Sea To Sky Univ receives major donation

The nascent Sea To Sky Univ has received a massive $30.5-million donation from notoriously publicity shy diamond prospector Stewart Blusson, the same philanthropist who donated $50 million to the Univ of British Columbia (UBC) in 1998 (R$, October 28/98). Once received, the money will be used to help pay for the estimated $120-million cost of constructing the undergraduate university, slated to open in 2005 on a 97-hectare site in Squamish BC.

The private, not-for-profit institution received shares in Archon Minerals Ltd two years ago through an associated charitable foundation – HSEF Renaissance Academy – utilizing a share buy-back scheme that would see Blusson re-acquire the shares he donated on a periodic basis. Those funds will be combined with proceeds from with the sale of 1,000 housing lots to pay for campus construction.

Blusson’s identity was revealed earlier this month by a Vancouver newspaper, which discovered his association with the donation while examining documents filed with the BC Securities Commission.

Sea To Sky Univ is the brainchild of Dr David Strangway, outgoing president/ CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Strangway is founder and president of Sea To Sky and sits on its board with Peter Ufford, principal with Give Canada Fundraising Corp and Blake Bromley, a charity and tax planning lawyer who structured the Blusson donation.

Bromley is currently fighting 23 counts of tax evasion and making false claims for charitable tax donations relating to his family and two companies that he owns. The charges do not involve the donations he engineered for UBC and Sea To Sky. A request for comment to an official of Sea To Sky was not returned.

Blusson has also been in negotiations for several years with yet another foundation to make a donation that will support an international research prize.

In addition to Archon Shares, Blusson also owns a 10% stake in the highly profitable Etaki diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. Trading in Archon shares was halted last October on the TSX Venture Exchange when the firm failed to file financial statements.

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