West Nipissing Pride in "no way associated" to controversial 2LGBTQS+ campground

Pride-theme campground presenting to council on Tuesday to seek support in light of rift among 2LGBTQS+ community.

“West Nipissing Pride is in no way associated with that group”. - West Nipissing Pride

Next week council has a packed agenda where they will dig deeper on the chicken bylaw issue, the Verner water problem and approve a number of new subdivisions.

But before getting to any of those items, council will welcome a delegation from the owner of Foxhaven in Lavigne. Ryan Jackson who has been operating the Pride-themed campground for three years now is seeking more formal support from council for all of the campground’s events. This is likely in light of an apparent rift with the locally designated Pride organization.

The Lavigne campground is hosting a weeklong “Pride in the Woods” festival later this month, however West Nipissing Pride does not support or endorse the event.

As I reported on earlier this year, this campground sought council’s support informally last year but members were split on offering it. Mayor Kathleen Thorne-Rochon ended up helping the campground owner with a personal endorsement letter to help them receive federal funding.

The reason that council was split was that, while the campground does specialize in pride-themed events, most of them are far from being family friendly. The campground hosts a “spanking festival”, “kink in the wild festivals” as well as various furry events (for those who identify as animals). But disturbingly, the campground is also the Canadian capital for one of the most controversial aspects of the growing 2LGBTQS+ community, ageplay. The campground’s website hosts several events for the ageplay community where adults identify and seek others who identify as toddlers. Participants wear diapers and engage in a variety of activities with their “caregivers". The national organization that promotes these events (TOMKAT) lists many rules regarding sexual activities, messy diapers and consent.

*Warning: The National Age-Play organization (TOMKAT)’s website as well a the Foxhaven website should be browsed very carefully as there is a lot of disturbing content

In one disturbing promotional video on Youtube, campground owner, Jackson, dresses and acts as a toddler at Foxhaven and asks viewers to “ask their mommy or daddy” to register them for “diaper camp”. On Tuesday, Jackson will be seeking council support for this event among many.

When council was split on supporting this campground last year, Jackson noted that he had personally received support from local MP, Marc Serré who helped him get federal grants totalling $47,000 over two years.

No support from West Nipissing Pride

Most are aware that West Nipissing has it’s very own Pride organization. West Nipissing Pride was formed in 2020 and already receives municipal support.

They host and support a number of events in the community. So naturally, most would expect them to be partners with the town’s only pride-themed campground.

However West Nipissing Pride has kept its distance. When I reported on the controversy surrounding this campground in June, one executive from West Nipissing Pride’s committee contacted me to state that “West Nipissing Pride is in no way associated with that group”.

Yesterday I reached out to West Nipising Pride’s formal facebook page for further comment and once again the group noted that they were not affiliated to Pride in the Woods. When I asked if they would be offering any support for this pride-themed event happening in West Nipissing, the group responded that they had no comment.

I further asked if the campground’s controversial events or their affiliation to the Ageplay branch of the pride community was the reason for their lack of affiliation, but the representatives did not answer.

The controversial events as well as the lack of affiliation to the municipally-supported pride organization will likely be pressing questions asked by council on Tuesday night.

The meeting is on August 13th at 6:30PM in council chambers. It can be watched live on Youtube.

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