Golflogic.ca

I hope Musqueam and government negotiators discussing the future of the University Golf Club keep in mind that it’s not just a golf course but also a cemetery. During its 78 years of existence, an uncounted number of former players have had their ashes spread on the course with the reasonable expectation that it would remain a golf course available to all British Columbians in perpetuity.
– Horace Harrison, Vancouver. Letter to the editor, Vancouver Sun, September 19, 2007.
 

There is more going on than just a battle over land between elderly white golfers and the Musqueam band, which is due to take over the course in 2033. Similarly, the band will take control of the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in 2032. The band already hosts the Musqueam Golf Club on its land.
 

At issue is the prime real estate the golf courses sit on. These properties could net substantially far more to the eventual owners than profits from running a golf course ever would. What is causing concern is that Gordon Campbell’s Liberals are holding secret negotiations between land developers and the University of British Columbia, which is already selling off its real estate on the University Endowment Lands to developers building executive mansions and luxury condos – reason enough to believe UBC is building a city on what is now Crown Land. The Musqueam, not always included in these discussions, have shown they are prepared to go to court to make sure their interests are taken to heart about land they are actually entitled to.
 

The problem for the public is one of transparency. Without a public process there is only rancor, feeding a thinly veiled racist narrative about casinos, trailer parks and greed.  The less the public understands the consequences in these negotiations, the less the public has access to the common good, which includes information they need in order to vote.
 

The secrecy around these negotiations has left a sour taste in the mouths of many golfers and non-golfers alike, few of whom have a voice in how the public can be involved.
 

Maybe those ghosts of bygone duffers at the University Golfing Cemetery have something to say about all this.