AmerCan: a Thousand Islands sale that needs two lots to become one

Baby Tar Island is Island 105 on Plan 120 in the St. Lawrence River, in the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands, with a main house, a guest house and a boat house on it. A land bridge joins it to Tar Island, where two more parcels carry no residences, and AmerCan Corporation bought all three on June 16, 2017, for $1.5 million, per the Reasons for Decision of Dietrich J., Feb. 11, 2025, paras. 11–12 and the Order of Dietrich J., Jan. 29, 2025, para. 1(a). AmerCan later largely completed a septic system for the houses: holding tanks on Baby Tar, piping across the land bridge, a septic field on Parcel 1 on Tar Island. The Township would not lift its unsafe order on the system because, not wholly located on a single parcel, it was constructed contrary to s. 53 of the Ontario Water Resources Act, as MNP Ltd., AmerCan's court-appointed receiver, reports in the Sixth Report of the Receiver, June 26, 2026, paras. 25, 29.

On July 16, 2026, Justice Jane Dietrich approved the receiver's sale of the three parcels to Aura Resorts Inc. at a sealed price. The approval and vesting order authorizes the receiver to file an "Application Consolidation Parcels" with the land registry office "to combine Baby Tar and Parcel 1 … into a single parcel lot," without prejudice to the arguments of National Bank of Canada, Cameron Stephens Mortgage Capital, their title insurers and two lien claimants that the lots "were, or were not, a single parcel lot" beforehand, per the Approval and Vesting Order, July 16, 2026, paras. 1, 4, appended to the Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 30, 2026, App. C. On the receiver's own analysis of 2024, that question goes to whether the charges and liens registered against Baby Tar are valid at all, per the Third Report of the Receiver, Nov. 1, 2024, paras. 70–71.

How the islands came to the receiver

The receivership began with land in Mississauga. DUCA Financial Services Credit Union Ltd. lent AmerCan and 1000199992 Ontario Corp. $7,080,000 to buy 6532 and 6544 Winston Churchill Boulevard for a subdivision, and said it was owed $7,281,653.91 on April 2, 2024, before fees and costs, per the Affidavit of Ivan Bogdanovich, Apr. 5, 2024, paras. 5, 17, 20. Justice W.D. Black appointed MNP on April 17, 2024, effective May 13. The receiver understands that Fengxi Fanseay Wang owns or controls both companies, and it learned of the islands after its appointment, per the Sixth Report, paras. 1, 3, 5.

By then two of the three titles were no longer in AmerCan's name. On March 8, 2024, AmerCan transferred Parcels 1 and 2 to Xiaojing Jessica Sun, Mr. Wang's spouse, in connection with a 2020 "Declaration of Nominee Trust" that said it held all three parcels in trust for her. Ms. Sun's evidence was that the islands were bought as a family cottage; AmerCan's financial statements carried them as its assets and recorded the purchase money as a shareholder loan. Justice Dietrich held that the badges of fraud the receiver had shown "raise an evidentiary inference of intent to defeat creditors or others," was not persuaded that the evidence of Ms. Sun or Mr. Wang rebutted it, and found the trust agreement and the transfers void under s. 2 of the Fraudulent Conveyances Act. She recorded Ms. Sun's admission that there was no separate consideration for the transfers "and they were made on the eve of the Receivership Order," per the Reasons for Decision, paras. 13–18, 24, 44–48. Her order of January 29, 2025 declared the islands AmerCan's assets as of May 13, 2024, per the Order of Dietrich J., Jan. 29, 2025, paras. 2–4. Both spouses appealed; on August 21, 2025, Justice Huscroft of the Court of Appeal declared the appeals a nullity, and on January 8, 2026 the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Ms. Sun's leave application and stay motion, per the Sixth Report, paras. 10–11.

A severance that was never registered

In 2020 AmerCan applied to sever the part of Parcel 1 holding the septic field and add it to Baby Tar, so the system would sit within a single lot. The consent, granted August 12, 2020, stated that the severed lands "are to merge with" Baby Tar; the deed, endorsed July 22, 2021, was never registered, and the county told the receiver it had to be registered within two years, per the Third Report, paras. 53, 55, 59, 64. "For reasons that are unclear to the Receiver, the severance application was approved but never registered on title and ultimately expired," the receiver wrote, per the Sixth Report, para. 30.

The Township had also issued an order to comply under the Building Code Act for work on Baby Tar done without a permit. With money borrowed from National Bank of Canada, the first mortgagee on Baby Tar, the receiver corrected the construction deficiencies and had that order removed. The unsafe order stayed until an undertaking of March 19, 2026, registered on title, under which the Township removed it and the receiver must, before October 31, 2026, merge title to Parcel 1 and Baby Tar, obtain a court order that the septic system sits on a single parcel lot, or obtain the environment ministry's approval. The system is not to be used until the violation is resolved, per the Sixth Report, paras. 20, 27–29, 31–33. The receiver's counsel also asked the land registry office whether its property index map, which did not show the land bridge, could be amended to show Baby Tar and Parcel 1 abutting. "Instead of providing guidance on the viability of the request, the LRO of its own volition amended the property index map," the receiver reports, per the Sixth Report, paras. 24, 26.

Two offers and a sealed price

The receiver listed the islands on March 16, 2026 with Georgina Ratcliffe of Chestnut Park Real Estate Limited, Brokerage. On April 17 they went on MLS at a list price of $1,895,000, with no offers to be reviewed before May 4; postcards and an e-mail blast each went to about 400 recipients, the listing drew 2,803 views on Realtor.ca, and four showings produced two offers. The broker also "connected with Sun, who had expressed an interest in the Island Properties but did not submit a formal offer," per the Sixth Report, paras. 37–41.

The purchaser's offer of May 8 was conditional on court approval before July 29, 2026, and on the receiver's best commercial efforts to satisfy one of the undertaking's three options before closing, failing which the purchaser could terminate. Signed on May 15, the agreement covers the land, the buildings and any personal property left at closing. The receiver describes the price as "in the range expected" and "reasonably close to the valuation proposed in the Merkley Appraisal," which is sealed. NBC and DUCA supported the sale; Cameron Stephens, the second mortgagee on Baby Tar, and its title insurer said they would take no position on it or on the title question the order leaves open, per the Sixth Report, paras. 20, 44, 46, 48–49. The broker's marketing summary, a summary of the offers that includes a revised offer from the unsuccessful bidder, the unredacted agreement and the appraisal are sealed until the transaction is completed or the court orders otherwise, per the Ancillary Order of Dietrich J., July 16, 2026, para. 6 and the Sixth Report, paras. 42–43, 47–48.