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Bayham wins $6-million Ojibwa judgement

May 26, 2016 | 5

OjibwaThe Municipality of Bayham recently received a judgement against the Elgin Military Museum for $6-million relating to the default of bank loans the museum received to pay for the transport of the HMCS Ojibwa submarine from Halifax to Port Burwell.

“A Writ of Seizure and Sale, against the Elgin Military Museum, has been registered in favour of the Corporation of the Municipality of Bayham,” a notice posted on the Bayham website stated.

“The Corporation of the Municipality of Bayham will now explore options to seek to enforce and collect upon the judgement against the Elgin Military Museum,” the notice continued. “A timeframe or outline of the process cannot be provided at this time.”

The notice further stated that Bayham was still involved in “active litigation pertaining to to Project Ojibwa” and no municipal official could comment or provide additional information on the matter “on the advice of legal counsel.”

Bayham officials signed a letter of credit in August 2012 and a few months earlier agreed to serve as the guarantor for the loans the Elgin Military Museum received for Project Ojibwa.

The submarine arrived in Port Burwell harbour in November 2012 and subsequently has been restored, opened to the public and operated by the Elgin Military Museum as a tourist attraction.

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  • Mary Dancey Clarke

    Although I felt the idea of a n ‘attraction’ was quite exaggerated and unrealistic, it is there. The first time I was in Port Burwell looking for it, I had to ask – my very strong suggestion is to move it to a more accessible viewing location, such as the beach and paint it a riot of bright colours, as yet another attraction. No doubt black was chosen for a good reason, but those days are long past. I have not been possessed to take the tour, and never will be – but a video would be interesting. Too bad the building that housed the windmill information was disbanded – it would have been a wonderful welcome centre to expose visitors to the sub and Port Burwell’s many other attraction.

  • Paul Seabrook

    Ms. Clarke obviously has no idea about military objects and their restorations. It is unfortunate that this debt is causing so much trouble. As much as I love the location, it is not conducive to attracting large numbers of tourists. Moving it again however would just add to the cost. I have taken the tour and was impressed both with the sub and the volunteers there. Hope the museum can work their way through this financial crisis.

  • Wayne Ouellette

    A wonderful exhibit with well trained and enthusiastic young guides. Hindsight is always easy. Obviously the advice will now flow from every corner. The folks who have not experienced this exhibit really are not in a position to comment. Yes the plan was poorly executed but it was supported by major banks (Royal/TD) who obviously agreed with the feasibility.
    We have taken many guests to this location and without exception they have raved about the presentation. I really believe some form of long term project financing will fall in place. A relatively small amount given the cultural and historical importance. After all, we flush billions down the toilet in Ontario without a second thought. This will be a no brainer and a great piece of PR for free spending governments once they clean up the legal entanglements.

  • Ken Brooks

    This is such a waste of time and money on the part of Bayham. This is turning out to be a significant attraction in this area as it brings in school groups and lots of tourists. If Bayham was cooperative and worked with the Museum instead of against it, even more could be accomplished. It is hard to believe how short sighted and foolish Bayham Council has been with this entire project. Instead of focusing upon those capital costs, they should have been focused on how to make this attraction bring in businesses that would clearly benefit from the submarine, all of which would bring jobs for their local taxpayers and additional tax dollars to the municipality.

  • Duke Dunlop

    The museum failed to cooperate or provide the municipality with any information during this boondoggle, Perhaps the Municipality should now approach the Department of National Defence to see if the Ojibway can supply the more modern active duty submarines such as HMCS Windsor with some spare parts as they are breaking down a lot…