OXTONGUE LAKE — Oxtongue Lake Road is closed to tourists this leaf season. No trespassing signs and caution tape have been posted, in Mandarin and English by area residents. Hazard signs indicating "local traffic only" have been put up on the road where it meets Highway 60, by the municipality.

Other residents contacted this newspaper, angered and embarrassed by what they say is a racist act.

Scott Hayden, owner of Blue Spruce Resort, confirmed he posted the signs that are written in English and Mandarin. When told that residents in the area feel the signs are racist, Hayden replied, "Are you kidding me?" UPDATE: Signs aren't racist they're considerate, says resort operator near Algonquin

"The situation is right now, with the leaves peaking, most of the new Canadians in southern Ontario haven’t seen coloured leaves yet and they all come up for this week and next week to see the leaves," said Hayden. "There would be maybe 200 or 300 cars parked in front of the resort, mainly of Chinese origin, and they would be going down onto the beach and using the facilities because they just don’t understand or know that private property is private."

But the municipality says it's all about handling the volume of traffic.

“The roads were closed due to trespassing and traffic that we’ve had here in the past,” said Marlene Kyle, councillor for the Oxtongue Lake area, Ward 3, for the Township of Algonquin Highlands. “During the leaf season there is an enormous number of cars and people that trespass on all of the properties. A number of residents and business owners asked the township to look into what could they do differently to stop people — it’s a security issue as well — and this was one of the solutions.”

Kyle said this is the first year that the township has closed a road except to local traffic during the peak leaf colour change time. Kyle estimated that the roads have been closed for approximately a week and a half now. The road closed except to local traffic signs are positioned in the right-handed lanes of the three roads that enter onto Oxtongue Lake Road, requiring local drivers to enter into oncoming traffic before returning to their lane in order to manoeuvre around the signs. Kyle said the township did not post the signs that have been posted throughout the area in Mandarin and was not able to comment.

Since 1982, the Province of Ontario’s slogan has been “Yours to Discover,” paying homage to the 1927 Ontario Department of Public Highways tourism slogan, “Discover Ontario.” However, longtime Oxtongue Lake resident, Tracie Parrott, believes that racism is “alive and well” in her community.

“I can’t believe that a tourism community is closing off itself because they find tourists frustrating and invasive,” said Parrott. “This is really, really sad in this day and age. It’s racism. I am saddened and I am embarrassed for my community. This really sets us back. This is not the 1930s and we do not have an apartheid.”

But Hayden further said there is "nothing mean or dispositioning" about the signs, that they are meant for information.