striving for world hegemony is beneath contempt. Our security lies in the fight for Canada to be a force for peace in the world starting with getting Canada out of NATO and NORAD! The security of Canadians does not lie in militarization and the integration of Canada into the U.S. war machine, with all its adverse consequences. Our security lies in our fight for the rights of all, including the right to decide what happens in our communities.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 3 - February 12, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/T560037.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca