Disappointed but not surprised to hear of the ongoing financial quagmire the O'Keefe Ranch Historical Society finds itself in.
Having to beg local governments, cap in hand, has been a continuous process since the O'Keefe family left the ranch in the 1960s. O'Keefe Ranch played a huge role in the development of B.C.
Founded in 1867 by Cornelius O'Keefe and Thomas Greenhow, the ranch grew to a massive 12 thousand acres and became the site of the Okanagan's first post office in 1872. With a church, general store, blacksmith shop, school and cemetery, O'Keefe played a key role in the building of the CPR as a major source of food and materials for the construction crews.
According to Parks Canada, Quebec and Ontario between them have a total of 472 provincially and federally funded historic sites.......the Maritimes, with barely 30 per cent of B.C.'s population, boasts more than 200 historic sites, 44 of them federally staffed and funded.
In contrast, B.C. has a total of 13 federally funded historic sites.
The story here is pretty obvious and O'Keefe need not be a political and financial football between local governments and taxpayers.
The O'Keefe family ran the ranch until the 1960s and it was eventually sold to the City of Vernon for $1. It is a legacy that helps tell the story of the founding of B.C. as a province, the building of the CPR and the beginnings of the Okanagan Valley we know today.
Canadian senior governments have ignored it far too long and that is a national disgrace.
John Trainor
