Calgary woman goes to great lengths to try to collect on Okanagan debt

Update August 2016: Marnie Dickson says, since this story aired, she has been paid.

SPALLUMCHEEN – It was an unusual step to try to collect on debts owed. A Calgary businesswoman set up two protest signs across the highway from the Log Barn on Thursday. It was a highly visible protest on a busy highway about a high-profile Okanagan business.

“I’ve never had to actually go this far for a collection,” says Marnie Dickson, owner of 123 Freight Services.

She says she is still trying to collect full payment after her company provided logistical services to the Log Barn in 2014. Her company previously went to court over the matter. The result was that an Alberta court ordered the Log Barn to pay her company more than $35,000.

“We operate on a low margin so yeah it has affected our bottom line,” says Dickson.

Financial documents show the Log Barn has taken steps to pay. The Log Barn did send Dickson’s company a series of cheques, at least some of them post-dated. Some of them were cashed. However, Dickson then ran into a problem she’d had before with a cheque from the Log Barn.

That’s how Dickson and her one-woman protest ended up on the side of Highway 97A.

We hoped to talk to an owner of the Log Barn to get their side of the story. We emailed and called. We also visited the store and an associated residence. However, instead of hearing back from an owner we instead got a call from someone threatening to sue Global Okanagan.

The highway protest is being seen by hundreds of passing motorists. When our cameras were there, a former employee stopped to defend the Log Barn.

“I worked for the Log Barn for the whole year, both as a self-employed contractor doing plumbing and heating for her and also as an employee,” says Brian Froese. “I got paid for everything I did.”

Marnie Dickson is hoping she will soon be able to say the same thing.