The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1974, Page 31

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
29
ing to the objectives of the exprop-
riating authority.
I conclude the objectives of the ex-
propriating authority are fair objec-
tives (to develop a public park). I
have considered the public interest as
well as the interests of private owners.
I have also considered fairness, in
terms of the end result as between the
expropriating authority and the in-
dividual being expropriated. It was
in respect to this latter consideration
that a serious problem was evident.
Because the basis for due compen-
sation under the new Expropriation
Act is market value, the people of
Hecla are placed at a disadvantage to
other people in Manitoba who have
their homes or farms expropriated.
Market values, measured in dollars,
have been and still are low. The
market value of Mr. Benson’s land was
apparently $14.00 per acre, but he
would never have sold it for such a low
amount.
Comparable sales will show that the
market value of land on the Island at
the present time is only a few dollars
per acre.
Market value may be a fair approach
if the expropriated person can then
turn around and buy other compar-
able property in that same market. If
he cannot, then an injustice will
arise.
This is not possible in the case of
Hecla Island. The Government owns,
or will own, all the remaining property
on the Island and there is no more
for sale.
An expropriated person will there-
fore be forced to go to the mainland
or some other place to buy a similar
home or holding, but he then moves
into a different type of market.
On the mainland there has been
a higher demand for land than on
the Island, and consequently a higher
market price for a similar dwelling
or building has resulted on the main-
land.
This is one of the fundamental com-
plaints of the Islanders and the cot-
tagers. They were not offered enough
compensation to be able to re-locate
themselves in accommodations that
will be at least equivalent to that af-
forded by the land expropriated.
The usual approach of the Land
Acquisition Branch has not -been ac-
ceptable to them.
The Land Appraisal Commission
did raise the amount of the compen-
sation offered to the land holders, but
it did not satisfy them.
To those who remain on the Island,
their location has a special value —
living is cheaper in many ways — food
is plentiful. (The Islanders have eaten
fish all through the mercury .scare,
and joke about their own personal
mercury levels.)
Their homes and property are as
valuable to them as comparable pro-
perties on the mainland and other
locations on Lake Winnipeg.
The dollar value of their homes and
cottages is not high, but they do not
measure the value to them in market
dollars.