- Hub staff

On January 31, 2022, Justice Gordon Lemon of the Ontario Superior Court ruled that “Bruce County is in breach of the Krug trust by virtue of its use of the funds to purchase the land at High Street." The decision follows the March 2019 Application by Laura Robinson and the Southampton Cultural Heritage Conservancy (SCHC) under the Charities Accounting Act, alleging the County had secretly breached the Krug Estate Trust to purchase the former Anglican rectory at 254 High Street, Southampton, with the intent to demolish it and build a nuclear institute.

The Nuclear Innovation Institute has since leased the former police station in Port Elgin from the municipality and renovated it for its purposes.  According to the court documents, the position of the plaintiffs is that "The County announced plans to demolish the rectory building to develop a Nuclear Innovation Institute with Bruce Power. Following public opposition, the NII is purportedly being relocated to Port Elgin, but is only a tenth of the size the County stated was required, and the County will not commit that the NII will not be relocated back to the High Street property."

Bruce Krug had bequeathed trust funds to the County for “the archives building for the storage and display of the archives”. Justice Lemon found that “There is no explanation of why the trust would pay for the entire lot when the archive did not need the full lot. There is no explanation why the trust would pay for a building on the lot that the County wished to demolish for its own purposes unrelated to the trust.”

Laura Robinson, a long-time resident of Saugeen Shores, stated that “It’s been over three years since I asked the County under what circumstances were they able to use the bequest from Bruce Krug for the purchase and planned demolition of the Anglican rectory for a nuclear institute.”

The judge did not mince words about the County’s withholding of information, commenting that “on the admitted record, the County’s behaviour has been atrocious throughout,” adding that citizens were forced “to bring Freedom of Information applications and motions within this proceeding to successfully obtain information and documents from the County. As a result, there was no way for any member of the public to know if the Krug trust funds were used to purchase the property. By withholding this record of the use of the funds, the County prevented any oversight of its actions as trustee.”

Justice Lemon further stated, “the County has been, at the very least, unreasonable in its failure to provide Southampton (the party and the community) with proper and transparent accounting of its decision-making process with respect to the Krug trust.”

Robinson remarked, “The County’s actions have undermined the very foundation of transparency and democracy so fundamental to acceptable levels of governance.”

Regarding the future of the former rectory at 254 High St, Justice Lemon wrote: “Given my finding that the High Street property is a trust asset, nothing further will be done with respect to demolishing the house on the property without further order of this court. I remain seized of that issue.” Given Bruce Krug’s life-long commitment to heritage, Justice Lemon observed that to demolish the historic 1894 rectory would not only “result in a diminution of the value of the asset” but that it “would appear to be contrary to the wishes of Mr. Krug.”
Robinson and SCHC believe Justice Lemon’s Decision is an excellent one and support his direction to the Public Guardian and Trustee, and the Krug Estate Trustee (CIBC) that they submit their plans to him with regard to the future of the Trust.

Bruce County Warden Janice Jackson responded to Justice Lemon's decision. What Justice Lemon referred to as "attrocious behaviour" on the part of the County, Jackson interpreted as the court saying they "made mistakes". Justice Lemon continued that he could not determine whether "the County's conduct was intentional or unintentional, but the impact has been the same to the community".

Warden Jackson's response does not mention either the demolition or the previously announced NII on the High Street site. “

We (Bruce County Council) accept His Honour’s decision that we made mistakes in the purchase of 254 High Street. We are eager to work towards a resolution with the Public Guardian and Trustee, and Estate Trustee, in this litigation. The last will and testament of Bruce A. Krug bequeathed $500,000 for the storage and display of archives at the County Archives building. In 2018, we purchased property to expand the Archival Services of the Museum. Our goal has always been to realize the public interest on this property, for the public good. We look forward to engaging with the community to achieve this.”

source: media releases, Bruce County, and Southampton Cultural Heritage Conservancy