YOHO – The operator of the historic Twin Falls Chalet in Yoho National Park has been locked out of the business she has run for the past 57 years.
Fran Drummond received a written notice from Parks Canada on June 25 informing her the federal agency had taken possession of the chalet’s facilities, and if she wanted to retrieve her personal belongings she would need to contact them to make arrangements.
“Further to our written notice of June 5, 2019, Parks Canada has assumed formal possession of the buildings and related facilities at Twin Falls Teahouse,” said Alex Kolesch, acting superintendent for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks, in a June 25 letter to Drummond.
In response, a GoFundMe account has been set up to help Drummond take legal action against Parks Canada. So far, just over $6,000 has been raised towards a $10,000 goal.
Drummond, who hoped to open the teahouse for summer business on July 1, said she intends to use the money to hire a lawyer to renew her licence of occupation.
“They have now closed me out of the teahouse,” she said, noting as of June 28 no official reason had been stated by Parks Canada as to why a renewal was not available to her.
“The whole thing is very unpleasant and I’m now trying to find accommodation for about 20 people. Some are coming in from as far away as Tasmania.”
As a national historic site, the lower building was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1908, with construction of the two-storey main lodge completed in 1923. It opened for business the following year as a teahouse.
The federal government owns the remote chalet because it’s located on national park land, but Drummond has been running her business there since 1962.
Her licence of occupation expired at the end of 2014 and the parties were in discussion over the past few years while she continued to operate the chalet in the intervening summers.
Parks Canada declined to go into specific details about their dealings with Drummond, but said they’d like an opportunity to respond but couldn’t until later in the week.
