Protect the Grenada Dove

Letter from Mr. Peter Hodgson to Atwood/Gibson.

From: Peter Hodgson
Date: Jan 12, 2007

Graeme:

Thank you for your recent email. First of all, I would like to apologize to you - it has not been our intention to treat you, nor your associate Michael Rands, nor others, in a way that makes them feel they have not not received responses that are timely, nor in sufficient detail. Similarily, it has not been our intention to stimulate outrage in those who are corresponding with us. Part of the challenge for us, is that we are not directly involved in this preliminary part of the Grenada project, and so we do not have first-hand knowledge of what is going on, and hence it is a difficult and lengthy process for us to formulate responses.

Allow me to explain our role in new projects - Four Seasons is a hotel management company, and so we do not own, develop, nor construct the projects we are involved with. We focus on branding and managing the operations of the hotel once it is open, and our role in the preliminary development phase is limited to planning regarding the design of the hotel itself, and planning for the marketing and opening of the hotel. We do all of our projects with partners, whether it is a new hotel in Toronto, in China or in Grenada. In Grenada, we will make no investment in the project, and we will have no involvement in the land acquisition, the negotiations with the government, the environmental assessment and so on. All of this is handled by our development partner. Hence, when someone sends an inquiry about the land development, the construction,or in this case, the Grenada Dove and the environmental assessment, we do not have a ready answer, because we are not involved in these aspects of the project and only have indirect knowledge of them.

The above is not an attempt to disassociate us from the project, nor to avoid responsibility, only to clarify our role and try to explain why we respond in the way we do. Not being on the ground in Grenada and not being actively involved in this part of the project, we rely on our partners to deal with all of these aspects of the project. Having said all of this, we are very interested in Grenada - that is why we are involved in a project there. We would like the project to be beneficial to Grenada from all aspects - in terms of its impact on the economy, on the environment and the people of Grenada. It is an objective of Four Seasons to be involved in unique projects that fit their locale and benefit it, and we have achieved this at locations all over the world.

We have communicated your concerns about the Grenada Dove, and those of Michael Rands, and also those of the representatives of other conservation organizations, to the developer. We have been told that an environmental assessment is currently underway, and that the doves will be protected.

We have also been told that the document by Dr. Jessamy that is in circulation is not, in fact, the environmental assessment and was never meant to be taken as such - hence what I was referring to in my letter is the environmental assessment that is underway and not yet completed, and not whatever report is currently in circulation. It might be beneficial if Andrew Dobson and David Wege would contact Dr. Jessamy directly.

We are committed to ensuring that this project is not only beneficial to the people and economy of Grenada, but also protects its natural environment. While we will not be directly involved in the environmental assessment process and the planning for protection of the doves, we will work with the developer, the Government of Grenada and environmental groups to achieve a positive outcome.

Regards.