B.C. judge dismisses woman's claim to former Tofino commune property known as 'Poole's Land'

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has tossed out a woman's claim to a portion of a property that was once home to an iconic, longstanding commune near Tofino.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has tossed out a woman's claim to a portion of a property that was once home to an iconic, longstanding commune near Tofino.

Justice Robin Baird ruled the woman's seven-year delay in pursuing her claim for a piece of the 17.3-acre estate, colloquially known as "Poole's Land," was "inordinate and inexcusable" and made a fair hearing of the matter impossible.

Michael James Poole bought the rural property on Mackenzie Beach Road in October 1988 and established what his daughter described in court documents as a "self-sustaining commune" that would go on to house thousands of people over the years, some paying rent, others not.

Poole died after a long battle with cancer on June 16, 2020, just shy of his 69th birthday.

Sandra Gloria Varga, now 76 years old, met Poole in the spring of 2008 and says she maintained a marriage-like relationship with him until 2015.

Various witnesses, including Poole's children, however, describe him as a "free spirit" who travelled often and paid little to no child support when the kids were young, according to the judge's decision of July 17.

"The evidence suggests that he had no interest in tradition and convention, and that he was not monogamous in his relationships with women," Baird wrote.