Biglines is actually working on a story about this that should come up next week if we get the content we're trying for.

Seems pretty weird.

Sunshine axes ski area staff

Four senior, long-time employees of Sunshine Village have been fired.

Chris Chevalier, Rowan Harper, Chris Conway and Ben Chevalier have hired a lawyer. They were sent home in taxis on Wednesday, Dec. 29.

“All I can say at this stage is that we were terminated without warning, with no reason given in a poorly done way,” said Chris Chevalier, who has worked at Sunshine Village for 30 years. “We’ve retained counsel.”

The Outlook called management at Sunshine for a comment. The Outlook was told it is a personnel matter and therefore no comment would be made.

Chevalier, who held the position of mountain and risk manager, said he wanted to thank everyone who has shown support.

“We’ve been blown away by the support from everyone in the Bow Valley,” he said.

“We’ve had calls and emails from people in the ski industry all over the world – it’s heart warming.”

Harper, who was snow safety supervisor, worked at Sunshine for 26 years; Chris Conway, senior patroller, has worked there on and off since 1986; and Ben Chevalier, lift operations supervisor, has worked at the ski hill for eight years.

From the Rocky Mountain Outlook

On the CBC website.  12 Patrollers sick today, possibly in protest of some recent personnell changes?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2011/01/19/calgary-banff-sunshine-village-ski-patrollers-sick-protest.html#socialcomments

Anybody know the real story?  Was there a push to open unsafe terrain?  Did a relative of the owners get caught out of bounds?

heard they fired another patroller today. all this because they were just doing there job

new info from the hood...ssv is shipping in a whole new patrol team, on route expences paid, expected to fire the current lot for saturday has the story goes. its going to be a long night of complaining and story telling over many drinks in the valley

Whoops, didn't mean to post the rumour twice.

Time will tell if it's true.

I wouldn't want to work in an environment where you can't actually do your job.

OHS complaint?

Woah! This sounds a little ridicoulous. It does explain a lot thought. Hopefully Sunshine and their patrolers can work this out and keep everything open. Hopefully they figure this all out and can open up the Dive soon.

Best of luck to the patrolers and the hill.

I really don't know who would want to work for these idiots. If this rumor is true will Goat's Eye, or the dive open this season? And if it does, should you trust it?

Jock and Craig were canned today. PATHETIC

I sense a whole lot of usage of the word "NO" coming from Parks Canada in the immediate future.

That somebody actually was a F*%kup at the job and just rolling along and that SSV actually HAD reason to let these guys go, and cleaning the slate sometimes in that situation is needed, sucks for some in the group but one person can sometimes have a negative impact on others ? I don't know anything about the situation personally, but giving SSV the benefit of the doubt, and will wait for more information to be revelaed if they do go head to head in court and the information becomes public knowledge (highly unlikely).

If  f*%kup means enforcing the rules, doing the job well, being highly respected within the ski and avalanche control communities, and believing that the rules apply to everyone, then yes, these guys were raging f*%kups.

shame on sunshine. they have gone too far in this abuse of their patrol staff. i hope ralphie gets it bad for this

It's sad to see someone like Rowan loose his job. You cannot replace a guy of that caliber very easily.

Good luck opening the Dive this year! See you in hell Ralph!

I checked the webcams at 2:30 today. SSV looked like a mid-week day at -25, and the Lake was packed.

I don't think the Scurfields know how mighty the patrol and avalanche are...

The Lake is offering free midweek skiing this week to any Alberta ski area passholder due to "weather and avalanche conditions"  :)

I know a few ski areas that could benefit from a mass firing like this....  start with a fresh slate and hope things get better.

Not saying that this was or was not the case here.  Just saying.

Unfortunately, Ralph shot himself in the foot.

Where is he going to get more staff? Promote the ones that are already there (and pissed off) or attempt to hire from outside. The patrol/ avi control communities are pretty small. Everyone knows the story. I would not commit to working in that environment. It would not be good for the professional reputation to be a "yes-man" who can't enforce the rules on certain people.

So here is the whole story.

On December 19th one of Sunshine’s younger patrollers Charlie Hitchman noticed a group of young males in a closed area of the mountain. While getting them to exit the area they became abusive, and belligerent and saying “do you know who I am”. At one point the group actually threatened to do him physical harm. He had them escorted to the village where they were lectured about closures and had their ID’s checked, and VIP passes temporarily taken. It turns out the “don’t you know who I am” person was Thomas Taylor Scurfield son of Ralph Scurfield the owner. Taylor was home visiting from his first year at U Vic. His friends were younger I believe from Calgary. After the talking to they were allowed to return to skiing. This was special treatment, as normally they would have been escorted off of the property.

At no point were they treated in any way badly. In fact if he were not the owners son the group would have likely been escorted off of the property completely.

This obviously got back to Ralph and the parents of the other males.

On December 29th as staff were arriving for work there were extra security and cabs waiting at the Bourgeau Base area. Three of the main mountain operations managers, Chris Chevalier Mountain Operations Manager, Rowan Harper Snow Safety Supervisor, and Ben Chevalier Lift Operations Supervisor, as well as a senior patroller Chris Conway were terminated without warning, and with no just cause, escorted off of the hill into the waiting cabs and sent home.

In total about 88 years of experience was lost in a moment. These were people that dedicated themselves completely to this hill for most of their adult lives. They worked with a dedication and passion rarely seen anymore. They affected change in the industry, and turned Sunshine into the fantastic place it is. In their tenure there they set a work ethic that has shaped many young peoples lives, leading with compassion and by example. Working alongside their staff in any conditions. Countless lives were touched, helped, and saved by these people, and they did it all for the love of the mountain they called HOME. They grew up there, as did their children. They were working towards teaching the next generation to pass the torch to.

In the aftermath of this the remaining staff were left with no leadership, a lack of experience and the feeling they had lost their family. They were given no direction from upper management and no succession plan. Some were asked to take on roles they knew they were not yet ready to fill, and they were worried. The management asked them to trust them, but there was no feeling of trust left and as they waited they felt that there was still no direction, and perhaps more staff positions were in jeopardy.

Management did not seem interested in the safety concerns that they raised with them. They continued on understaffed, overworked, stressed, and just trying to do the best job they could. All of this is in the middle of the most unstable snow pack in decades. Each day they just wanted to make sure everyone got home safe, staff and guests alike.

On January 18th the young patroller that originally pulled Taylor Scurfield out of the closure was let go. He had been asked to write a letter of apology to the Scurfield’s and he did so, with the understanding it would save his job. Although everything he did was following the policies of the ski hill. Management obviously never had any intention of keeping him employed.

This was the last straw for the rest of the staff, and they decided the only way their voice could be heard was by having a one-day one-time protest by not going to work. Some had already been working while they were sick and injured to cover the staff shortages and so they called in sick. They gathered together in Canmore.

This sudden staff shortage left Sunshine with too few staff to operate. They cut some corners against their own safety guidelines, and the advice of supervisors, and opened anyway at a diminished capacity, Strawberry, Standish, and Wawa. They did not initially inform skiers and did not tell the truth to the public as to why lifts were closed. They eventually offered people $20 “gift certificates” for a later date. Not surprisingly people were angry and when it hit the news the rumors started flying.

The press got wind of the “protest” and two patrol staff stood up and became spokesmen for the rest of the staff, at the jeopardy of their jobs. They felt it was a risk that needed to be taken to let the public know the safety concerns they had since the loss of all their experienced leaders.

Sunshine management denied any knowledge of bad morale, safety concerns, or that they knew staff were planning to walk out. But management had started alternate measures for gondola evac staffing the day before. They said they hoped all the staff was ok and hoped they would be back at work the next day. That night they interrogated a supervisor on who was in a picture taken at the gathering with the press. They were preparing for the staff coming back the next day and looking for whom they could blame.

The patrol staff arrived at work on January 20th to Management interrogating them one by one. The spokesmen from the day before were told they could leave then, or work the day and hear their jobs fate at the end of shift. They both chose to work their shift. Management was looking to go after who ever they could.

At the end of the day Craig McArthur, and Jock Richardson the two spokesmen were fired and escorted off of the hill and banned from the property. During the discussion they had with owners and management they asked why Charlie Hitchman had been let go. They were told it was because he showed “bad judgment” in removing Taylor Scurfield and friends from the closed area. The owner also threatened legal action against all the staff that protested.

Now the patrol is more short staffed and have lost another close to 30 years of experience. They are demoralized, devastated, and still in fear of losing the jobs they love. When you see them they look sad. They are trying their best to do their job under exceptionally difficult circumstances.

This is the story without any embellishment or untruths. Management has made up some other reasoning’s for the dismissals, but none of them hold any weight.

(Ben Chevalier was only fired because he is Chris Chevalier’s nephew. “Blood is thicker than water,” he was told.)

I hope this helps people see the background and truth behind why we need to take a stand.

It's sounds like the owner's son has gotten his father's business into a quite a bit of a mess...from this perspective.  Can't wait to hear some more official news.

the word I heard today is that the court documents will have some pretty interesting material in them. 

Does anyone know if court documents are public domain and if they can be viewed online?

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Sunshine+Village+owner+middle+labour+troubles+lawsuit/4187087/story.html

R u referring to something placing some of the dismissed in a negative light, or something to do with the accused? Give us more info from the rumor mill, highly unlikely any court documents to be public material :(

I'm in a moral dilemma here. I don't what's worse, skiing at Sunshine or going to an RCR run resort.....seriously.

Little birds tell me things on both sides of this debacle and in one conversation, I was led to believe that the causes for the dismissals go a lot deeper than the closure issue with Ralph's son. I was also led to believe that when the court documents are filed they will contain the grounds for the dismissals. 

I just have no idea if court documents are public domain or not. Something makes me think that they are. That's how TMZ and all those celebrity gossip shows get their info (i think); the court documents are public domain....

The reporter that Biglines had lined up for this story has since decided to not publish their story. So we're going to have to find someone else. I may end up doing it myself. Rest assured that anyone who speaks to me will remain strictly confidential if they request to be. 

Send me or Biglines a PM if you've got some info.

-tim

Here's some more info: http://www.adventure-journal.com/2011/03/sunshine-village-blasts-fired-staff-as-unsafe-insubordinate-and-criminal/

That last article that was posted are making some pretty big allegations against the patrollers. You would think that if all of that was happening for the last few years something would be done before. Still think the patrollers were in the right.