About TCTO

To help local groups succeed in developing Trans Canada Trail in Ontario, Trans Canada Trail Ontario (TCTO) was formed. TCTO is a separate provincial entity with its own board of directors. TCTO provides support to emerging and existing trail organizations to identify, register, develop and maintain the Trans Canada Trail in Ontario. A large part of our daily operations is troubleshooting for the smaller groups around issues such as organizational concerns, insurance, facilitating funding applications for development, and lobbying provincially and nationally on issues such as risk management and policy issues. Ontario is a unique situation since it has the largest section of the Trans Canada Trail in the country with the most challenging topography. In addition, it has vast unpopulated areas in the north which can’t sustain viable trail development organizations. Trail groups vary throughout the province from organized to unorganized, large to small. This mixture has created a challenge for connecting and completing the Trans Canada Trail in Ontario. The gap between the provincial organization of TCTO and the local trail groups created a need for a regional body to represent local issues to the provincial body. This would create a network in which information, funding, marketing and support could be better delivered between TCTO and the local groups; thus, the concept of the Regional Trail Committee was developed. Although this concept would greatly advance the completion of the Trans Canada Trail in Ontario, other trail organizations like the Ontario Trails Council would also benefit with the creation of Regional Trail Committees for the development of the Trillium Trail Network.