This letter was originally sent to the Lil’wat and Squamish Nations, Whistler’s mayor and council, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, and Whistler Sport Legacies (WSL), and is shared here with permission.
Twenty-six years ago, I was summoned into then-Mayor Hugh O’Reilly’s office to meet with Craig MacKenzie and two Vancouver businessmen wishing to initiate a bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. What followed over the next 10 years was an incredible journey as we literally built the winning bids and moved on to Games preparation. Along the way, I worked with some truly visionary people whose focused mission it was to expand public Nordic skiing participation in Western Canada.
Much compromise was required from all of the stakeholders, including both local First Nations and the people of B.C. The common bond that glued the consensus together was the Olympic ideal of good sportsmanship and fair competition. In fact, all of the land tenure that Whistler Olympic Park now sits on was graciously forfeited by the pre-existing cross-country operator with the understanding that together, in a post-Games environment, the two entities would cooperate in building North America’s most comprehensive Nordic ski facility.
For 17 years, the two entities operated SKI Callaghan as a joint venture agreement. During that time, we built visitation from 35,000 to almost 1 million skier visits. For 17 years, a common one-price admission ticket provided access to 112 kilometres of groomed cross-country and snowshoe trails. By all measures, the people of B.C. had been rewarded in their trust of the operators to fulfil this vision.
So… what happened? I was shaken by the recent Whistler Olympic Park press release that stated this year’s season pass offering (and day tickets) would only provide access to their own facilities, including a much-reduced trail system of 55 km. Has petty bureaucracy and empire building suffocated the notions of fair play?
Of late, Whistler Olympic Park’s focus appears to have shifted to more of a private sector management philosophy with increasingly more emphasis placed on commercial film locations and RV campgrounds. This, despite an ongoing, substantial annual stipend from the provincially funded legacy fund and an enduring exemption from paying property taxes, provided on a yearly basis by both the regional district and the Resort Municipality of Whistler taxpayers.
It’s time someone sat the WSL management team down and reminded them that they exist only at the community’s will. They are not a private corporation and must answer to the public’s expectations for cooperation in delivering service and access on lands belonging to all of us.
More important, they should adhere to their own mandate to grow sport or lose the support our governments provide to them in the form of tax relief and funding.
