One of the best things about living in Ottawa is how quickly you can trade pavement for pine needles. Twenty minutes from Parliament Hill you can be climbing King Mountain on one of Gatineau Park’s 200 kilometres of hiking trails, crossing the boardwalk at Mer Bleue Bog, or picking up the Rideau Trail, which runs all the way from Kingston to Ottawa. Most hikes end with nothing worse than tired legs and a full camera roll.
Some, unfortunately end differently. A rotted board on a boardwalk gives way. A washed-out slope that should have been closed off sends someone down an embankment. A footbridge is missing a plank and nobody posted a sign. When a trail injury is serious, one of the first questions we ask as Ottawa injury lawyers has nothing to do with the injury itself. It has to do with geography. Whether your hiking accident happened in Ontario or Quebec can significantly affect your legal rights and the compensation process. The law on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River is not the same as the law on the Quebec side.
What Happens if You’re Injured on an Ontario Versus Quebec Hiking Trail?
Trails on the Ottawa side, fall under Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act.
Some of these trails include:
- Mer Bleue
- Jack Pine Trail in Stony Swamp
- South March Highlands
A recreational trail that is reasonably marked, the law treats you as having willingly assumed the ordinary risks of being there. The occupier, is only responsible if it created a danger deliberately or acted with reckless disregard for the people using it. The occupier is often City of Ottawa and/or National Capital Commission (NCC).
That is a very different test from the reasonable care standard that applies to most injuries on someone else’s property.
Reckless disregard is a high bar, but not an impossible one. Roots, rocks and mud are considered part of the deal. However, a known hazard left unrepaired and unmarked is a different story.
In one Ontario Court of Appeal case, a town was held liable after a cyclist accident. The cyclist was thrown from her bike by a metal bracket left protruding from a trail where a wooden post had been removed.
Timing matters too. Ontario generally gives you two years to start a claim, though shorter notice deadlines may apply.
For example, a written notice may need to be provided within 60 days if snow or ice contributed to the fall.
Why Hiking Injuries in Gatineau Are Legally Different
Cross the river and the rules change.
Gatineau Park sits in Quebec, so a fall on the Wolf Trail or at Luskville Falls is governed by Quebec’s Civil Code rather than any Ontario statute.
Quebec has no occupiers’ liability act. Responsibility turns on whether whoever controlled the trail committed a fault that caused your injury. The limitation period is also generally three years instead of Ontario’s two years,
Add in the fact that the park is managed by the National Capital Commission, a federal Crow corporation, and you have a claim with legal considerations that surprise many people.
What Should You Do After a Serious Hiking Accident?
None of this should be on your mind while you’re lying at the bottom of a slope. Afterward, though, a few things help:
- Get medical attention first
- Photograph the exact spot
- Drop a GPS pin if you can
- Report the hazard to the NCC, the City or whoever runs the trail
- Keep the boots you were wearing
- Write down what happened while it’s fresh, including the names of anyone who saw it
These details may become important if you later decide to pursue a personal injury claim.
Injured on a Hiking Trail Near Ottawa?
Our team at Bergeron Clifford has represented injured people across Eastern Ontario, from Kingston to Ottawa and the communities in between, and we understand the cross-border questions that trails around the capital can raise.
If you were seriously hurt on a trail, on either side of the river, call us for a free consultation. The hike was supposed to be the hard part, not what came after.
