“It is difficult to characterize this (amusement ride) project as anything other than a preposterous violation of one of the most historically, culturally, and environmentally significant landscapes within Canada.”
A Statement by Tim Johnson, President of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations at Town Hall meeting called by MPP Wayne Gates on July 6, 2026 at Club Italia, Niagara Falls
Posted July 7th, 2026 on Niagara At Large
Tim Johnson speaking at Town Hall meeting on plans for controversial amusement park ride on Niagara Parks’ Queen Victoria Park lands near the brink of the Horseshoe Falls
“I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to MPP Wayne Gates for his invitation to speak today. Wayne’s is often, not only and often a voice for justice, but a voice for integrity and common sense.
“The action to erect a giant Ferris wheel within the natural green space of Queen Victoria Park, directly overlooking Niagara Falls and along the Niagara River corridor, represents a profound failure of historical understanding, curatorial judgment, and ethical responsibility.
“It is difficult to characterize this project as anything other than a preposterous violation of one of the most historically, culturally, and environmentally significant landscapes within Canada.
“Historically, the lands surrounding Niagara Falls are not simply scenic real estate or tourism assets; they are revered Indigenous cultural lands carrying deep significance for Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek peoples. For generations, Niagara has been a place of deep cultural meaning, diplomacy, gathering, travel, and ceremony.
“The immense power of the Falls and the river corridor shaped not only the physical landscape but the cultural worldviews of the peoples who lived here and stewarded these lands for millennia.
“To insert a massive amusement structure into this sensitive and historic setting demonstrates an alarming disregard for the layered Indigenous and historical significance of this place.
“The affront becomes even more glaring when viewed through the history of the Niagara corridor. In July 1764, the Seneca Nation ceded to the Crown a four-mile strip of land along both sides of the Niagara River under the explicit understanding that this territory — later known as the Niagara Strip — would remain Crown land only and would not be granted as private property.
“This covenant reflected a clear intention, that the lands along the river were to remain protected from private exploitation and development. Of course, the current condition of the Niagara Strip already sits in violation, if not in law certainly in the spirit of that original understanding.
“This matter is further complicated by the Niagara Purchase of 1781, in which the Mississaugas of the Credit presumably sold the same strip of land to the Crown, four miles wide along the west bank of the Niagara River from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. It is unclear whether the two adjacent First Nations, Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit, have been consulted on this development and agreed to its preposterous concept.
STANDING ROOM ONLY AT TOWN HALL MEETING CALLED BY MPP WAYNE GATES IN OPPOSITION TO NIAGARA PARKS COMMISSION’S REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR GIANT FERRIS WHEEL TO BE INSTALLED IN QUEEN VICTORIA PARK.. ATTENDANCE ESTIMATED AT WELL OVER 500 AND PROBABLY CLOSER TO 700 OR 800.
“Nevertheless, for those of us who have worked hard over the past two decades to advance awareness and understanding of the Indigenous history of Niagara, the insertion of a giant Ferris wheel into this corridor only deepens these historic injuries. It adds spectacle and commercial intrusion onto lands whose integrity was meant to be preserved, compounding generations of disregard for Indigenous interests.
“Curatorially, the proposal is equally indefensible. Niagara Parks Commission has long positioned itself as the steward of one of the world’s most iconic natural landscapes. Its mandate, at least in principle, has balanced public access, heritage preservation, environmental stewardship, and tourism. Queen Victoria Park serves a vital curatorial function within Niagara’s built environment.
“It is the green, open, contemplative space separating the natural majesty of the Falls from the dense commercial spectacle of Clifton Hill. This separation is not accidental — it is foundational to the visitor experience and to the dignity of the landscape itself. It has also long served as a cherished compact with and among the Niagara community, that nothing garish and tacky and overtly commercial would invade this special corridor.
“Prior to the establishment of the Niagara Parks Commission in 1887, in 1878 The Right Honorable Earl of Dufferin, Governor General of Canada gave a compelling speech that identified the problem of the mess that, at that time, surrounded Niagara Falls, but also set the tone by recommending a solution. Here are a couple of paragraphs from his speech that still resonate deeply these 148 years later:
“In your neighborhood there exists, as you are aware, one of the most wondrous, beautiful, and stupendous scenes which the forces of Nature have ever constructed … I allude to the Falls of Niagara.
Please join the growing number of citizens saying no to plans to erect this amusement park ride on the beautiful Queen Victoria Park lands near the Horseshoe Falls. Tell Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati to scrap this plan NOW
“But I am further sure everyone will agree with me in thinking that the pleasure he may have derived from his pilgrimage to so famous a spot, whether as an artist or simple tourist, has been miserably marred and defeated by the inconvenience and annoyance he has experienced at the hands of the various squatting interests that have taken possession of every point of vantage at the Falls to tax the pocket and irritate the nerves of visitors, and by whom — just at the moment when he is about to give up his whole being to the contemplation of the scene before him, as he is about to feel the inspiration of the natural beauties around him, his imagination and his poetic faculties are suddenly shocked and disorganized with a demand for ten cents. (Loud laughter.)
“Some few weeks ago I had the good fortune to meet His Excellency the Governor of the State of New York, and I then suggested to him an idea which has been long present to my mind, that the Governments of New York and of Ontario or Canada should combine to acquire whatever rights may have been established against the public, and to form around the Falls a small public international park (hear, hear) — not indeed decorated or in any way sophisticated by the puny art of the landscape gardener, but carefully preserved in the picturesque and unvulgarized condition in which it was originally laid out by the hand of nature. (Loud applause.) Nothing could have been more gratifying or gracious than the response which His Excellency, the Governor of New York, was good to make to my representations …”
In addition to Wayne Gates, speakers included Liz Benneian, director of A Better Niagara; Michael Booth, executive director of the Lundy’s Lane Historical Society; and Tim Johnson, president of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations, whose remarks follow.
“The green corridor creates a visual and psychological transition from spectacle to reverence. It preserves the Falls as something more than entertainment. It allows visitors to encounter Niagara as a place of wonder, reflection, and awe. Another giant Ferris wheel, inserted into this space, would collapse that carefully maintained distinction, effectively extending the carnival atmosphere of Clifton Hill into one of the most important natural heritage spaces in the country. The result would be not enhancement, but degradation.
“The ethical failure here is inseparable from the governance structure that enabled such a proposal to advance. One would reasonably assume that, given the Niagara Parks Commission’s own detailed policies regarding signage, memorials, and physical interventions on Parks lands, a project of this scale and intrusiveness would and should have been immediately dismissed.
A bit of Queen Victoria Park with the Horseshoe Falls in the background
“The Commission routinely exercises caution over even relatively modest installations in order to protect sightlines, historical integrity, and landscape coherence. That a massive Ferris wheel could move forward suggests not merely a lapse in judgment, but a structural failure in governance.
“It is precisely here that the deficiencies of the current political structure become impossible to ignore. The Commission’s governance model leaves it highly vulnerable to political pressure from the provincial government, particularly when leadership lacks the independence, character, or courage to resist inappropriate directives. Instead of acting as a principled steward of Niagara’s natural and historical legacy, the Commission appears increasingly susceptible to becoming an instrument of short-term political ambition and commercial opportunism.
“This raises serious questions about the leadership of the Commission, CEO David Adames, “Director of Cultural Services Phil Johnson, Director of Horticulture Charles Hunter, and all within that system who have either advanced — or stepped aside — to allow this violation to proceed. Stewardship of a globally significant heritage landscape demands more than managerial competence; it requires conviction, vision, honour, and the willingness to defend the integrity of the place against appropriation and poor political judgment. Where leadership should have drawn a clear line; it instead acquiesced.
“As the old adage goes, those who don’t know their history are likely to repeat it.
“Ultimately, the Ferris wheel project represents far more than a bad tourism idea. It reflects a troubling willingness to sacrifice historical integrity, Indigenous cultural respect, curatorial coherence, and ethical governance in pursuit of spectacle. Niagara Falls deserves better.
“This community deserves better. The Indigenous peoples whose histories are rooted in this land deserve better. The environment deserves better. And we — the public — deserve leadership willing to protect one of Canada’s greatest natural and cultural treasures from reckless and deeply misguided development.
Thank you. Tim Johnson, President of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations
Postscript: Peter Graham, of the Six Nations Consultation and Accommodation Process (CAP) Team, reports that the Niagara Parks Commission never consulted with Six Nations. Furthermore, the CAP Team opposes the proposed Ferris wheel.
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