November 2005

November 22, 2005 It is Thanksgiving morning here in the US but the phone call from Canada gives us nothing that we can give thanks for today. As the surveyors were putting in the stakes for the property survey--they found Indian bones. In fact, his stake went right through a skull! This is the absolutely worst thing that can happen to a property owner in Canada--especially in British Columbia. Ray is bound by law to report this find to the BC government- all work must stop and we are referred to an archaeologist in Victoria . We talk to him and he thinks that he will be able to go through the property in the next 4-5 months. We are stunned. the archaeologists essentially go through the entire building site with a sifter and work the property inch by inch. Construction can’t even begin until at least May. We are stunned at the costs as well. We not only have to pay the archaeologists, but we also must make a payment to the affected Indian tribes. In our case we have two tribes that might make a claim, the Nanoose tribe as well as the Qualicum tribe. Our heads our spinning with this disastrous news. Our budget is being destroyed and with the delay in the actual building we can’t believe we will lose another summer.