To the editor:
What about The Lodge?
Indeed.
Shocked and appalled would describe the reaction I and others experienced at the notion that the very thing to do with the history of 100 Mile House is to raze it and put in a water treatment plant.
It might be misunderstood by some, but the District of 100 Mile House does not enjoy unencumbered ownership of The Lodge complex that is the historic Lodge, the Kitchen and Valley Room, the Log Chapel and Martin Exeter Hall.
Covenants do exist.
There has been much public discourse over the usage and handling of The Lodge property by the District since 2006, when it was gifted by The Emissaries for the use of the people of the region, but even in my personal experience, this suggestion is a new low.
I would be curious, except that I know the answer, whether the District has ever referenced back to The Emissaries for a report card on how their gift and legacy has been handled, in the spirit in which it was gifted.
The time would appear to have come for a re-evaluation of the future of that management. We at the Agri-Culture Centre were invited to join a steering committee in 2009 by the District for an initiative to create an Agriculture Enterprise and Development Centre, in accordance with a feasibility study then just published, at The Lodge.
Our very first advice was that the entire property must be managed holistically and used in the way it is designed; and that the management should be community and user-based, by the three main sectors of food, arts, and heritage. Regarding heritage, I'd suggest that the Cecil family has been severely under-consulted.
That original advice still holds.
An excellent avenue for discussion is the current Community Food Assessment and Food Action Plan recently undertaken by the Food Security Committee, which will report to and engage with the Joint Committee of the District and the Cariboo Regional District.
All are invited to supply input; more information is available at the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre or the Agri-Culture Centre at The Lodge.
Rita Giesbrecht
105 Mile