Comox urged to save Laing houses
Updates: Heritage B.C. and National Trust for Canada want historic homes preserved; elsewhere, early salmon reach Fort St. James
It’s update time for a few issues I’ve reported in recent months. First, that Comox plan to demolish Baybrook and Shake-sides, two waterfront houses once occupied by iconic Canadian artist and naturalist Mack Laing.
Both Heritage B.C. and the National Trust for Canada have since weighed in.
Their opinions, contrary to local demolition enthusiasts’ argument that the artist’s former homes are worthless derelict eyesores, say they are important components of Canada’s cultural heritage.
A letter to Comox town council from Heritage B.C. is blunt:
“Irreplaceable,” it says. “Because of Baybrook’s rich heritage value, and value to the local community, province of B.C. and Canadians in general, we believe that Baybrook should be conserved for present and future generations.”
Furthermore, conservation of the site is eligible for grants from the Heritage Legacy Fund administered by the organization and it offers help with heritage planning. Heritage B.C. helps communities promote heritage resources in cultural tourism programs.
Then there’s the National Trust for Canada. It urges Comox to reconsider plans to demolish what it says is an “important heritage property” and calls on the town’s council to take advantage of Heritage B.C.’s offer.
Property assessments by both a professional structural engineer and an architect conclude that Baybrook can be conserved, adapted to a new public use, and that two locally generated reports propose viable, costeffective preservation options, it says.
The National Trust has been involved in saving many important elements of Canada’s architectural heritage from the wreckers.
Successes range from the Yukon Hotel in Dawson City and Pooley Street Pool Hall in the mining town of Wells, to Barclay Heritage Square in Vancouver, where 12 buildings, some 115 years old, one of them famous architect Francis Rattenbury’s first design project, were saved from razing by the city.
Meanwhile, local gadfly in defence of Baybrook, Loys Maingon, points out “the Canadian Citizenship handbook specifically states that it is the duty of Canadian citizens to protect Canadian heritage.”
So if the town is to behave as we instruct new Canadians is proper, he argues, Comox has no choice but to preserve and restore the heritage that comes under its stewardship.
Nor, he says, can the town easily retreat behind cries of poverty.
When Laing left his property to the community in 1982, Maingon says, he provided $55,000 for its maintenance. That’s equivalent to about $300,000 in today’s currency.
And since Baybrook was rented out by the municipality for 33 years, he says, that trust should now be worth between $400,000 and $1 million.
Meanwhile, Comox council is left with the embarrassing dilemma of whether it wants the community celebrated for cultural stewardship or stigmatized for demolishing heritage that belongs not just to the municipality but to all British Columbians and Canadians.
Second, those Early Stuart sockeye faced with low water and brutally high temperatures for their 1,000-kilometre journey from tidewater to the spawning grounds have just started to arrive at Fort St. James northwest of Prince George. That’s good news.
The Fraser’s discharge at Hope was 34 per cent lower than average for the end of July and water temperature was 19 C, a full degree higher than the average for this date.
And yet, folks at Nak’azdli Whut’en tell me the outriders have just begun to show up at Stuart Lake — although it’s hard to tell how many. Those observed are generally in good condition.
Sto:lo fishing the lower reaches of the Fraser switched to gillnets with 20-centimetre apertures — large enough for most sockeye to swim right through.
That seems to have helped. At last count, the Pacific Salmon Commission said the Early Stuarts passing its Mission counting facility numbered 31,700 fish, a shade more than estimated escapement.
However, with the much bigger summer and fall runs yet to arrive, the salmon commission warns the Fraser’s flow is expected to drop by another 500,000 cubic metres per second by mid-week and temperatures to rise to 21.5 C, skirting the lethal range for salmon survival.
The fishing season is far from secure yet.