In high school, Dawn MacDonald was often told she lived in ShackTier rather than MacTier, Ont. And Chris Fellows, another local resident, says he still has people cringe when he tells them where he lives.
Yet, the 300-person town, which borders the districts of Muskoka, Parry Sound, and Simcoe County, is only a short drive from Muskoka’s Millionaires Row. Celebrities often pass through the LCBO where Fellows works. The town sits on the stunning shores of Stewart Lake. And its population is growing as more people retire to their cottages. But despite all this, MacTier is slowly being stripped of its resources.
In 2013, the Township of Georgian Bay attempted to sell the MacTier Community Centre to a medical marijuana company. MacDonald and other residents fought to save it. Soon after, the Ontario Provincial Police pulled their detachment from MacTier. This was followed in 2016 by TD Canada Trust shutting down its MacTier branch, the only bank in town. And now, the next domino to fall is the MacTier paramedic station.
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In July, the District of Muskoka released a 10-year master plan for its paramedic services that included closing the MacTier paramedic station in October 2025. The district aims to build a new paramedic station near Port Carling and relocate MacTier’s ambulance to Southern Georgian Bay. The district will then install a paramedic response unit (PRU) in MacTier, operating on a 12-hour schedule. The PRU is a small vehicle manned by one paramedic that can’t transport patients to hospital. The goal of the PRU is to arrive quickly at emergencies in the community with the paramedic starting treatment until an ambulance arrives.
The district introduced the plan in response to Muskoka’s growing and ageing population. It says it expects an increase in paramedic service calls over the coming years.
“A master plan helps manage the growing demand for paramedic services by providing a clear strategy for the future. It allows the district to plan for changes in population and healthcare needs, making sure resources like ambulances and paramedics are used efficiently. The plan will help us to improve response times by choosing the best locations for paramedic stations. The district’s 10-year master plan for paramedic services helps ensure that paramedic services are ready to respond quickly and safely to emergency calls today and into the future,” Norm Barrette, the district’s commissioner of health services, said in an email.
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The district hired emergency services consulting company ORH to evaluate its current ambulance performance and deployment. After the evaluation, the district decided that Muskoka would be better served if the MacTier paramedic station was moved to Whites Road in Glen Orchard, near Port Carling. The district cited the fact that 58 per cent of responses from the MacTier paramedic station covered areas outside of the town.
“This will be an improvement in coverage for MacTier, as currently that ambulance is either on standby for a busier community or on a lengthy transport to/from hospital,” the district said on its website.
But Dawn MacDonald points out that the 58 per cent means that 42 per cent of calls are still coming from MacTier. Plus, she’s skeptical about the district’s claim of improved coverage. “I live on the far side of Stewart Lake. With the new paramedic station out at Whites Road, it changes response time for me from 10 minutes to 30 minutes,” she says.
Both MacDonald and Fellows are also disappointed that there was no community consultation on the plan. (Fellows found out about it through a customer at the LCBO.) In response, he started an online petition to try and save MacTier’s paramedic station. So far, it’s received nearly 1,200 signatures.
“MacTier is a complicated town,” Fellows says. “Our problems seem to be caused because we sit in a geographical and political dead zone where no one seems to know what to do with us, so we end up getting nothing.”
MacDonald and Fellows have organized a town meeting On October 10 at the MacTier Community Centre to raise public awareness about the paramedic station closure and how it will affect residents. The meeting will also prepare residents for an October 17 information session organized by the district at the MacTier Community Centre.
“We want to make sure when the district comes on the 17th of October, that we’re prepared to ask the hard questions,” MacDonald says.
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