THURSDAY, february 22, 2018 Vol. 74, No. 8
Serving Fort St. John, B.C. and Surrounding Communities
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ROUND DANCE
Council delays vote on Condill Hotel demolition budget increase matt preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
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Nate Pahtayken from Onion Lake, Saskatchewan, delivers one of his songs. Traditional drummers from all over Saskatchewan and Alberta travelled to Taylor Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018, help host a Round Dance Ceremony.
NDP to restore timber harvest rules, premier says
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Rural communities and resource development received scant mention in the BC NDP’s latest speech from the throne last week, but Premier John Horgan has noted one important change coming to forestry rules in the province. Following the speech last week, Horgan confirmed his government plans to restore mill appurtenancy provisions tying forest tenures to processing at nearby mills. They rules were eliminated by the BC Liberals in the early 2000s and devastated economies in forestry dependent communities in rural B.C., including Fort Nelson. Restoring the rules is part of a move to “revitalize the forest industry’s social contract with British Columbians,” according to the throne speech. “We have lost, I believe,
the connection between resources and communities over the past number of years,” Horgan told Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer last week. “I want to re-establish that relationship. I want to make sure that every log that is taken from a public forest, the benefit is maximized to the people in the community.” It’s a move that has Bill Streeper, mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, pleased. Since the NDP took office last summer, the municipality has been working with Forestry Minister Doug Donaldson to restore the provisions, Streeper said. “We explained the whole Fort Nelson situation completely, from stump to dump,” Streeper said. “He completely understood it … what was happening, what it was doing to the community, and the major effect it was having on our economy.”
Fort Nelson has been working to rebuild its forestry sector after a pair of timber processing plants closed more than a decade ago, shortly after the appurtenancy rules were eliminated. Oil and gas exploration and drilling filled the gap, but a downturn in that has put the town in “very grave hardship,” Streeper said. “We are, as council, trying to create jobs,” he said. “In the oil and gas industry there’s nothing at all on the horizon in that. It’s something we don’t have any control over. Forestry we do have some input into.” The municipality has rich mixed stands of spruce and poplar, and harvesting licences that aren’t being used. Investors are looking to restart the shuttered OSB mill as the municipality works with the Fort Nelson First Nation on a community forest licence to help feed it. See TIMBER on A10
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Firefighters supporting youngster’s cancer fight
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matt preprost Fort St. John firefighters say they’ll match every dollar raised to help support the family of a young Fort St. John girl battling cancer. The Fort St. John Firefighers Charitable Society says it will match community funds up to $5,000 with a goal to raise $10,000 to help the Small family, whose four-yearold daughter Natalie was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma. The funds will support the costs of travelling to Vancouver for treatment, Natalie’s medication, and the costs of maintaining a household with two other children at the same time.
“We are just moved by the story. Anything like this especially with a child involved we will always do all we can to help,” society president Adam Winn said. “We want to make sure the family knows they have the community’s support.” Neuroblastoma is a type of childhood cancer that starts in nerve cells in the sympathetic nervous system, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Natalie has already undergone four rounds of chemotherapy, with two more rounds to go, as well as surgery to remove a tumour between her live and kidney. Natalie will need bone marrow transplants and radiation after that. See CANCER FIGHT on A4
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Natalie is in high spirits and happy, despite the sickness that comes with chemotherapy, her mom says.
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Fort St. John city councillors deferred a vote Monday on whether to approve a budget increase to buy and demolish the Condill Hotel. Council has been waiting for legal advice after its demolition contractor NAPP Enterprises went grossly over budget after underestimating the amount of asbestoscontaining materials it would need to clean up when it bid on the work. A rare special open meeting on the matter was called, but council wanted to discuss its legal advice first in a closed meeting. However, it was unable to waive council procedure and go into a closed session without notice due to the absence of Coun. Gord Klassen, who was en route to a meeting in Fort Nelson. Council is allowed to waive process under the province’s Community Charter, but only if it has the unanimous consent of all members. Klassen could not be reached Monday morning to give his consent. The city has budgeted $1.5 million for the purchase and demolition of the Condill after buying the 75-year-old hotel in a meeting closed to the public last July. Staff have since requested the project’s budget be increased to $2,150,981 after NAPP says it found three times more asbestos-containing materials than expected. Along with the budget increase, councillors were also being asked Monday to direct city staff to negotiate a final contract price and scheduling adjustment for the rest of the demolition to be completed. The budget overruns would be covered by the city’s 2018 land purchases budget, set at $1 million, if approved. Mayor Lori Ackerman declined to comment after the meeting. The matter will be on the agenda for council’s Feb. 26 meeting, city officials say. Included in the budget was the $867,000 purchase of the hotel, which had been listed by Coun. Trevor Bolin. Councillors had given NAPP the demolition contract for $457,480, but last month the company and city staff told council that costs have increased an extra $823,500 since demolition began, a 180 per cent increase after NAPP crews encountered three times more asbestos containing materials than it had expected. See CONDILL on A10
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