We purchased our property in 1989 and over the following 10 years we put in the driveway, irrigation, 6 acres of grapes and finally built our first home.
For the next 12 years we operated our B&B, farmed our land and settled into a very comfortable life for ourselves.  The saying is, “You don’t know what you got’  ‘til it’s gone”.
Well, we had never let a day go by without telling each other how thankful we were for our friends and neighbours and the  the life we built here in Oliver and we continue to be thankful, as without the support of our friends and our community, this past year would not have been bearable.

Monday, June 13th, 2011 is the 1 year anniversary of the slide which changed the lives of many people in our community. While the government has succeeded in returning the creek to its original bed, not all those affected are yet able to return to farming their land and getting on with their lives. What is hard to understand is the slide did not have to happen. The disintegration of the dam was preventable. Decades of inspection reports continually stating the dam’s state of disrepair with no follow-up on repairs led to the event of June 13th, 2010. Deputy Solicitor General David Morhart’s report released July 2010 stated there was a consistent pattern of concerns and warnings issued by the Ministry of Environment in regard to the maintenance of the dam. Reporter Lori Culbert’s Dec. 5th article in the  Vancouver Sun cited the timeline of inspections and recommendations for repairs to this dam including the period from the 1970’s through to 1980 when the federal government held the license. The sad fact of the matter is there was apple opportunity over the past 40+ years for this crisis to have been averted. To this date, we continue to wait for word from the Provincial Government as to if, or when, we can return to our property and begin rebuilding our lives.

Gene and I would like to take this opportunity to again thank the community of Oliver, our friends and neighbours for their support and efforts on our behalf.

Sincerely, Gene and Kathy Mercier

Thanks to Gene and Kathy for the pictures and story