Latest news with #GEBIS
CBC
28-04-2025
- CBC
GEBIS and 1 Buddhist monk told to pay $110,000 after fatal workplace accident
Social Sharing The Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS) and one of its monks have been ordered to pay a total of $110,000 in fines following an occupational health and safety investigation into the death of a man on the group's Heatherdale campus last summer. GEBIS pleaded guilty to three Occupational Health and Safety charges on Thursday in Georgetown, while the monk pleaded guilty to one. According to an agreed statement of facts filed in court, crews were working in the woods at the Three Rivers site in August 2024, clearing debris and toppled trees from post-tropical storm Fiona. Chainsaws were being used. Some of the operators had been trained by fellow members of the organization on how to use the machines; only a handful of people had what the court documents called "external training." The monk later charged under provincial legislation did not have the formal chainsaw training. "While [the monk] was cutting a tree, he was facing away from the crew. The tree fell onto four of his crew members," the facts document read. Two people were seriously injured and others at the scene immediately called 911. Firefighters and paramedics arrived to assess and treat the injured people. One man was taken to the hospital after suffering multiple cardiac arrests in the ambulance on the scene of the incident. He died the next day. Not in compliance Documents filed in court refer to the monks' place of residence and worship as a "workplace" and the monk who cut down the tree as "an employee." The courtroom heard that before the accident, GEBIS had failed to adhere to elements of the legislation and regulations that oversee workplace safety in the province. Among them: The organization did not have a procedure for reporting serious workplace injuries, a written emergency preparedness plan, or a formal occupational health and safety committee. Also, no one on the site was trained in first aid. There happened to be a retired physician and a retired physician's assistant within the group, however. Work stopped as safety reviewed After the incident, GEBIS stopped all work in the forest, along with any other hazardous activities on the site, until a safety review could be conducted. The organization has since formed an approved OHS committee that holds regular meetings and has developed guidelines that better align with P.E.I.'s standards. The investigation also looked at the monk's actions and concluded he was not in compliance with regulations, including failing to "maintain a safe distance of not less than twice the height of the tree being felled between himself and the nearest worker." For that he'll have to pay a $2,000 fine and another $8,000 to the Workers' Compensation Board for public education. Meanwhile the organization will pay $15,000 in fines for its three OHS charges and $85,000 to the board.
CBC
13-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
New dorm buildings for Buddhist nuns' campus get the go-ahead in Three Rivers
Social Sharing Three Rivers council gave final approval this week to a development application from Buddhist nuns to construct two new dormitory buildings on land the group owns in eastern P.E.I. The two buildings on the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute campus in Brudenell total 88,000 square feet of living and instructional space, and can accommodate about 280 people. There has been some opposition from the community to the development, and five area residents spoke out against the proposal during Monday's council meeting. Those residents continued to call for a public meeting to allow GWBI to present the full scope of its plans for the campus. Motion to delay vote defeated At least one councillor was in favour of that idea, putting forward a motion to table the vote on the development application until such a meeting could be held. "I just feel that there has been a lot of questions asked, and this kind of growth is monstrous," Coun. Martina MacDonald said. But other councillors said they had no grounds to disallow the application, given that it meets all requirements in the town's official plan and development bylaws. The build has also received environmental approval from the P.E.I. government, having been outlined in GWBI's master plan for the site, which was approved in 2018. A Three Rivers official said during the meeting that the plans and related documents are publicly available on the provincial Department of Environment's website. MacDonald's motion to delay the vote was defeated, and council ultimately approved the development in a 6-2 vote. The development comes at a time when the province has ordered the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to investigate the land holdings of both GWBI and the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS), an organization of Buddhist monks living on the Island. The significant land holdings of the two groups have been the topic of speculation and controversy for years. In recent months, that speculation has led to accusations against members of Three Rivers council and even safety concerns for council members, who have maintained all along that issues of land ownership fall within provincial jurisdiction. P.E.I.'s Lands Protection Act limits land ownership in the province to 1,000 acres for individuals and 3,000 acres for corporations, with exceptions for additional non-arable land or land that is leased out to other people and companies. According to provincial land records viewed by CBC News, GEBIS (at 578 acres) and GWBI (at 663 acres) are each well below their land limits.
CBC
06-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Calculation of Buddhist land holdings could lead to better enforcement of land limits, group hopes
An investigation into Buddhist land holdings in P.E.I. ordered by Minister of Land Steven Myers could provide the first legal test of measures in the Lands Protection Act meant to prevent concentration of land ownership across multiple linked corporations. It could also peel back the curtain to provide Islanders with a glimpse into how that landmark piece of legislation is being enforced — something that hasn't been made public for more than a decade. On Feb. 4, Myers directed the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to investigate the land holdings of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI) and the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS) "to determine whether the corporations have contravened the [Lands Protection Act] or regulations." In his letter to IRAC, Myers referred to a specific amendment to the act from 2022 that refers to direct and indirect control of land, representing the latest attempt by Island lawmakers to prevent large corporations with deep pockets from getting around the intent of the act. The Lands Protection Act is a unique piece of legislation first introduced in the 1980s that sets limits on the amount of P.E.I. land that individuals and corporations can own. It also requires corporations and non-residents to apply and receive cabinet approval for any land purchase of more than five acres. Myers wants review of Buddhist land holdings in P.E.I. to include indirectly controlled parcels 21 days ago Duration 3:02 P.E.I.'s minister of housing, land and communities has ordered a new investigation to look at the land holdings of Buddhist organizations in the province. Steven Myers said he hopes this will address years of questions, speculation and innuendo. The announcement was welcome news to the municipality caught up in the middle of it all — and to the Buddhists themselves. CBC's Kerry Campbell reports. "We've been speaking for generations now of loopholes in the Lands Protection Act," said Boyd Allen, a member of the grassroots Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands. The coalition has been calling for a much wider review of corporate and non-resident land ownership in the province, but has welcomed the current smaller-scope review into Buddhist land holdings. Allen said a thorough investigation in this case "would provide a clear snapshot of where we need to bolster the LPA," which he hopes leads to more proactive enforcement of the land limits for all parties — not just the two groups named by the minister for the current review. Buddhist groups welcome chance to end 'speculation' Both GWBI and GEBIS have denied suggestions that they own more land than allowed by law, and say they welcome the investigation. "There's so many rumours going around. I'd much rather have everything out in [the] clear … just base everything on facts," said Sabrina Chiang with GWBI. "Speculation… it's not a healthy way to live and it's not good for the community." Provincial land records show that both organizations are well below the ownership limit of 3,000 acres for corporations. The records show GEBIS owns 30 parcels of land, totalling about 580 acres; GWBI owns 22 parcels totalling 663 acres. Charitable tax filings from the two corporations show they claimed a combined $161 million in assets in 2023, including $78 million worth of land and buildings. Both groups also say their land holdings should be counted separately, and not combined as part of the larger Taiwan-based Tibetan Buddhist movement called Bliss and Wisdom, with which both are associated. There's no way to know if IRAC will consider each corporation's holdings separately, or whether it might consider other corporations related to Bliss and Wisdom. A previous investigation conducted by IRAC that concluded in 2018 included GEBIS, GWBI and three other corporations: Moonlight International Foundation, Grain Essence Garden Inc.; and Splendid Essence Restaurant Inc. The results of that investigation have never been made public. Drilling down into publicly available information on any of those corporations can lead a person down a rabbit hole of corporations which seem to bear some commonalities — though that's not to say they would be deemed to be under the same control. New report on P.E.I. Buddhist organization land holdings will be made public, minister says 21 days ago Duration 7:55 Minister of Housing, Land and Communities Steven Myers has ordered IRAC to launch a new review into the land holdings owned and/or controlled by two Buddhist organizations in P.E.I. While the result of a previous investigation from 2018 was never released to the public, Myers says that won't be the case this time. For example, land titles owned by Moonlight International link back to the Charlottetown address of the Splendid Essence Restaurant, owned by Splendid Essence Restaurant Inc. In the P.E.I. government's corporate registry, Splendid Essence lists the same shareholders as Grain Essence Garden Inc. The corporate mailing address for Grain Essence Garden leads to the Leezen organic food store in Charlottetown, on land owned by Canada Prajna Wisdom Co. Ltd., a federally registered corporation. One of the directors listed by the federal government for that corporation owns a parcel of land in Cornwall that also comes up as the corporate address for yet another corporation: Moonlight Charities Inc. But even if all these were counted together, their land holdings would still fall below the limits set out in the Lands Protection Act, totalling 2,275 acres. Other land holdings that might also be considered as related to the Buddhist expansion into P.E.I. include 504 acres owned by Hopetown Development Company, which is linked to a proposed residential development, along with 499 acres held by the spiritual leader of Bliss and Wisdom, Master Zhen Ru, under her birth name Meng Rong Jin. All these land holdings taken together amount to 3,278 acres — still within the limits of the Lands Protection Act when exemptions for non-arable land are factored in, and well short of the 17,000 acres the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands has suggested is controlled by Bliss and Wisdom. That 17,000-acre figure was included in a 2023 story published by the Toronto Globe and Mail, though that story made it clear the Globe had not confirmed the figure. GWBI and GEBIS have both asked the coalition for a list of land parcels it used to arrive at the figure. CBC News has also asked for that list, but the coalition has said it's not able to provide the information. "Numerous media outlets have attempted to investigate these claims, but none have been able to obtain any evidence to substantiate them," GEBIS said in a Feb. 6 statement. "The overly inflated figure has caused fear and division within our community." 3 months ago Duration 2:54 Buddhist monks and nuns who have set up monasteries in eastern P.E.I. have become worried about their safety, after recent online rhetoric has stirred up public backlash against their organizations and supporters owning more than 1,200 acres of land. CBC's Wayne Thibodeau reports. In announcing the new investigation, Myers said this: "What it comes down to — and this is the concern that you will hear around the area that we're standing [in] here now, in Three Rivers — is the link[s], and who is connected to who, and are all the connections together one entity and are they over their land holdings? "I think that's what this investigation is going to find out." Should individual land holdings be included? Questions have also been raised as to whether corporations falling under Bliss and Wisdom have been involved in land purchases made by individual monks, nuns, lay people or their family members. At a standing committee meeting in October 2020, Cory Deagle, then a backbench MLA and chair of the legislature's standing committee on natural resources, brought forward multiple internal emails he said were from GWBI. One email, relating to the potential purchase of a home, included a suggestion to "pretend that the lay people are buying first for better negotiation and then transfer to GWBI later before closing." Another email included a list of 12 residential properties, whether they were winterized, and what they might be used for. At the committee meeting, it was disclosed that some of the properties belonged to GWBI while others were owned by individuals. Another email posed a question: "The land holding of one monk exceeds 750 acres. Should he file a report with IRAC as prescribed in LPA right now?" Yet another email disclosed that a house purchase would include "five buyers to hold title to avoid IRAC application" — apparently in order to reduce the number of acres per buyer to five or less, below the threshold at which a non-resident must apply for and receive cabinet approval to purchase property in the province. CBC News has found other titles where land purchases were similarly able to go forward with multiple buyers, including two parcels of land in Valleyfield that in 2017 were sold to a group including 15 non-resident buyers, all from the same province in northern China. The next year, the combined 75 acres of land were sold to a single resident land owner. "We're not perfect and we made some mistakes but we never have the intention to lie or to avoid or to cheat," Yvonne Tsai, a nun with GWBI, said at the 2020 committee meeting. GWBI does not control, or we have no interference in the land or the personal activities of individual nuns. — Joanna Ho "In the first few years, maybe we were lacking of local knowledge and we were advised by some people [on] what things can be done locally, but later on, we realized maybe that's not the correct way to do it and we fixed it." Joanna Ho also attended that 2020 meeting on behalf of GWBI. In an interview with CBC News last week, she said that at the time of those emails, the organization was helping to bridge language and cultural barriers with individuals in purchasing or maintaining properties on the Island. She said that assistance has since stopped. "GWBI does not control, or we have no interference in the land or the personal activities of individual nuns," Ho said. Concerns about Irving land holdings too Concerns have also been raised about other corporations that could own more land than allowed under the Lands Protection Act. A CBC News investigation last fall found that 20 corporations with ties to the Irving family own more than 12,000 acres on Prince Edward Island. In the legislature last November, Myers said concerns about Irving-related land holdings had "been fabricated by the Green Party." In February, he provided a more nuanced response to the question of the Irvings, saying public pressure and threats against municipal council members in Three Rivers, where GWBI and GEBIS own land, made those groups' holdings a bigger priority. After that investigation, Myers said, "The door is open for us to investigate whatever entities we need to to satisfy the public that we've done everything we can do to protect the land in P.E.I." A key to addressing the public unrest that has surfaced at public meetings of Three Rivers council will be to make the findings of the new investigation public, which Myers has pledged to do. The minister and a legislative standing committee have both recently requested IRAC provide a copy of the report from its 2018 investigation, to no avail. In both cases, the commission responded with a letter saying it was in contact with legal counsel over the matter. When CBC News requested a copy of that report through freedom of information legislation, IRAC responded by saying it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the report. If public disclosure surrounding land holdings and the application and approval process is lacking, Islanders will never know if enforcement is needed, or has been needed. Similarly, the 2020 report from an investigation into the Brendel Farms land transaction involving a member of the Irving family has also never been made public. P.E.I.'s privacy commissioner said in 2021 that the report could be released in response to a freedom of information request filed by CBC News — but that still hasn't happened, four years later. The last time IRAC posted a public order involving an investigation under the Lands Protection Act was in 2014. Green MLA Matt MacFarlane said the level of transparency with regard to the act has been reduced to the point "that decisions made within it will always have a cloud of suspicion hanging over them."
CBC
01-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Buddhist nuns' request to build dorm buildings moves on to Three Rivers council for approval
A request by a Buddhist organization to build two new dormitory buildings for nuns on their compound in eastern P.E.I. will move on to Three Rivers council for approval, despite continued opposition to the development from some area residents. A group of five nuns from GWBI, the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute, attended the town planning board's meeting Thursday night to explain the project. The application comes at a time when the province has ordered the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to investigate the land holdings of both GWBI and the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS), an organization of Buddhist monks living on the Island. Residents who spoke against the nuns' dormitory development at the meeting expressed concern over the fact that council could approve the expansion at a time when the IRAC investigation has not finished. "I would have thought that the municipality would have suggested to the applicant that perhaps now is not an appropriate time to hear the application for expansion," said Victoria Cross resident Janice MacBeath. "The timing and size of this application is, in my opinion, a bold move." MacBeath asked the planning board to either defer its vote until after the IRAC investigation is complete, or hold a public meeting at which residents could get an idea of the full scope of the Buddhist organizations' future plans. The significant land holdings of the two groups have been the topic of speculation and controversy for years. In recent months, it's led to accusations against members of Three Rivers council and even safety concerns for council members, who have maintained all along that issues of land ownership fall within provincial jurisdiction. We have not bought land in almost six years. — Venerable Heather Chang, GWBI The two dormitories that were the subject of the planning board application Thursday would be built on the nuns' 319-acre compound on Brudenell Point Road. The new buildings would provide about 88,000 square feet of living and instructional space, and accommodate about 280 people. Venerable Heather Chang, who spoke on behalf of GWBI at the meeting, said the dorm buildings are part of the master plan for the compound that was approved in 2018. Chang said the group welcomes both constructive criticism about its projects and the IRAC investigation into the land holdings. "Just for records, we have not bought land in almost six years. To date, GWBI owns roughly 670 acres of land," Chang said. P.E.I.'s Lands Protection Act limits land ownership in the province to 1,000 acres for individuals and 3,000 acres for corporations, with exceptions for additional non-arable land or land that is leased out to other people and companies. The law makes the provincial cabinet responsible for approving applications from corporations to buy land. Non-residents also require cabinet approval to buy more than five acres of land or property that includes more than 165 feet of shoreline. On paper, GEBIS (at 578 acres) and GWBI (at 663 acres) are each well below their land limits. Myers wants review of Buddhist land holdings in P.E.I. to include indirectly controlled parcels 16 days ago Duration 3:02 P.E.I.'s minister of housing, land and communities has ordered a new investigation to look at the land holdings of Buddhist organizations in the province. Steven Myers said he hopes this will address years of questions, speculation and innuendo. The announcement was welcome news to the municipality caught up in the middle of it all — and to the Buddhists themselves. CBC's Kerry Campbell reports. Three Rivers Coun. Anne Van Donkersgoed, the planning board's chair, said she had no problem recommending that the dormitories be approved. "Let's suppose that investigation finds that they have too much land. This parcel is 319 acres. If they had to divest something, it wouldn't be this land," she said.
