The Federal attorney general filed two petitions in B.C. Supreme Court against inn owners asking court to determine ownership of eight parcels of land.
The operators of the former Sasquatch Inn and the Moose Flats Lodge and Camp in B.C.’s oilpatch owe millions in unpaid sales tax, unremitted employee deductions and corporate tax, according to two petitions filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
The attorney general of Canada filed the petitions to ask the court to determine the real estate holdings of the operators of those work camps, the Buffalo Inn and a second numbered company.
Both companies are owned by the same couple, Melody and Richard Magaton, and the petitions say they own eight parcels of land in the Peace River District.
Federal authorities want those lands and any others the companies own to be sold to pay off the owners’ various tax debts from between 2005 and 2021, according to the petitions.
The Magatons have been directors of the numbered company since 2013, according to B.C.’s business registry. They are also the owners of the Buffalo Inn in Pink Mountain, B.C., which does business as Mag and Mel Ventures.
Melody Magaton, who answered the phone number listed for both companies, said she wasn’t aware of the petitions. She didn’t comment beyond saying she had operated a work camp years ago.
The petition against the numbered company said it ran an oilfield hotel called the Sasquatch Inn, made up of mostly Atco-style dormitories, and the Museum Road camp, which had three retail buildings and a dorm. They are no longer on site and the lands are now vacant.
The petition against Buffalo Inn said the owners had operated a café, shop and camp known as the Moose Flats Lodge and Camp on Highway 97 in Pink Mountain, consisting of 22 camp rooms and living quarters, plus three small cabins. It also is no longer there.
The Buffalo Inn, also in Pink Mountain, was run as a motel and restaurant, which included ATCO-style dorms that were rented or leased and an owner’s residence, shop, five cabins and staff residence.
The petitions arose out of a years-long Canada Revenue Agency investigation by a complex case officer, who filed 220-page affidavits with each of the petitions.
The petition against the numbered company alleges unremitted employee payroll source deductions for 14 years between 2006 and 2021 of just over $3 million and more than $1 million for unremitted sales tax between 2012 and 2019.
Those payroll deductions include federal and provincial income tax, the employee (but not employer) portions of the Canada Pension Plan contributions and employment insurance premiums.
Under federal laws such as the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act, the government is paid first in a bankruptcy, before secured or unsecured debtors, it said.
The petition also alleges the numbered company owed $9.3 million as of Sept. 2 for several years of unremitted payroll deductions and $2.5 million for unremitted sales tax, both of which included interest compounded daily.
The petition against Buffalo Inn says the company owes the government more than $500,000 for unremitted employee payroll source deduction amounts and sales tax.
In addition, as of Sept. 2, Buffalo Inn also owed almost $2 million for several judgments for employee deductions, unremitted sales tax and unpaid corporate tax, all including daily interest compounded daily, according to the petition.
The petitions appraised the eight properties the Magatons own at about $8.3 million in total.
-With files from The Vancouver Sun dated 23 Oct 2025.