For immediate release
September 7, 2022
The Town of Comox has applied to the British Columbia Supreme Court to request a variation of the trust that applies to money given by Hamilton Mack Laing in his will. The proposed variation will allow the money to be used to construct a viewing platform in Mack Laing Nature Park. The Town’s application is scheduled to be heard by the Court the starting September 9, 2022.
To preserve and protect the environment that Mack Laing loved, in 1973 he trusted his land and home to the Town of Comox, in perpetuity, to be used as a nature park.
Mack Laing provided another gift in trust through his will made in 1981. This is the trust the Town is seeking to vary. Mack Laing’s will directed that twenty-five per cent of the residue of his estate be used for the establishment of a natural history museum in the house known as Shakesides located on the park lands and seventy-five per cent be used to generate income for the museum’s operation. From this gift, the Town received approximately $48,000 in 1982.
The museum was never established. “Soon after receiving the trust funds in the 1980s, it was realized that the funds were not going to be enough to establish and operate a museum,” said Jordan Wall, the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer.
In 2015, the Town’s Council at that time, and at the Attorney General of British Columbia’s urging, began to investigate a suitable and feasible use of the funds that it could propose to the court. Years of planning, public input, and consultation with K’ómoks First Nation went into this process. Council identified the construction of a viewing platform with interpretive panels as the best use of the Trust Funds. Not only is there an opportunity to provide the public with natural history information, the public could also learn more about Mack Laing and local First Nations history.
In December 2021, Council approved the Town’s current proposal to construct a viewing platform with interpretive panels on the site of Shakesides to honour Mack Laing’s legacy and further his goal of natural history education. The Attorney General has expressed his consent to the proposed variation, subject to certain conditions, in court filings.
The Town is also proposing the establishment of a $25,000 reserve fund to ensure funds for the future repairs of the viewing platform. The estimated cost of the project is $328,000. The Town currently holds approximately $275,000 in trust. If the Town is permitted by the court to use these funds to construct the viewing platform, the remaining costs will be paid through the Town’s capital budget.
Shakesides was built on an area within the ancestral lands of the K’ómoks First Nation known as the Great Comox Midden. In 2021, Council adopted a commitment to honour the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Town is seeking to meet this objective through construction and use of a new structure on Shakesides’ site with minimal disruption to the natural landscape within the Great Comox Midden.
Media Contact:
Stephanie McGowan, Councillor
250-339-2202