UPDATED from original posting on July 14:
The estate of a Salt Spring Island resident has provided the largest single donation to Royal Roads University (RRU) in the institution’s history.
The Bloom Canadian Alter Ego Trust 2020 has gifted the late Susan Bagley Bloom’s oceanfront Beddis Beach property, home, gardens and historic orchard to RRU, along with funds and a significant endowment, with a total value of $9.93 million.
RRU personnel, government officials, representatives of partner groups and neighbours gathered at the site on Friday, July 12 to celebrate, express gratitude and share excitement about what the gift means for both RRU and the Salt Spring community.
“Our vision is to inspire people with the courage to transform the world,” RRU president and vice-chancellor Philip Steenkamp told the crowd. “And I know that this remarkable gift will inspire changemakers for generations to come.”
RRU said the site’s primary building — the “Bloom Castle by the Sea” — will house a range of programs, retreats and activities, “inspired and informed by the beautiful gardens and orchards, the rich foreshore and the stunning architectural heritage of the property.”
Event attendees heard how only one year had elapsed since Bloom estate trustees Mark Horne, KC, and Jan Theunisz initiated discussions with RRU.
Horne said it was clear from the first day when Steenkamp and RRU chancellor Nelson Chan visited the properties that “the stars were aligned” to realize Bloom’s wishes.
“RRU immediately understood Susan’s vision and displayed remarkable creativity in essentially fusing her vision with Royal Roads’ mission as an educational institution.”
Horne said he and Theunisz had spent “literally hours and hours and days working with Susan about what she wanted to see happen to these properties. And there were times during Susan’s darker days when she couldn’t have envisaged a day like this. So just on a personal note, Susan, if you’re able to observe us here, we did it. We made it to the finish line — and what a day it is.”
Theunisz worked with Bloom for decades as her assistant and became her close friend. She provided a portrait of Bloom as a dedicated philanthropist, whose gifts to Salt Spring land conservation campaigns and other causes were mostly done anonymously when she was alive. But her reach extended far beyond the community she called home for 35 years.
“During her lifetime, Susan supported often countless efforts to preserve land, oceans, bears, whales, big trees, salmon, along with many humanitarian projects,” said Theunisz. “Her generosity spanned borders and had global reach. She derived joy from gifts that made a true difference to the lives of so many. These gifts have truly made British Columbia and the world a better place. Philanthropy was a huge part of Susan’s life. It was at the core of who she was.”
Theunisz and Horne also acknowledged Linda Hannah, the regional vice-president of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, for her invaluable assistance with negotiations.
Steenkamp later said the site was a natural for RRU field schools, and for its environmental management and sustainability programs, but personnel are also eager to sit down with community members to hear what they envision and explore programming opportunities.
“We know there is an incredible appetite on Salt Spring for forums, discussions and that kind of thing . . . so figuring out how we can become part of that conversation is important.”
RRU said it will also work collaboratively with the Hul’qumi’num and SENĆOŦEN-speaking peoples to ensure their interests in the lands are recognized and valued. While those and other relationships will be developed between RRU and the Salt Spring community, two important ones have already been initiated. The arrangement will see the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (SSIFT) manage the historic “outer” orchard property and develop agriculture-related programming in partnership with area First Nations, and the Salt Spring Island Conservancy (SSIC) will hold a covenant on that land.
SSIFT co-chair Sheila Dobie thanked everyone involved in bringing the parties together to build “a values-based partnership that honours this incredible legacy of Susan. This is hugely important and we are extremely aware of the significance as we go shoulder to shoulder forward with amazing partners.”
Some of the orchard’s trees were planted by settlers Samuel and Emily Beddis not long after they arrived on the island in 1884.
Long-time SSIC member Ashley Hilliard wrote the report about the heritage orchard for RRU, with colleagues doing the inventory and mapping of the more than 100 trees it contains.
“Some of the trees that the Beddises planted are still there and still producing,” he said. “That’s why it’s a heritage orchard.”
Hilliard said his organization was looking forward to the partnership with RRU.
“Their vision about sustainable development and sustainability aligns so much with the island and with the conservancy,” he said. “So we’re hoping that maybe our nature reserves can serve as research opportunities, learning opportunities, more scientific research and things like that.”
The conservancy has also been gifted the area known as Birdland, located across the road from the orchard.
“It was very dear to Susan’s heart,” said SSIC executive director Penny Barnes at Friday’s gathering, “and it is our intent to honour her legacy and to work on that property, and to continue to encourage the birds.”
While still alive, Bloom was instrumental in the SSIC establishing the Creekside Rainforest Nature Reserve in the Beddis Beach neighbourhood. She died in December of 2021.
Bloom’s home was designed in the 1960s by renowned Victoria-based architect John Di Castri for American musician and artist Windsor Utley and his wife Josie, and was known as “Utley’s Castle.” Bloom moved to the property in 1986.
Based in Colwood, near Victoria, Royal Roads Military College provided military and naval training from 1940 to 1995, when RRU was established as a public, applied research university.
