EDDIE HAYMOUR WAS a Lebanese barber who arrived in British Columbia in 1955, and bought Rattlesnake Island (or Ogopogo Island, as some call it) near to Kelowna in Peachland, in order to construct an Arab amusement park, based on a vision he’d had of building a “Moroccan Shadou.” Eddie managed to secure financing for the purchase, which he completed in June 1971, but the BC government opposed the project, and tried to force Eddie to sell the island for $40,000. Eddie refused, and descended into a spiral of threats and violence that landed him successively on the road to the Oakalla Provincial Prison facility, Riverview Hospital and financial ruin. Eventually, Eddie, feeling spurned by everyone, returned to his native Lebanon and took twenty people hostage at the Canadian embassy. This more or less confirmed in everyone’s eyes that Eddie was nuts. His wife and children left him. He lost everything, until finally his case was heard in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
I heard about the case because my father was the presiding justice, and against all the odds, he ruled in favour of Eddie.
Supreme Court Justice Gordon MacKinnon wrote:
Senior government officials, including ministers of the Crown and with the knowledge of then-Premier W.A.C. Bennett ... no less than six departments ... were involved in the conspiracy ... The B.C. government’s actions have been highly improper, illegal and even cruel.
Then he awarded Eddie two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
But the Eddie Haymour saga didn’t end with his release from Riverview:
After a year in Riverview, he was released on the understanding that he would leave the country ... He decided to seize the Canadian Embassy in Beirut and made detailed plans with the help of six cousins. Lebanon was in the middle of a civil war and there were lots of conflicts in Beirut. Haymour bought submachine guns and rented an apartment near the Embassy to prepare for the assault. Haymour and his cousins waited for the right moment and seized the Embassy and took 34 hostages including the Canadian Ambassador. Then it was time to negotiate for release of the hostages ... After a nine hour wait an offer came from the Canadian government in order to avoid any bloodshed. Haymour was assured that he would not be prosecuted for the take-over of the Embassy and the Canadian government would pay his way back to Canada and assist him in pursuing his case for compensation through the courts. It was a victory for Haymour and he laid down his weapons and celebrated.
Finally, in 1986, Haymour won his case for extra compensation in the BC Supreme Court. Justice Gordon MacKinnon agreed that the BC government had conspired to stop Haymour’s theme park and called their actions, ‘highly improper if not cruel’. Haymour was awarded $250,000 in compensation, but he didn’t get his island back. Haymour used the money to purchase land in Peachland directly across the lake from Rattlesnake Island. He built ‘Castle Haymour’ a small hotel with an Arab theme, which he operated successfully for several years.1
It was a pretty surprising judgment, because my father was a member of the Conservative Party and many of his colleagues were in the B.C. government of the time — they weren’t too happy with him. About thirty years after the judgment, my writer crony Jim Christy asked whether I was any relation to that Justice AG MacKinnon.
“Man, did he get suckered,” he said, when I confirmed it was my father. “I did a Saturday Night magazine feature on him, and to do it, I lived with him for a while. He’s a complete psychopath. You know what Loreen used to say — ‘With Eddie, never, ever, ever forget, he’s always three steps ahead of you’.”
Just to check the next generation’s view, I asked Niall how he saw the whole Eddie Haymour saga.
“Well, I can see grandpa was a good judge, but well, you’ve got thirty-four assets under threat in Beirut. What’s wrong with Canada’s special services? Those guys just walked in and took over the embassy with submachine guns, right?”
“Yes, they did.”
“And they didn’t take him out?”
“No.”
“Grandpa would have taken him out.”
“Actually, Grandpa gave Eddie a quarter of a million. But remember. He had done some jail time at Oakalla. That’s a tough prison. Uncle Jack, remember, the pro football player, he was the Warden at Oakalla at the time, and cousin Art a security guard, until a half a dozen guards beat up some inmates and the papers got involved.”
“Jeez, Papa, why didn’t they get those Oakalla guards working at the Beirut embassy? They’d have taken those guys out.”
“It’s not the Canadian way.”
“You always tell us Canada’s about the rule of law.”
“Not any more.”