A group of people living south of Goderich hope a 400-year-old law will be their ticket out of Central Huron Township.

“This is simply a plea from the people of Goderich Township to the Crown to acknowledge a long-standing right, and that right is to determine their own self-governance,” Cindy Moyer, president of the Huron-Perth Landowners Association, said Thursday at Queen’s Park.

Central Huron was created in 2001, as part of a wave of amalgamations across Ontario.

It replaced the previous Goderich and Hullett townships, as well as the Town of Clinton.

Brian Barnim, who previously represented the former Goderich Township area on Central Huron’s council, says the amalgamation was only entered into because of demands from the province – and hasn’t worked out for the former township.

“This amalgamation was supposed to reduce government, it was supposed to reduce staff, it was supposed to do a lot of things that it never did,” he said.

“Every time you turn around, there’s another need for a new employee.”

In addition, Barnim says, amalgamation has led to crumbling infrastructure, increased debt and higher taxes – and many residents feel his part of Central Huron pays more than its share.

“We’ve been left out of a lot of the budgets,” he says.

Moyer hopes to change the province’s mind via a Petition of Right, an English law introduced in the 1620s.

Her cause has been taken up by Jack MacLaren, a Progressive Conservative MPP from the Ottawa area.

“They’re being taxed to death. They want out, and it is time to let right be done,” MacLaren said Thursday.

Jim Ginn, the newly elected mayor of Central Huron, told CTV News he is opposed to de-amalgamation and believes Goderich Township has benefitted from the new municipality.

Approximately 1,400 people live on the land that comprised the township before 2001.