Ownership - continued

Six months later the FDC publicly reported the MacTavish properties south of Dow's Lake had not been acquired by the FDC through expropriation because of delays in surveying. After the preliminaries of making several offers to purchase (as required prior to expropriation under the FDC act), the FDC staff had not given a high priority to this site.

There are two general interpretations of ownership and intent during the period leading up to the decision to build a campus at this site. One interpretation assumes H.S. Southam, Chancellor of Carleton in 1952-53; his brother W.M. Southam; and Col. C.M. Edwards, (a former?) member of the board of governors property committee, were the true owners of this site, both the donated and purchased properties. According to this view of the evidence, D.K. and J.S. MacTavish acquired and disposed of the land titles which were held in their names (in trust) on behalf of the Southams and Edwards who had presumably provided the financial backing for acquisition. It does assume an initial intent to use a least part of this site as a new campus for Carleton in the future.

		Carleton officials inspect the site prior to construction, 1955.
		Library, Special Collections and Archives

The other interpretation of the evidence assumes D.K. MacTavish acquired these properties on his own behalf. His object was assumed to be land speculation. He then donated some of the less desirable land in order to improve a scheme to have the entire holding annexed by the City of Ottawa and serviced for sub-division. It is assumed annexation and servicing was more likely if the college developed part of the site. Such action would have greatly increased the value of the land, which was then occupied mostly by squatters who did not pay rent and who could not be evicted privately. Inflated values of the property reported to the board of governors during the late 1940s and early 1950s are considered supporting evidence of this interpretation.