Tiny Senior Times
By Thomas Bialas August 14, 2025
Help Shape Tiny’s Age-Friendly Future
The Township of Tiny is proud to be recognized as an Age-Friendly Community by the World Health Organization (WHO), joining a global network of cities and towns committed to supporting older adults. This honour reflects the Township’s long-standing dedication to creating a community where seniors can live with dignity, respect, and independence.
In 2017, Township staff, along side Tiny’s Senior Advisory Committee worked diligently to implement Tiny’s Local Aging Plan, a document that guides efforts to improve the lives of older adults. This plan focuses on key areas that impact daily life for seniors, including outdoor spaces and buildings, social participation, health services, civic engagement, transportation, housing, and access to information. These key areas make up the eight domains of community life as indicated by WHO.
Through community engagement and planning, the Township has introduced a range of initiatives that promote inclusion, activity, and wellbeing among its aging population. Notable achievements include the development of the North Simcoe Directory of Senior Services; a collaborative guide that helps connect seniors to important resources. Annual celebrations such as June is Seniors’ Month, the Senior Symposium, and the Senior Speaker Series have become enduring traditions. The Township also recognizes an outstanding resident over the age of 65 through the Heart of Tiny Award, part of the Citizen of the Year Awards program.
Programs like pickleball, shuffleboard, cooperative art circles, various fitness classes, and the “Coffee and Connect” technology workshops offer older adults a wide variety of ways to stay active and engaged. The Township looks forward to offering more new programs this Fall, including “Ducks in a Row” and “Nature Connect: Outdoor Adventures for Seniors”. The Township has also built strong partnerships with local Seniors Clubs and continues to create meaningful volunteer opportunities for older adults to share their time and talents.
Now, as part of its ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, the Township of Tiny is updating its Local Aging Plan, and community input is vital. A public survey has been launched to gather feedback from residents, caregivers, organizations, and local businesses. The goal is to ensure that future strategies reflect the real needs and experiences of the people who call Tiny home.
“This update is about more than just services for older adults,” said Mayor David Evans. “It’s about creating a community where everyone, regardless of age, can stay active and thrive.”
The Township encourages all residents to share their voice by completing the short online survey, which is available on the project webpage at www.tiny.ca/agingplan. There, residents can learn more about the plan and follow its progress. Hard copies of the Survey have also been made available at local Seniors Clubs and at the Township office on 130 Balm Beach Road West. Your input today helps shape a more inclusive and supportive Tiny for tomorrow.
The Aging Plan update is made possible with support from the Simcoe County Age-Friendly Municipal Grant Program. The Township of Tiny extends its sincere thanks to the County of Simcoe for its continued investment in age-friendly communities.
The information in this article is provided as a public service by the Township of Tiny Senior’s Advisory Committee. We invite and welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can make Senior Tiny Times a valuable information resource for our Seniors.
Website: www.tiny.ca/seniors
Phone: 705-526-4204
Email: seniors@tiny.ca
Tiny’s Beaches and Trails Come Alive with Art
Township of Tiny unveils artwork from community art project funded through County of Simcoe grant
Date: August 7, 2025
(Tiny, Ontario) The Township of Tiny is unveiling the artwork from a community art project known as Art in Our Parks that was funded through a grant of $6,400 from the County of Simcoe’s Tourism, Culture, and Sport Enhancement Fund.
Through this grant, the township commissioned several local artists to work with approximately 70 students from Wyevale Central Public School and École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Croix. Together, they painted a total of 11 waste barrels (garbage cans) that will be displayed throughout the township at beaches, parks, and along the Tiny Rail Trail.
The four art themes of Art in Our Parks emphasize the cultural significance of Tiny including our rural landscape, beautiful beaches, rich Francophone culture, and the township’s commitment to pollinators as a recognized Bee City.
Art in Our Parks also highlights the importance of litter awareness by drawing attention to the waste barrels and helps to improve the aesthetics of the township’s public spaces.
The Township of Tiny would like to give a special thanks to the seven artists that partnered with us to bring this idea to life: Justin Burley, Samatha Daigle, Jocelyn Howe, Joanna Katchutas, Alex Kostecka-Silva, Angie Longpre, and Josephine Vaccaro-Chang. All seven of these talented local artists are from Simcoe County, highlighting the local impact of their involvement with the Art in Our Parks project.
“We’d like to thank the County of Simcoe for funding this amazing collaboration opportunity between local artists and our youth,” said Mayor David Evans. “All of this new artwork brings vibrancy to our parks, beaches, and trails. This project truly speaks to the talent of our community and is the perfect way to draw interest in the history and culture of Tiny.”
To see highlights of the Art in Our Parks project 2025, visit our Facebook profile or view the photo gallery at www.tiny.ca/photos.
New Tiny public beach one step closer, despite nearby opposition
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Aug 08, 2025
Two hundred metres of potentially public Georgian Bay beach became the focus at a recent Tiny Township council meeting, as 8.26 acres of donated lands received neighbourly objections on a municipal decision to accept the dedication.
As presented in the bylaw to be passed, the first Crown Survey of the township had completed in 1823 but didn’t provide for original shore road allowances. For part payment of services in laying out the land, surveyor John Goessman received Crown Patents for certain parcels of land, each of which contained a reservation for shore road allowances of 20.1 metres, or one chain, in width.
Wording in the Crown Patents stated that one chain in width would be reserved “as an allowance for a road with free access to the beach by all vessels, boats and persons”; a choice of wording upheld by courts.
In March, land acquisition of two of those adjacent properties in the Sawlog Bay area was announced by the township. The intent by the township was stated for it to be a new public beach, formally opened once the deal had closed and financing was in place.
At the recent regular meeting of council, a bylaw was readied which could either be passed, delayed for decision at an upcoming meeting, or declined.
The deputation portion hosted an audience of two dozen residents wanting to have their say, but limitations of just five speakers with a three-minute timeframe forced a strategy to have the most vocal cover as many talking points as could be conveyed.
All speakers urged council to choose to defer the decision, citing that they had only discovered the donation and hadn’t had enough time to research its implications for Thunder Beach residents, many of whom were in attendance.
When challenged on transparency, Mayor Dave Evans retorted that acquisition of the Goessman lots had been addressed by council in early 2023, citing that numerous confidential legal meetings were noted throughout the years in public forums; furthermore, as legal challenges had been made against council regarding the donation transfer, what could be discussed openly at the meeting was also limited.
The matter went to a recorded vote requested by Coun. Dave Brunelle who sided with the deputants that a deferral until the next meeting would allow for further investigation by residents; however, his vote was the sole 4-to-1 opposition as the rest of council chose to pass the bylaw and accept the land donation.
Following the meeting, MidlandToday spoke to CAO Robert Lamb on the differences between what closed session information is by a municipality, and how that differs from publicly available information.
“Closed session information is governed very closely by the rules and regulations of the Municipal Act, as ruled as well from the Ombudsman’s office,” Lamb explained. “You can only go into closed to talk about very specific things and legal is one of those, so you do not normally have your lawyers sitting in front of the general public talking about a position.”
Lamb provided a unique example of the short term rental task force established by the previous council, which allowed the public an opportunity to receive usually closed session questions within an open format. However, he added that in any standard situation: “If I talked about (something that wasn’t closed information) in public session, that’s a fireable offense.”
“But you don’t negotiate in public, you don’t get legal advice in public, and it stays in closed session – but you do ratify (in public),” Lamb added. “And council did ratify multiple times what direction was given, especially this file and very clearly on multiple occasions, it was talked about as a matter of public record, council giving direction to staff and legal to go to the next step on the Goessman file.”
Further to the short term rental perspective, Lamb pointed to an Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision from March where the Tiny Township Association of Responsible STR Owners had lost to the township, with the justice stating: “It is evident… that the Township heard their concerns regarding the anticipated bylaw but simply didn’t agree with them.”
“That is democracy,” said Lamb. “The justice hit it on the nail on that issue, but it is with any issue – ultimately in a year and a half’s time as the population will come in, and hopefully a whole lot more of them than the last time, will cast their ballot.”
As stated by Coun. Kelly Helowka during the meeting that council were elected representatives for the whole of the township, both Evans and Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins also reiterated the sentiment by agreeing with Lamb that democracy would be upheld by the voters every four years.
The bylaw to accept the reservation dedication of Goessman shore lots can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
Net-zero administration centre project gains Tiny $10,000 grant
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Aug. 7, 2025
Net-zero ambitions became a net-positive boon for Tiny Township thanks to a $10,000 greenhouse gas reduction grant relating to the upcoming administration centre build.
The announcement was made during the recent regular meeting of council, as public works director Tim Leitch provided an ongoing update on the construction of the new municipal administration centre due for a 2027 opening.
Tiny had previously been awarded the $10,000 Municipal Climate Action Offer grant in 2023 for installing electric vehicle charging stations in the municipality, and in 2024 for purchasing hybrid and electric vehicles for the municipal fleet in an effort to migrate from gas powered vehicles.
“This year, we applied with our net-zero building and all the positives that are going forward with that,” said Leitch, noting that as a result, “Enbridge has awarded us a $10,000 cheque again this year based on that objective; so that’s going to go towards our build.
“We just got that cheque in last week, and that’s another positive thing in showing (the) industry that moving in these directions of net-zero is the way to go forward with new buildings, and the township is following that protocol.”
The Tiny Township administration centre project has been protested against in recent years both by a vocal minority of residents and by Coun. Dave Brunelle, objecting to the 2024 proposal for a net-zero energy, net-zero carbon, water conserving, and biodiverse regenerative design, which could last over 60 years, and instead demanding the municipality stay in the current 68-year-old facility despite numerous obsolete flaws.
In addition to the grant announcement, Leitch stated that a successful first meeting of the ad hoc committee had proven fruitful as elements of the public space were addressed by the group, and archaeological assessments in consultation with Huron-Wendat representatives had been made on the property at 255 Concession 9 East with results pending.
“Just a reminder to the public that the site is closed off to the public,” Leitch cautioned. “It may appear flat, it may appear there’s no hazards, but the trees have been cut down; it’s a lot of ground cover that’s unpredictable. We do have test holes that are on the site, so we just want to keep everybody off that site that’s obviously not part of the construction crew or does not have authorization to be on the site.”
Leitch added that trespassers had been caught on camera and if the actions continued, “we will be notifying the police to make sure that people’s safety is paramount.”
Following the meeting, Mayor Dave Evans told MidlandToday that the township was honoured to receive the third straight Enbridge Gas grant for $10,000, saying “it’s a strong vote of confidence in Tiny’s leadership on sustainability and innovation.
“This funding supports our vision for the Township of Tiny Administrative Centre as a net-zero facility,” added Evans. “We are also pursuing funding through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund that would further support our net-zero objectives for the TTAC. I can confidently say that we are building a community space that reflects our environmental values and long-term goals.”
When asked how proactive the township was toward the goal or reducing greenhouse emissions was, Evans replied that the municipality’s strategic plan as well as partnership with the Severn Sound Environmental Association climate change action plan identified protecting the environment of Tiny as a top priority for council.
“We are not immune to the effects of climate change,” said Evans, “and we continue to take meaningful action to support a greener future — from transitioning our fleet vehicles to hybrid and electric, to building a net-zero community hub as the TTAC. From our shoreline to our forests, we’re taking real steps to reduce emissions and support a cleaner future.”
Updates regarding the Tiny Township administration centre, including a project roadmap and reports dating back to 2014, can be found on the new building page of the municipal website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.