Political turmoil | HELP International says it has been poorly treated by federal workers, residents and media after leasing the former centre
Rodney Sidloski says his attempts this summer to obtain a contract to operate the former federal shelter belt centre at Indian Head, Sask., have been like being at war.
The chief executive officer of HELP International, which has a lease to operate the centre until Oct. 31, said he has felt under attack by federal workers, former federal workers, local residents and media.
“It compares to the vileness of slum lords when we were building schools and houses in Nairobi,” said the former international aid worker.
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He said the difference is that while Nairobi turned murderous, the warfare he faced in Indian Head has been political.
“They try to destroy you and shred you and sink your organization in every way they can,” he said.
Sidloski said agroforestry research workers, who still work out of the centre, tried to maintain control of the facility, even though they are being moved to the research farm several kilometres away.
He alleged they didn’t give him and his workers access to machinery and facilities that were supposed to be included in the lease.
“There were about 20 specific examples where they restricted land, even to get cuttings from, and said we could not have access to those lands,” he said.
“All the taxpayer money that developed all the hybrid poplar varieties, millions and millions of dollars was put into that, and there were no hybrid poplars at the centre farms. They decommissioned those fields and said (I) couldn’t have access to get cuttings, meaning that was it for hybrid poplars.”
By the time HELP was able to take the cuttings, it was too late and many died, he added.
Trees had to be bought from other provinces.
Sidloski said he wasn’t able to access machinery needed to pull trees, so the work had to be done by hand, but then reporters were told he didn’t have enough labour.
He and his workers received access to a critical shade house only on Aug. 1, he added.
A water line break reported in August still hadn’t been repaired after three weeks, yet his offer of assistance to find parts went unanswered, he said. “Those are the kinds of nonsense that made us come to a decision to pay the rent of $6,000 a month at the centre and hardly set foot on it,” Sidloski said. “We said we simply cannot operate while government is on that site, antagonistic government that are taking our pictures and just doing everything possible to make it not viable.”
Sidloski said he had enough when the union representing federal workers provided false information to media about HELP employees’ working and living conditions and others said HELP was letting the property go to weeds.
He recently received a small out-of-court settlement and a public retraction of comments from the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
Fabian Murphy, first national executive vice-president of the PSAC agriculture union, had been quoted as saying the workers were employed in “near slave conditions” and lived in converted greenhouses.
“I am informed that your organization operates and provides conditions that are typical to that of established Canadian volunteer charitable organizations,” Murphy wrote in an apology letter to Sidloski.
“Specifically, I have now been in-formed that your interns live in modern housing and never at any time for any period lived in greenhouses nor converted greenhouses.”
Sidloski said he might still pursue action against other individuals.
He also said that even though the property is weedy, the trees are growing well.
Sidloski said HELP is being recognized for its ideas such as building floating nurseries and bunching poorer quality trees to help them grow faster and stronger.
He said SaskPower is giving themcontracts to plant tens of thousands of trees to reverse salinity on farms.
Planting trees in shallow ponds and at high density rates has proven to be successful, he added, and the stock that had been depleted at Indian Head is being rebuilt.
He doesn’t yet know if HELP’s lease will be renewed. A local First Nation had expressed interest in the centre.
The federal agriculture department said in an emailed statement that discussions with Carry the Kettle First Nation are ongoing.
When asked about the actions of federal employees at the centre, the department statement said: “Access to facilities and equipment is clearly laid out in the lease agreement signed by Mr. Sidloski. All equipment and facility (sic) under the signed lease has been made available to HELP International and AAFC collaborated as much as possible within the guidelines of the Government of Canada divestiture process.”
Meanwhile, Sidloski said a fall distribution program is underway until mid-October, and a fall lift will ensure stock for spring orders.
