Charles Otter is a lifer. Originally from New Zealand, he’s worked as a hotelier all his life in a career that’s spanned four continents — Australia, Europe, Asia and, most recently, North America. He speaks fondly of his time in European capitals such as Bratislava, Slovakia, and Riga, Latvia. In Kyiv, Ukraine, he met the Canadians who coaxed him to give Nova Scotia a try. Now, he’s taking on the most challenging assignment of his career, leading the resurrection of the Digby Pines Golf Resort and Spa.

Standing before the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down on the Pines’s terrace, across the front lawn to the Annapolis Basin beyond, Otter describes what it’s been like in his new position, vice-president of resort operations. “I’ve been here six months, and every day is demanding, busy, challenging, new, exciting, and tiring. All in the very best possible way.”

Nova Scotia sold the grand old Pines resort late in 2019 for $1 million, to a partnership that includes Pacrim Hospitality Services Inc. and Bear River First Nation, then gave the business $1.5 million in financing for upgrades and closing costs.

Carol Dee Potter is chief of Bear River. “It has always been the council’s intention to develop business,” she says. “When this opportunity was presented, while it may have been a bit sooner than expected, it was an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up.”

This is Bear River’s first involvement in the hospitality business. It’s the vision and considerable experience of another lifer, Glenn Squires of Pacrim, that makes Otter’s new position demanding and rewarding. We join Squires in the Pines’ Grande Lounge for a chat. Dressed in a bright red sweater, Squires is seated on a sofa between the shiny, black grand piano and a stately fireplace.

“I’ve been in the hotel business all my life,” Squires says. “This is the 50th project in Atlantic Canada, probably 150 across Canada and the United States. Our strategy has normally been to hold a property for five or 10 years, then sell it, but this for me is a legacy project for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“That’s the way First Nations think, too.”

His fondness for the stateliness of the Grande Lounge says much about Squires’s attraction to the challenge of bringing the Pines back to its former glory and improving upon it. He refers to this room as a classic and says he has no intention of trying to improve on a space that defines the Pines.

The same goes for the classic design of the lobby and of Churchill’s Restaurant beneath us. There are upgrades, changes, and additions planned for almost everything else about the property in the coming years. With government credits and reimbursements, they essentially got the resort for free, but the deal required significant spending on basic upgrades.

“We’ve already spent more than we committed,” says Squires. At the time of the sale, the partnership said it would spend $6.9 million over the first five years. So far, workers have replaced and insulated roofs, laid new carpeting, and installed heating and cooling systems. In 2023, the resort remained open through the winter for the first time in its history. Squires projects that over the next five to seven years, total redevelopment costs will be about $125 million.

A bright future for all
Tiny Bear River First Nations, population about 100, sits 20 kilometres from Digby Pines across the Annapolis Basin. Certainly, Bear River sees the property as part of its heritage, but it was a new provincial policy that opened the door to the community’s involvement. When Nova Scotia sells such a large property, it consults with the nearest First Nations community, in this case, Bear River. Squires says he’s worked with other First Nations across Canada over the past 25 years — he cites projects in Yellowknife, Fort McMurray, Manitoulin Island, and Millbrook in Nova Scotia — so he welcomed the opportunity to partner with Bear River.

In a press release at the time of the sale, Chief Potter reflected on just how important the Pines project is to Bear River. “This partnership opens up new guest experiences, such as the creation of year-round, adventure-focused programming that will share local First Nations stories. We share the commitment to transform Digby Pines into a premiere destination resort that captures the Mi’kmaq culture and the spirit of Nova Scotia.”

To complete the purchase, Bear River called upon Peace Hills Trust (PHT), the largest and oldest First Nations-owned financial institution in Canada, worth $2.2 billion. Founded in 1980 as a project of the Samson Cree Nation in Alberta, PHT’s objective is to provide financial and trust services to First Nations and their communities across Canada.

Bear River’s ownership of the Pines totals 75 per cent. Two of three board members come from Bear River, and the board operates by consensus. Pacrim manages daily operations. There are no visible signs of Bear River’s stake in the Pines, but plans are in the works. There’s talk of guided tours into the wilderness, foraged foods, Indigenous craft classes, and storytelling. Band members have started farming oysters on the Annapolis Basin. Those oysters might soon supply Churchill’s Restaurant.

Add-on activities such as these will only employ a few people seasonally, but both Squires and Bear River see huge potential in promoting the resort’s Indigenous connections.

“Central Europe, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia are fascinated with First Nations,” says Squires. More broadly, he sees the Pines sitting at a cultural crossroads in western Nova Scotia where Acadian, Indigenous, and African Nova Scotian history and culture meet. He says he believes the Pines will profit from cross-cultural promotion in Quebec, France, Louisiana, and down the eastern seaboard.

It’s in these bigger picture developments that the community of Bear River will eventually find significant value in its stake in the Pines. That $125 million the partnership plans to spend on future developments includes the construction of private condos. The partners see employment and profits far into Bear River’s future.

Chief Potter sees the benefits reaching beyond Bear River. “We believe any time a First Nation does something significant, it is inspirational for all First Nations,” she says. “We can lead by example. We can use our experiences to help others for the benefit of all our people.”

Churchill and the Elders
The property near the mouth of the Annapolis Basin where the Pines stands today has been important to Bear River First Nations for untold generations. “It is an area that many of us have been taught through stories of our elders where we used to gather for hunting, fishing and celebrations,” Chief Potter says. “We have one elder in particular who, to this day, still remembers being there as a child. That area was lost to settlers, but now we have it back.”

Harry Churchill was one of those settlers who came to own part of the property. In 1903, he built a three-storey hotel with a wrap-around veranda. Churchill’s Restaurant in today’s resort commemorates him. As a railway and steamship stopover equipped with luxuries such as electricity and running water, the hotel thrived for a dozen years.

After the First World War, the Dominion Atlantic Railway and its parent company, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) bought the property, replacing the original hotel in 1928 with the Norman chateau-style hotel that stands today.

The Nova Scotian government took ownership in 1965. By 2005, annual operating losses amounted to $765,000. A 2012 appraisal pegged the property’s value at zero, citing the need for urgent and extensive renovations and upgrades. Three years later, another appraisal estimated basic maintenance and upgrades at $4.9 million. The province searched for a buyer, as much to save the Digby area from the loss of such an asset as to stop the bleeding of public funds. Enter Pacrim Hospitality Services, Halifax developer Besim Halef (since bought out by Glenn Squires) and Bear River First Nation.