Tears well in Donald Bottrell’s eyes as he stands over the grave of his tiny daughter. “It was a long time before I could even come out here,” he said, looking down at the marker engraved with the date August 20, 1987.
Claire Bottrell was Donald and his wife Shelly’s first child. She died in utero two weeks before her due date and was buried in Shady Creek Cemetery.
“I was not raised as a God fearing person. Certainly all my life I’ve believed in a higher being, but then the minister told us that Claire would be an angel watching over the birth of all of our healthy children … Two years later came Connor, two more years and Callum came — two strapping young boys, both of who finished private school education both of them are on to university now,” said Bottrell. They never discovered the reason for Claire’s premature death.
Burying their first child was not an easy task for the couple. They carefully chose the quiet cemetery and the place under a large Italian poplar tree near the entrance. “This has changed the whole ambiance of the place,” Bottrell said, looking up where the canopy of the large trees once covered the hydro lines and view of the busy street.
He was shocked when Shelly told him that trees had been felled in the cemetery. “I had a really sharp pain in my chest. It hurt. I knew for some reason that it was these trees … I didn’t think I would get so upset,” he said with his hand splayed across his chest.
Although he realizes it’s too late to do anything about the two large Italian poplars that were cut down during the reconstruction of East Saanich Road, he is still upset about the lack of public consultation.
“They’re gone. It’s done. But what really hurt me deeply is the lack of consideration … the total disregard for the site. … that’s no way to run a community at all,” he said.
Bottrell had a meeting with Central Saanich engineer Nirmal Bhattachrya who he said was “sympathetic” and very interested in speaking with him to explain why the trees were removed.
“He had the project manager call me … he was very sympathetic but said there was no consideration for the trees. What he told me was that they were always slated for removal, but nowhere in the process was the public made aware,” said Bottrell, calling the tree felling “desecration”.
“Two boulevard trees fronting Shady Creek Cemetery were removed on March 16 in order to accommodate an access to the cemetery (at the gate), as requested by Mr. Ken Sluggett, one of the trustees of the Shady Creek Cemetery,” said District Administrator Gary Nason. “To the best of our knowledge, these boulevard trees are not on the District’s Heritage Tree Registry or any other list that the district is aware of. These trees were clearly located within the municipal boulevard and were not on cemetery property. As per the district’s Tree Protection Bylaw, boulevard trees requiring removal for the installation, repair or maintenance of district works and services are exempt from the issuance of tree cutting permits.”
The trees were not identified for removal at the public open houses held to receive input from residents on the East Saanich Road renewal project, as a continuous retaining wall was designed for the entire frontage at that location.
“ … (T)he district made a commitment at the open houses to replace two trees for each one removed (not including shrubs). If it is not practical (as determined by an arborist) to plant the trees at the same location, these will be planted in other appropriate locations,” said Nason.
“I feel sympathetic to the Bottrells because of the situation,” said Mayor Jack Mar. “But staff followed the process and dealt with it in September 2010 … It was never brought to the political level for discussion that I’m aware of.”
Bottrell visits the grave of his first-born dozens of times a year and despite the tree removal will continue to do so. “The boys are both away at university, and when the time came for them to come home for Christmas, I did not get my boys, I got two young men. At Christmas I came here a couple of times because she’s still the little girl that I wish I had.” said Bottrell.