An Open Message

Many of you know that Salmon Valley is blessed to have one of the true examples of Canadiana in the form of our 3 sheet curling facility along with our small Community Hall. It has been the center of the social and community network for over 20 years and is part of what attracts people to purchase in the area. For the past 10 or more years the members of the Community Association of Salmon Valley have been scraping by keeping our heads above water to keep our facility operating. The Farmers Institute owns the land upon which our buildings sit, we are responsible for inside maintenance and with volunteers we keep the building functioning. We always manage to barely scrape by with sheer determination and countless hours of volunteer support; this year alone (2009) we have logged over 1262 hours of volunteer time. Every penny goes back into trying to maintain a rapidly declining building. Despite the amazing upgrade to our ice plant, due to a grant from the federal government, we have found ourselves unable to secure funding to do much needed building structural upgrades and purchase the necessary insurance. Recently, we have referred the matter to our lease holder the Salmon Valley Farmer’s Institute (SVFI) and have been actively trying to work out a mutually satisfactory solution to our dilemma. We have absentee landlords; the FI does not participate and in fact its members rarely enter the doors to support the community events we offer. In the past year, we have tried to simplify matters by becoming one group; we have been refused membership in the FI, so we amalgamated the Salmon River Recreation Association and the Salmon Valley Curling Club and now call ourselves the Salmon Valley Community Association. We have made many attempts for some assistance to upgrade the building but have been frustrated at the lack of responsibility and refusal to assist in the buildings major structural up keep. Any profit we make is eaten up by repairs and insurance, therefore, we cannot move forward. We had an excellent season and have grand plans to attract even more curlers with the excitement of the 2010 winter games it is a great opportunity. At a community meeting with the Salmon Valley Community Association and the Farmers Institute it was finally put to the Farmers Institute that we would like for them to either actively take on the responsibility of running the place, allow us to join them to combine our forces, or to take up the Regional Districts offer of a land trade in which the land would come to the members of the Community Recreation Association. At the conclusion of this meeting we were advised the FI had agreed to the land trade, hands were shaken and we felt we had reached, at last, a point where we could move forward. Since that agreement, we have been left without communication and with no forward action from the FI. We have taken many steps to engage the FI and to help expedite the transfer. We have a good group of volunteers, but we are tiring of being orphaned. We, the Community Association and the Farmer’s Institute have the identical vision for the future of the facility, as was supported at a meeting chaired by Bill Norton held at MP Pat Bells’ office. It is the way to that vision that has been road blocked! This letter is simply a wish to let everyone hear what negative impact our Salmon Valley Farmers Institute has had upon their own community. We understand part of their mandate is community service. We are saddened that we will be handing back the property and vacating the much loved curling facility and hall. The final slap in the face is to learn that our Farmers Institute is hosted an AGM and that they opted to move the venue to Pineview. We simple want our experience recorded. The tremendous efforts of 20-30 dedicated individuals of the community, has been rendered redundant by the actions of a small group of individuals with their own agenda.

Thank-you,