There's a certain irony in seeing Sam now gracing the entrance to Chances Casino.
Both the Squamish Axe Man, Squamish's most controversial (and tallest) logger and the casino that he now calls home are reminders of the finite powers of our local government - you could even say that both represent the District of Squamish's missed opportunities to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation.
You see, a few years ago when the BC Lottery Corporation first explored building a mini-casino in Squamish, their preferred location was in the District of Squamish borders, which would have sent 10 per cent of the revenue from the operation flowing into District coffers - hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year.
However, the district decided not to support the proposal if it sat within sight of Highway 99, not wanting to have such a landmark welcoming the world to Squamish.
The result? A mini-casino on Highway 99 on Squamish Nation land - the very first landmark the world sees that denotes Squamish. By putting its foot down, Squamish got exactly what it didn't want, and lost what control it had over the casino, as well as the money.
Now we have Sam, a landmark that has raised a national media ruckus over its recently-vacated location at the Squamish Adventure Centre. While the board of the Squamish Sustainability Corporation, the Adventure Centre's operators - a group also known as District of Squamish council - didn't say outright they didn't want Sam on their lawn anymore, that was apparently the message that the Squamish Days Loggers Sports Association, Sam's owner, was getting.
As a result, this week Sam went up at his new home at - you guessed it - Chances Casino. Anyone who was upset about a giant Styrofoam logger representing their community has gotten their wish; it's not on District property anymore. Instead, it's at the new entrance to Squamish - nestled in between the casino and the giant electronic billboard - and there's not a thing they can do about it.
As a result, all the people that were stopping regularly to gawk or take pictures at Sam - and often wandering into the breathtaking Adventure Centre and learning more about Squamish while they were at it - will now be stopping in the parking lot of Chances, and dropping their dollars into slot machines instead.
Will they also stop at the Adventure Centre on their way by? To be fair, some might - but surely not as many as did to see Sam.
We're not advocating for the District to try to win Sam back - that ship has sailed.
But what we hope the Sam spectacle - both the statue itself and the casino that's now his home reminds our lawmakers that Squamish's identity and its destiny are not shaped solely by them. The next time council finds itself in a dilemma, they need to ask themselves if the project they say "no" to might find a "yes" just a few blocks up the road.
-Tim Shoults
