Article contentIn an email, April Gallant, a communications officer with the Department of Housing, Land and Communities, said there is no timeline for the new investigations’ completion.Article content“We are letting IRAC conduct their investigation without interference and have not received a report of their findings, as of yet,” Gallant said in the email.Article contentThe 2018 investigation by IRAC, which was first reported by The Guardian in 2021, focused on five Buddhist organizations – the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society, the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute, Moonlight International Foundation, Splendid Essence Restaurant and Grain Essence Garden. The findings of the 2018 investigation, if there were any, were never publicly revealed.Article contentThe landholdings of Buddhist organizations in Kings County have been the subject of significant controversy for years, with many residents accusing either these groups, lay followers, or corporations owned by lay followers of circumventing corporate land size limits within the Lands Protection Act.Article contentArticle contentMacFarlane said IRAC’s refusal to produce the 2018 investigation report was unacceptable.Article content“It is a matter of significant legal and public importance to this province. We’ve seen land issues in the Kings County area catching a lot of attention and a lot of concern, a lot of questions – to the point now where there is actually another investigation happening as we speak,” MacFarlane said.Article contentArticle contentA letter from Pamela Williams, chair of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC), to the standing committee on natural resources and environmental sustainability, said the commission was declining to produce documents related to a 2018 land investigation involving five Buddhist organizations.Article contentReporting requirementArticle contentIRAC’s current rules of procedure require the commission to prepare a report of land investigations and to present it to the parties that are investigated. Leaders of both GEBIS and GWBI have told The Guardian they never received any report outlining the findings of the 2018 investigation.Article contentArticle contentWilliams’ letter to the committee did not address this reporting requirement. The letter did note that IRAC investigations often involve a preliminary investigation stage, where information is gathered to determine if there is enough evidence for an investigation to proceed further.Article contentThe Guardian requested the commission’s rules or regulations governing this preliminary investigation stage. In an email response, an IRAC representative confirmed the commission’s rules of procedure do not mention a preliminary stage.Article content“The investigation rule does not speak directly to the information gathering stage, however, because each investigation is unique in its circumstances, the preliminary stages of investigation, which includes information-gathering, is determined on a case-by-case basis,” wrote IRAC representative Jaclynne Hamel in an email.
P.E.I. committee to order IRAC to hand over Buddhist land report
