Who was Hamilton Mack Laing
Hamilton Mack Laing was an important Canadian naturalist, photographer and writer. He moved to Comox in 1922, cleared his land and built his home from a “Stanhope” Aladdin Ready-Cut kit. In 1927, he married Ethel Hart of Portland and they established a successful and commercial orchard which included walnut, pecan, filbert, hazelnut, apple and plum trees. They also grew mushrooms and vegetables. After his wife, Ethel, died in 1944, he sold his original home, Baybrook, and built a new home, Shakesides, on the adjoining lot. He bequeathed the waterfront property to the Town of Comox and it became Mack Laing Nature Park — excerpted from content on the Mack Laing Heritage Society‘s website.
Important Links
Comox Town Council
Russ Arnott, Mayor: rarnott@comox.ca
Alex Bissinger: abissinger@comox.ca
Nicole Minions: nminions@comox.ca
Patrick McKenna: pmckenna@comox.ca
Ken Grant: kgrant@comox.ca
Maureen Swift: mswift@comox.ca
Stephanie McGowan: smcgowan@comox.ca
Comox must apologize for breaches of Mack Laing Trust
Comox Mayor Russ Arnott casts lone vote against out of court conversations to settle dispute over the Mack Laing Trust. But the town must apologize for its historic wrongdoing.
Comox Mayor no longer interested in Mack Laing talks
Business plan to restore Mack Laing’s heritage home unveiled, but mayor’s backtracking on a hand-shake agreement to negotiate out-of-court likely means more legal bills for Comox taxpayers
New Comox Council will protect Shakesides from leaky roof
The Mack Laing Heritage Society has waited 20 months for Comox to respond to their request to protect Shakesides from a leaky roof and causing further water damage. The new Town Council answered at its very first meeting
Court will allow opposing evidence in Mack Laing case
A BC Supreme Court has granted the Mack Laing Heritage Society intervenor status in the Town of Comox’s application to alter the naturalist’s public trust. MLHS hopes the new council is open to out-of-court discussions
Town’s Mack Laing “hub” aims to influence court
The timing of the Tow of Como’x new information hub about Mack Laing seems to indicate that it will function mostly to justify the town’s controversial decision to have the terms of the Mack Laing Trust altered by the B.C. Supreme Court and to report on the outcome of the case.
Questions the Town of Comox doesn’t want asked in court
Why is the Town of Comox fighting so hard and spending so much money on lawyers to keep the Mack Laing Heritage Society from presenting evidence during a BC Supreme Court trial to decide whether the town can vary the terms of the famous ornithologist’s financial gifts in trust to municipality?
Supreme Court rules in favor of Mack Laing Heritage Society
The Mack Laing Heritage Society has won a major legal ruling in its battle to force the Town of Comox to honor trust agreements with the famous naturalist. It’s the first step in a case that will decide the future of Laing’s iconic home and clarify the status of his trust agreements.
Shakesides supporters encouraged, hearing adjourned
A B.C. Supreme Court hearing scheduled for this morning (March 15) to determine whether to grant standing to the Mack Laing Heritage Society (MLHS) in the Town of Comox’s application to vary one of the famous ornithologis’s trusts has been adjourned until April. But Shakesides supporters left the court session encouraged.
Town of Comox confesses: we misspent Laing’s money
The Town of Comox has, for the first time, admitted to spending money left in trust to the town by Hamilton Mack Laing. And the town took a first step toward reparations. But not everyone agrees the town did enough.
Comox Council ignores good faith offer to fix Shakesides roof
The purposeful neglect of the Mack Laing heritage house by the Town of Comox has reached a new low. Hamilton Mack Laing gave his house, known as Shakesides, along with a substantial sum of money in his Last Will and Testament for the purpose of converting it into a...
What was the point of Shakesides’ graffiti?
Vandals spray-painted the historical home of Hamilton Mack Laing, known as Shakesides, this week with what appears to be a lame version of tagging. Squiggles of red paint were carelessly sprayed on three sides of the building, and a circle with an upside down ’Y’ was...
“Wanton cultural vandalism”
Fresh out of college in 1982 at the age of 23, Richard Mackie came face-to-face on Newcastle Island with “Torchy” Smith, a B.C. government employee who roamed the province in search of abandoned buildings in provincial parks. It was his job that when he found one, he...