Prince George Citizen February 27, 2020

Jonathan crow returns for pgso show saturday page 18

Farewell to NortherN hardware

After 100 years as part of the Prince George community, Northern Hardware closed its doors for the last time Saturday at 2 p.m.

Kelly Green, president of The Northern, said since they announced the impending closure last November so many community members came in to show their appreciation to the staff and owners.

“The community has been amazing and it’s been good,” Green said.

She said she was surprised she was a little more emotional Saturday than she anticipated but she, her big family and staff are all going to be just fine. Some staff had already left to pursue other jobs while on the last day there were 12 staff members left to join family members as the key locked the front doors to customers for the last time.

It’s not completely over. The store has to be emptied and The Champion, the popular ride-on horse, is going to its new home at The Exploration Place.

Dave Leman was shopping downtown with his son when they decided to pop into The Northern, not realizing it was its last day.

“I have lived here for 30 years and I am a long- time Northern customer,” Leman said.

“I have to say I feel sad to see a store like this going which has not only been a part of my personal experience for 30 years but it’s been part of the experience in this community for the last 100.” Leman and his son Kevan, 17, made their way down to Champion for one last ride.

“This place has been open for a 100 years so I can imagine the sad impact its (closure) has had on all the people like my dad because they’ve spent a lot of their life here,” Kevan said. “I remember I really liked riding Champion.”

Longtime employee of the Northern, Peter Mueller, stopped by to say goodbye to Leman and let everyone know that he will continue his career at Central Builders in about a month’s time where he will offer the same level of customer care for which he is best known.

“Every time I came in here, I’d talk to you and I’d just feel better,” Leman said to Mueller as they shook hands.

Green said The Northern was more than a hardware store to its customers.

“It was a social place, people would come to get advice and to meet friends and for us it was the place our parents’ worked and it was where we had our jobs and it was all about family and that includes the staff who are family to us,” she said.

Glen Blair, family member of the owners of the Northern and general manager of Amco Wholesale, remembers filling the nail bins as a youngster and playing in the basement.

“It’s where we started and it’s hard to

believe the end is here now,” Blair said.

“It’s been a good haul, lots of fun, lots of good memories and it’s a time to look back and appreciate the relationships we’ve fostered with this community.

Thank you to Prince George because without them we would not have been here and I do have to say The Northern was nothing without its staff. The staff made our business.”

As the last customers left the store, the family gathered to take a moment and say good-bye.

Offering a few words of farewell were Green and Blair.

Each said the future held regular jobs for them where they could leave the job behind at the end of the day and both

said they were looking forward to that eventuality but first there would be some time spent with family and friends.

“We’ve had mixed emotions today,” Green said. “We’ve known this day was coming for a while and now it’s here. We appreciate what Prince George has done for us and I think they appreciated us as well.”

Blair said it’s a little bit bittersweet.

“All our ancestors who came before us, great grandfathers, grandfathers, uncles, I think they would be proud of where we’ve gone and it’s always a pretty tough day when the end comes,” he said. “We did what we could.”

“And we’re proud of what we’ve done,” Green added.

Christine hinZMAnn Citizen staff

citizen Photo by James Doyle

Longtime employee Peter Mueller locks the doors at Northern Hardware for the final time Saturday afternoon. The 100-year-old landmark store is now permanently closed. To see a gallery of photos from the last day at The Northern, visit pgcitizen.ca.

City unveils new pool design

Arthur WilliAms Citizen staff

The City of Prince George expects the new pool to see double the usage of the Four Seasons Pool, once construction is complete in the summer of 2022.

“We get about 140,000 visitors per year (at the Four Seasons Pool). We expect the amount of visitors is going to double,” city aquatics manager Jim Worthington said.

“When you have an accessible pool with all the pool amenities or features the community is looking for, it’s going to get a lot more use,” he said.

Construction on the new pool is expected to break ground this spring and the Four Seasons Pool will remain open until the new pool is complete.

The city contracted HDR Architecture Associates Inc. to complete the interior and exterior layout of the new facility.

HDR vice president Mark Hentze said the new pool’s “tilted box” design is intended to complement the development happening downtown.

The sloped roof allows for the height to accommodate the waterslide in the southeast end of the building and will direct water and snow run-off to a “rain garden” on Seventh Avenue.

It will give the pool “a bit of an evocative shape,” Hentze said.

In addition, the exterior will feature large windows so people walking on the street can see inside, giving the sense of a public space, he added.

The pool will feature a six-lane, 25-metre main lap pool; a four-lane, 25-metre, shallow, warmer teaching pool; a leisure pool with a lazy river, shallow beach-style entry and play features; a large waterslide; and a two-level hot tub.

Each of the pools will feature a shallow entry and “pool pod” lift to allow people with reduced mobility greater access.

A substantial amount of consultation was done to ensure the pool offers accessibility for as many users as possible, Hentze said, including three barrier-free shower rooms with ceiling lifts.

The majority of the changing area will be a universal, family change room space, with smaller dedicated men’s and women’s change rooms, he added.

In addition to having onsite parking, the Four Seasons Pool parking lot will remain open for pool users.

Photos and virtual reality tours of the facility are available online at www.princegeorge.ca/newpool.

Prince George population up

The city’s population appears to have grown.

As of midway through 2019, it stood at 81,345 people, up by 1,335 or 1.7 per cent from the year before, according figures from the provincial government’s B.C. Stats released in late January.

The count made Prince George the 16th-largest community in the province. Vancouver is the largest at 685,885, followed by Surrey at 584,526.

For the province as a whole, the total stood at 5,071,336, up by more than 70,000 people or 1.4 per cent.

B.C. Stats takes the most recent federal census figures, from 2016 in this case, and looks at various indicators - notably BC Hydro connections and B.C. health client registry numbers in the case of small population communities - to come up with the estimates.

For the Fraser-Fort George Regional District as a whole, the estimate stood at 103,392, up 1,477 people with 16,207 living in unincorporated areas, up 33.

Community by community, Mackenzie was home to 4,046 people, up 85, Valemount stood at 1,128, up 16, and McBride stood at 666, up seven.

The Bulkley-Nechako Regional Distric was 39,614, up 97,

with 19,886 in the unincorporated areas, up 93.

For Smithers, the count was 5,670, up 36; for Vanderhoof, it was 4,668, up 34; for Houston it was 3,106, down nine; and for Burns Lake it was 1,871, up 13.

For Fort St. James, it was 1,728, down 58; for Telkwa, it was 1,402, down five; for Fraser Lake it was 973, down nine; and for Granisle it was 310, up two.

The Cariboo Regional District’s population was 65,456, up 343, with 41,455 living in the unincorporated areas, up 259. For Williams Lake it was 11,359 , up 16, for Quesnel it was 10,392, up 57, and for 100 Mile House it was 2,019, up 16.

A local man wanted in relation to two incidents has been located and arrested.

Prince George RCMP said Brandon Michael Felix, 27, was apprehended without incident on Sat., Feb. 15 just before 8 p.m., when an officer making patrols along 20th Avenue recognized him as he was walking near Redwood Street.

Felix has since been charged with robbery in relation to a Jan. 6 robbery of a convenience store and with theft $5,000 or

under and break and enter from an alleged Feb. 5 forcible entry of a 600 block Burden Street home while a family of five was sleeping. Several items were stolen, RCMP have said.

The arrest comes after RCMP issued a request for the public’s help in finding Felix, who remained in custody.

“The Prince George RCMP wish to thank the members of the public that provided information to police,” RCMP said in a statement.

Citizen staff

Citizen staff

Citizen photo by James Doyle

mark hentze with hDR architecture associates inc. uses a floor plan rendering to show features of the new downtown pool during a media availability at the prince George Civic Centre.

P.G. playing key role in pipeline build

arthur WILLIaMS Citizen staff

Prince George will be a hub of construction activity for the Coastal GasLink pipeline project once mainline construction on sections three and four of the project begins in late August, according to TC Energy public affairs manager Kiel Giddens.

Giddens and Coastal GasLink project engineer Jamie Mior gave an update on the controversial project to the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George last Thursday.

Calgary-based TC Energy is the primary partner in the $6.6 billion, 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline project which would link northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal currently under construction in Kitimat.

“Prince George is the economic hub for the region and will be for our project,” Giddens said. “Prince George will (also) be our B.C. head office for TC Energy as we operate the pipeline.”

Since January, sections of pipe manu-

factured in Regina have been arriving in Prince George by rail, he said.

On average, 20 to 25 truckloads of pipe are moved from the railway siding to Coastal GasLink’s stockpile site on Industrial Way and are expected to continue into March.

“So far we’ve stockpiled about 52 km of pipe at our site in Prince George,” Giddens said. “We’re quickly filling up the current site.”

The sections of pipe are up to 80 feet long, Mior said, and specialized trailers are used to transport them. Once the pipeline sections are stockpiled in Prince George, they will be trucked to stockpile sites along the construction route, he added.

A traffic safety plan is in place to manage traffic into and out of the work camps and construction sites, Mior added.

Railway blockades in New Hazelton, Ontario and elsewhere in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who attempted to stop construction of the Coastal GasLink project south of Houston

haven’t impacted shipments of pipe to Prince George, Giddens said. The majority of the pipe is being made in Saskatchewan, with some additional pipe being imported from Japan and India, he said.

Because of the city’s position as the major business, industry and population centre in northern B.C., people and businesses from Prince George are working on every section of the project, he added. One Prince George business is building a bridge for the project near the coast, for example.

The company expects to spend about $1 billion with local and Indigenous businesses during construction, and $42 million per year once operations begin.

“We’ve got about 1,200 people working right now. That will only increase as we begin mainline production,” Giddens said.

Giddens didn’t provide a specific number of employees which would be based in Prince George, but the project, at its peak, will employee up to 2,500 people across northern B.C.

Up to 1,200 workers will be based at the Parsnip Lodge camp located approximately 45 km northeast of Bear Lake,

which is already under construction. As of November, 82 per cent of people working on the project were British Columbians and 25 per cent self-identified as indigenous.

“We have project agreements with all the elected bands (along the route),” Giddens said. “Many Wet’suwet’en people are working on the project.”

The camp will serve sections three and four of the project, a 193 km section of the project stretching from south of Mackenzie to north of Vanderhoof.

Clearing of the right of way in section three is 52 per cent complete, and section four is 75 per cent clear.

Addressing the elephant in the room, Giddens said Coastal GasLink only resorted to requesting the RCMP to enforce a court injunction to remove protesters blocking work on the project after dialog failed to find a resolution.

“Despite that enforcement action, we remain committed to dialog with all First Nations on the route,” GIddens said. “We will never give up on finding a peaceful, long-term solution to this.”

Court upholds sentenCe for ConviCted fraudster

Mark NIELSEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a provincial court judge’s decision to sentence a 65-year-old woman to two years in jail for stealing more than $350,000 from her employer while working as an office manager in Prince George.

In part, counsel for Debra Velma Pentilla argued the sentencing judge erred in principle by concluding a gambling addiction could never be treated as a mitigating circumstance in a case of this kind.

But in a decision issued Friday, a threejudge panel found otherwise.

While a judge may find that a gambling addiction may impair an offender’s decision-making process and so reduce their moral culpability, the one hearing Penttila’s case found she was able to control her gambling, the panel noted.

The panel also found that while the judge committed other errors in principle, none had a material impact on the sentence.

Moreover, the panel found the sen-

tence was not demonstrably unfit. Pentilla was issued the terms in July 2019 on a count of fraud over $5,000. Between November 2004 and February 2011, she used her co-signing authority to alter 166 cheques adding up to $362,740 to make them payable to herself, then spent most of the money on gambling..

The fraud lasted until year-end accounts had to be reconciled in early 2011. Penttila was fired when the fraud was uncovered.

Charges were not sworn until February 2017 because of the time it took for the company to determine the extent of the loss and for the RCMP to gather the evidence in a way that was admissible to the court.

Penttila pleaded guilty six days before a trial on the matter was to start. Crown prosecution argued for three years but the judge, Michael Gray, took into account Penttila’s age and health issues in settling on two years.

The full decision is posted with this story at www.princegeorgecitizen.ca

Thank You Prince George

At one time, every department store had a bargain basement. The fun of finding a special treasure there still awaits you in one corner.

so presents found there to different. Displays quickly to replace merchandise as sold. Should be copwith a plumbingelectrical issue and want to try fixing it yourself – the required parts in that department along with nails, screws and fasteners. The knowledgeable staff can even sell you the right tools to accomplish the job. Be prepared to get talked out of a tool purchase if someone is hesitant about your ability to use it safely! Planning to do some painting? If you find you can’t remember whether latex can go over oil paint or whether oil paint can go over latex (it’s the first!) staff specially trained in paint technology will always know. Also, if you describe your project, the right paint can be recommended which takes all the guesswork out of it and eliminates the possibility of making a mistake. At one time, every department store had a bargain basement. The

fun of finding a special treasure there still awaits you in one corner. That’s where items from regular stock overlooked on the upper sales floors will be taken for markdown and sale. The rest of the floor is the area which houses furnishings and décor for patios and lawn furniture. Gardeners will find bulkier equipment like wheelbarrows, composters and spreaders for grass seed and lawn fertilizers. . One of the indicators that you really are a Prince Georgian is having an account at The Northern. The founder’s insistence that customers should be able to make monthly payments on items they need and want still applies with the 90-day interest free credit. A.B. Moffat established that as a good customer relations policy. Bills are mailed out to account holders every month, always with a little blue pre-addressed envelope to return payment by mail. But, many customers find it much more enjoyable to come up to the office to make their payments. That way, they get to see what’s new in the furniture department and say hello to the sales staff. Any time customers come in to The Northern, they sense and know the comfort of the familiar. Something interesting awaits inspection on all three floors. It is almost impossible to visit there without finding out something about new products, reacquainting with a friend you haven’t seen in a while or discovering that perfect thing which you didn’t realize you need! After all, isn’t that the whole point of going shopping?

Weeks ends UnBC term

Citizen staff

University of Northern B.C. president Daniel Weeks has wrapped up his second term sooner than anticipated.

Georffrey Payne, who was the board of governors appointed interim president when Weeks took a medical leave earlier this yea,r will remain in the position.

The board will soon form a selection committee to find a new president.

“I know the UNBC Timberwolf family is blessed with many talented people; our community must remain focused, with an eye towards moving this outstanding institution forward in the best interest of the communities we are honoured to serve,” Weeks said. “I am proud of the many positive things we accomplished over the past six years, and I wish contin-

ued success for the university.”

Weeks will return to teaching and research programs as a faculty member and will then help the new president transition into the position.

“Dan had an extraordinarily positive impact during his time as President,” Lee Ongman, board chair, said. “Our student enrolment numbers are improving, reversing a previously declining trend. We’ve strengthened relationships with Indigenous communities and taken meaningful steps along the path of Reconciliation. We’ve focused our academic, strategic and financial planning and diversified our community through revitalized internationalization efforts.”

Weeks became UNBC president in July 2014 and was reappointed for a second term in August 2018.

drUgs, Cash seized

Citizen staff

A man has been arrested and a “large amount” of methamphetamine and cocaine seized along with more than $60,000 in cash, Prince George RCMP said.

The chain of events began on Fri., Feb. 14 when members of the detachment’s plainclothes street crew unit pulled over a 34-year-old man on Foothills Boulevard and uncovered $10,000 in cash.

It was enough to secure search warrants for homes in the 1200-block of

North Ospika Boulevard and on Orbin Place in the Hart where the drugs and what police estimated to be more than $50,000 in cash was found, as well as drug trafficking paraphernalia.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was held for investigation and later released pending further inquiry and charge approval from federal Crown counsel.

The actions stem from an investigation that began in late 2019.

Falls seminar aimed at seniors

As a child falling is part of growing up and most will bounce back but as a senior a fall could be life altering.

Lola-Dawn Fennell, general manager for the Prince George Council of Seniors, is hosting a Fall Awareness and Prevention information session Thursday, March 5 at the Prince George & District Senior Citizens Activity Centre Society, 425 Brunswick St., from 1 to 2 p.m. Fennell said she’s had experience falling and wants to share with others just how serious it can be for some and what precautions to take to prevent a fall.

“Everyone who wants to learn more is invited to the session since most falls are predictable and preventable,” Susan Tapp, Prince George Council of Seniors housing information coordinator, said.

“This is a chance to learn how slips, trips and falls occur and how to prevent them. It’s really difficult to recover from a fall when you’re a senior so prevention is the key.”

Tapp had a fact sheet she shared:

• 85 per cent of seniors’ injuries are related to falls,

• 95 per cent of all hip fractures are a result of falls,

• falls incur $2 billion a year in direct healthcare costs,

• one third of seniors are admitted to a long term care facility after a fall.

“Falls can result in chronic pain, reduced mobility, loss of independence and sometimes even death,” Tapp said.

To find out more about fall prevention, everyone is welcome to attend the information session.

Crash kills one

One person was killed in a collision between a logging truck and two other vehicles on Highway 97 south of the city last Thursday, RCMP confirmed.

Emergency personnel were called to the scene between Patterson Road East and Courval Road, 15 km south of the Boundary Road turnoff for the airport, shortly after 9 a.m. The stretch was reopened to single-lane alternating traffic shortly before 7 p.m. and fully reopened later the same night.

RCMP said a sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck collided with the logging truck, spilling its load onto the highway. Another person was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.

“At this time, police are in the early stages of a fatal collision investigation,” RCMP said.

“The cause is undetermined and nothing has been ruled out.”

Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact RCMP traffic services in Quesnel at 250-9929211.

Citizen staff

Citizen staff

More teachers urgently needed

Ted Clarke Citizen staff

How desperate has the teacher shortage become in the Prince George school district?

With jobs for certified teachers going unfilled, School District 57 has turned to its Facebook site to try to get the word out that it will accept applications from uncertified candidates to fill positions in area schools.

The ad reads: “School District No. 57 (Prince George) is seeking enthusiastic individuals to work as Uncertified Teachers Teaching on Call in the Prince George area, which includes rural area schools at Nukko Lake, Giscome, Hixon, and Beaverly. Applicants will preferably have some post-secondary education in a related field, along with a variety of recent experiences working with either children or teens.”

The ad was posted Feb. 11 and SD 57 chair Tim Bennett says it is not new to the district. In consultation with the Prince George District Teachers Association, uncertified teachers have worked in mostly rural schools for several years.

“These positions are sometimes (filled by) teacher candidates who are waiting for their certifications to come in,” he said. “Sometimes they are more specialized individuals who could come in and teach our classes and sometimes they are people who have their bachelors or masters degree who have chosen not to pursue education at one point but have an

abundance of experience with kids...”

He said under no circumstances would an unqualified candidate with no prior experience working with kids be put in charge of a classroom. In some cases, a non-enrolling teacher (not attached to that particular class or division) or an administrator has been brought in as a substitute.

Last Tuesday’s provincial budget included $553 million set aside to address outstanding collective agreements. That’s good news for teachers, who have been without a contract since June 30, 2019.

The province will continue to support the classroom enhancement fund which provides targeted funding for Indigenous students and children and youth under the province’s care. Bennett said there was nothing in the budget which guarantees exempt staff (principals, vice-principals, and non-unionized school staff) would be included in any salary increases given to teachers in collective agreements and he would like to see the government address that in negotiations.

Bennett expects more budget details to be announced by the government by March 15. He’s hopeful there will be capital funding made available to SD 57 to proceed with an expansion/refurbishment project planned for D.P. Todd Secondary School. The project would replace portable classrooms now in use at the school with a permanent structure and existing school space would be redeveloped to modernize the school.

Brain injury forces life changes

On October 29, 2018, the unthinkable happened.

I was walking through downtown Prince George on a Monday afternoon. A disheveled looking Caucasian male attacked me with the intent of stealing my purse. I tried to fight him off as best as I could. I don’t remember how I fell but I distinctly recall feeling the crushing blow on the back of my head when it hit the sidewalk.

I attended the hospital on the day of the incident. I was told by the physician in emergency that I did not show signs of a concussion but I may develop one in time.

I returned to work two days later. I was sporting a huge goose egg on the back of my head and my thoughts were fuzzy but I was determined to make a full recovery. In the following three weeks, I noticed some unusual deficits in my work performance such as poor memory, slurring my words and unable

BOGGLED

DIANE NAKAMURA

to complete tasks that were normally straight forward. I realized I was in trouble when I was at home folding laundry and I couldn’t pair up socks. I went to see my doctor, was diagnosed with a concussion and was put on medical leave from work.

I had high hopes about returning to my job that I loved very much. During the following two months, more symptoms appeared. I had sensitivity to light and noise. I had to wear sunglasses all the time and certain sounds made me feel like an ice pick was going through my head. The floor and the ground were always moving. Wherever I was, the room was spinning. I constantly felt dizzy and nauseous. Because

of these symptoms, I did not drive or go out shopping or to restaurants for three months. I could not use electronics because I would develop an instant headache. Socializing with groups of people was impossible because I couldn’t follow conversations and would become overwhelmed and shut down. I experienced inner ear pain and couldn’t hear properly. Out of necessity, I was a hermit during the first few months after my injury. My wonderful friends drove me to my appointments, ordered groceries for me online and ran other errands.

I had my vision and hearing tested and the results were normal. I also had an MRI and two types of CAT scans done. Those results were normal as well. I discovered that the routine scans only pick up on bleeds (strokes) and skull fractures, not damaged neurons and swelling. I had little prior knowledge about how the brain controls every function in the human body.

Five months after being diagnosed with a concussion, my symptoms continued to be severe. My biggest struggles continue to be extreme fatigue, poor short term memory  concentration and the inability to multi-task and solve problems. I used to be able to

juggle many balls in the air and now I can barely juggle one. I started seeing specialists who diagnosed me with Post Concussion Syndrome. Concussions can last between a couple of weeks to a few months.   My biggest support throughout this difficult journey has been accessing information groups and one-on-one support at the Brain Injured Group (BIG). It is through my attendance at BIG that I’ve gained an understanding of brain injury, the causes and effects and how to rebuild my life. At BIG I feel I’m part of a supportive and caring community. I feel safe and normal there. Having an invisible disability has resulted in major shifts in my social circle due to the lack of awareness and understanding around brain injury. I am accepting of this and embracing my new normal. For years, my career defined my identity. Now I’m staring at a blank slate. Rebuilding my life after brain injury is a slow process but I am truly grateful for the supportive team I have around me - my spouse, family, friends and numerous professionals. I now believe that what appears to be a catastrophe is actually a path being cleared for a new beginning. I look forward to finding out what my new chapter will look like.

COnneCting kids

Have you ever thought about what your life would be like without nature? We live in a place to experience natural wonders and forests as the background to our lives.

Now imagine the movie Wall-E that came out in 2008. Humans had to leave the Earth because we abused the natural resources and trashed the planet. We were shipped to space in a giant rocket and were unable to walk after our health declined so much. Is that where we are headed?

I hope not and I don’t believe so but I think that connecting children to nature at a young age is important to help them gain an appreciation and understanding of just how integral it is to our lives later on. I remember climbing trees in my backyard in Whitehorse, swimming in the river and even getting a few bumps and bruises along the way. I didn’t have a phone until I was 13 (for someone my age, that’s almost unheard of) and it was one of those Nokia phones where you had to click number 1 three times to type the letter C. I believe this made me into who I am today and helped me gain an understanding and respect for the natural world. It’s proven that spending time in nature makes us happier and “time in nature” is even being prescribed to uplift spirits and help with mental health.

Nowadays, we see young children as young as Grade 1 or 2 being given phones and some can operate them better than I can. For someone that spends a lot of time on her phone and laptop, I can’t point fingers at all. I believe that spending time offline is incredibly important and I sure don’t do it enough. I see the benefits to technology and this online world we have created, but where is the line? How much screen time is too much?

There are great settings built into iPhones that help you manage how much time you spend on your phone by sending reminders when you have reached a certain limit.

This is a difficult time for many as Seasonal Affective Disorder affects two to

three per cent of the general population, and especially here in the north, these cold, dark months can be very hard on people. When it’s icy outside, it’s difficult to do tasks as basic as walking the dog, let alone getting in physical activity outside without slipping and breaking an ankle. Regardless of your ability, job, or age, I challenge and encourage you to unplug and reconnect for even one hour a day, even if it’s just sitting out on your patio.

A great social media personality I follow named Venetia La Manna (@venetiafalconer if you want to follow her too) started a challenge called #offline48 to promote putting our phones away for the weekend. I still have not had enough courage to try it for fear of missing out and always making an excuse that I need it for something. I know it’s quite ironic that a social media personality is using a challenge she created online, to promote getting offline. Whether it’s plugging in your phone an hour before bedtime and reading a book instead of scrolling Facebook or turning your phone to do not disturb so you’re not constantly picking it up, it’s healthier for humans and the planet to reconnect and find our appreciation for nature again.

I look around our community and, regardless of politics, I am surrounded by passionate environmentalists and conservationists, avid hunters and fishers and generations of farmers who have lives based around nature. I want to make sure that the next generation does not lose this connection to the land. Wall-E might not technically be dystopian fiction but I have a hard time imagining a more frightening future than one where we are absolutely disconnected from nature.

Note from the publisher

Prince George, we heard you.  We’re now offering what many of you across the city asked for when we made the switch from being a paid daily to a free weekly newspaper.  You can now buy a Citizen subscription that includes home delivery. If you are currently in a neighbourhood where we had been able to offer free home delivery, that service will be discontinued after March 26. The choice is yours – you can pick up the paper at one of the many newspaper boxes around the city for free, you can buy a copy at a local store for $2 or you can become a subscriber and have the paper delivered to your home every Thursday for $3

including GST per week. Some restrictions apply, depending on where you live, but delivery is available in most neighbourhoods in city limits. Your subscription will support quality local print journalism and ensure you receive The Citizen and all of your favourite flyers each week to your door each Thursday by 6 p.m. We’re happy to offer this service and thank you for continuing to support The Citizen.

If you are interested in delivery, please call 250-562-3301 or email rss@ pgcitizen.ca  to set up your prepaid subscription.

Colleen Sparrow Publisher and General Manager

Drought hurting New Zealand

I spent the last two weeks touring the North Island of New Zealand. The country is split into two large islands of comparable size and lots of smaller islands with interesting characteristics. Some islands are even ancient and active volcanoes.

My trip took me from Auckland to Wellington and back. It was a great adventure but I couldn’t help notice just how brown everything is. This is in stark contrast to a few months ago when the landscape consisted of rolling green hills covered in grass and other vegetation. Indeed, last November, I was wondering if it would ever stop raining.

Now Auckland, New Zealand’s major city, is reporting its 48th day without significant rainfall. There have been a few splashes here and there but for the most part the city is now in a severe drought. North of Auckland, some of the smaller towns are in danger of running out of water entirely. South of Auckland, in the Waikato where I am presently living, we haven’t seen significant rain in about the same amount of time.

So lush pastures are turning brown as the grasses dry up and farmers are beginning to worry about the potential impact on their livestock as food is becoming increasingly scarce.

At the same time, on the west coast of the South Island communities have been battered with rain storms resulting in floods. Driven in part by the ex-tropical cyclone Usei, the rains have left some communities stranded as roads have washed out.

Is this normal? It is a question many New Zealanders are asking themselves. In a country which prides itself on generating all of its electricity from non-fossil fuel based sources (wind farms, geothermal and hydro dams provide the load), it would seem climate change is having a significant impact.

The present drought conditions are not out of the ordinary. As one meteorologist working for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research put it, “what we are seeing is within the range of normal variation” but as climate scientist James Renwick states “it has now been 35 months since New Zealand had a month with below-average temperatures.” That should concern anyone wanting a drink of water or a regular shower.

Can we trace New Zealand’s weather to climate change? Not exactly.

It would appear to have a lot to do with conditions which would normally occur during an El Nino except there is no El Nino this year. It is also driven by the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) which helped plunge Australia into its recent bout of

record high temperatures and the bush fire crisis. The IOD has been in a strong positive phase for the past few months. It created a temperature difference across the tropical Indian Ocean which is impacting the climate throughout the region.

Another big driver influencing the weather is a negative Southern Annular Mode but both it and the IOD were expected to switch back to neutral returning the regional climate to expected norms. It hasn’t happened. Further there is a stable ridge of high pressure situated off the west coast of the North Island which has been blocking the approach of wind and rain for weeks. Essentially, the normal climate the North Island would be expecting at this time of year is not going to happen. Instead, it is dry. Very dry.

Of course, New Zealand is not alone in its extreme weather. There is major flooding in the United Kingdom, the cold winter striking most of North America and the record high temperatures being recorded in parts of Antarctica. And while all of these can be catalogued as “weather phenomena”, there is little doubt they are the by-products of our changing climate.

Or as climate researchers put it – they can now detect the fingerprint of global warming in daily weather observations at the global scale.

And as much as we would like to claim it is not our fault, it is increasingly evident that human activity is having a major impact. By altering the balance of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we are driving the changes to our climate. Further, the changes are engaged in positive feedback. The more ice melting from the Antarctic, the less sunlight is reflected and the warmer the oceans get resulting in more ice melting from the Antarctic. Some people want to deny our role or, at least, argue there is nothing we can do about climate change without severely impacting our standard of living. “We couldn’t live without fossil fuels?” they say. And yet, New Zealand has been generating its electricity without employing coal or gas powered plants for a number of years. It is a great place to live, provided you don’t mind the present drought.

OPINION

LETTERS to thE EDItoR

Wet’suWet’en Way

The crisis created by the blockades supporting the Wet’suwet’en has finally put government at all levels under every stripe where Indigenous people have been. The purpose of the Indian Act and government created bands and council has perpetrated the conflict in many First Nation communities. The imaginary boundaries created by the forefathers of Canada has finally come to roost on the step of government.

What Canadians are witnessing and many being impacted is what Canada’s First Peoples have had to endure for centuries. Unlike the two-week shortage some Canadians are experiencing, the indigenous people have endured shortages of essential services and items in their communities for over 200 years.

The Conservatives are working hard to make the blockades about a small group of radicals and people who have no business partaking in these protests. There is not a First Nation community in Canada who hasn’t had to bend to industry and government for jobs to lessen the impacts of severe poverty on reservations. This is part of the history of people whose land was taken over and resources extracted for the greater good of a country. Andrew Sheer and his followers are just coming within a hair of repeating history of John A. MacDonald.

For those who lack the knowledge of this part of Canada’s history – the first prime minister is quoted as saying the Government needed to “get rid of the Indian problem.” This was the beginning of reservations, the RCMP, residential schools, the Indian Act, Child Protection Services and the 60s scoop, denying status to hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples and lack of land for native people to live within their communities.

The provincial governments created modern day treaties to intentionally disregard traditional hereditary governance in place of the government mandated chief and councils. The new partners of government are industry who have no legal ground to trespass on unceded territories but the B.C. government gave them the green light so CGL could basically call in the legal system, using the RCMP to once again repeat history. The issues are complex and require heads of leadership to enter into trusted dialogue. Unfortunately what we are seeing is tried and failed solutions from the past. A refusal by the federal government to deal with CGL illegally occupy-

ing native land. The Crown has been sent a letter to honor sovereignty with the Indigenous people but we don’t hear this covered in the press or in the House at Question Period. Why? Maybe what we are witnessing is a reckoning that is 200 hundred years overdue?

I have voted no twice to B.C.’s modernday treaty because government chose to ignore Indigenous people collectively with shared territories governed by multiple chiefs and councils and hereditary governance. Our people saw, if we give up the land – what do we have? Shortterm jobs for some? A bag full of money to fix 200 years of neglect by government with no sustainable economies? How far will $10 million over 10 years go fix the water; sewer; housing; education and health on reserves? Where does this leave our people who had to leave reserves because of lack of housing? We are selling 280,000 square miles of land rich in resources for more trinkets, then what? What government does at this point will be viewed by many as too little, too late. The creation of the problem is our dependency on fossil fuels not the Indigenous people. Climate change is real and future generations will inherit our problems, so Mr. Sheer denouncing protesters is not only ignorant but irrelevant.

Jo-Anne Berezanski Elder, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation North Saanich

Racist confession

Hello, my name is Terry. I’m a Canadian and I’m a racist.

During my working years, I was a manager with the electric utility and I’ve spent more time than many in cultural awareness sessions, in meetings with various First Nations bands, and in developing and promoting programs to improve the lot of First Nations people. Many of these experiences were educational and thought-provoking for me; some not so much. Often I’ve been raked over the coals for perceived provocations or violations of some protocol or other. For PC reasons, I’ve at times had to make business decisions that were not in the best interests of the ratepayers. Nevertheless, I truly tried to be teachable and to understand the culture.

Recent events have pretty much undone all that. I’ve listened with frustration as anyone’s ancestors who weren’t

born on this continent a few thousand years ago were disparaged as colonials and characterized as criminals or worse. And only those born with the prerequisite DNA – birthright being everything, merit being nothing – can lay claim to this piece of earth. I’ve watched as politicians trip over themselves in an effort to gain favour by renaming lands, bodies of water, parks, and buildings. And today I listen to the rhetoric around the silver bullet of reconciliation, never being quite clear what it means, but pretty sure it involves getting out the cheque book. In many of those meetings I attended in the past, the only one in the room who had actually set foot in a residential school was me. No, I’m not First Nations - I grew up in Port Alberni in the late 1950s/early 60s. A number of my childhood peers boarded at the residential school and they attended our public schools. We exchanged venues for ball games, I visited friends there, and the big sister of one of my friends (non-FN) worked there as a housekeeper and we would visit and help out on the weekends.

Many of these FN kids, just like me, wanted to be fireman/doctors/policeman/jet pilots, and needed the education to do it. They were unlikely to get it in their remote coastal community homes, and not all were enamoured with living in locations like that. Don’t get me wrong – I acknowledge and in no way condone the terrible things that happened in these schools and don’t pretend to compare my experience with those who were victims. While the concept may have been well intended, the methodology was obviously wrong. But I make these comments to add perspective, and ponder whether these institutions of evil that are blamed for so much were as totally Buchenwaldian as portrayed in the current dialogue.

And now I watch as an angry few do their best to destroy the fabric of our society, and to literally disable the hands that feed them, all while denigrating my ancestors for authoring everything that’s wrong in the world and in North Korean fashion, persecuting all who came after as being equally responsible for the actions of their forefathers.

I can’t get past this, and do you know what? I no longer want to. So, sadly and without pride in the fact, I admit I’ve become a racist.

Terry Receveur

Prince George

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cRoWn conceRns

“Lack of Federal Crown draws judge’s rebuke” (Feb. 20, Citizen).

Yes, there is a lack of federal Crown everywhere. You’ve touched softly on the trouble that is boiling beneath.

Canada is in an opioid crisis and those responsible for prosecuting have no care for the north, nor for that matter, any regions outside of Vancouver/Burnaby.

As taxpayers, we have been paying for pensioned prosecutors to fly from North Vancouver to service everything north of P.G., and we’ll continue to do so. This past summer, Kelowna lost its longstanding agent firm, only to be absorbed by another agent firm located in Richmond. The general theme when an agent firm is ousted is the billings, yet the PPSC mandate is to minimize costs with local firms. What is the cost when we lose local connections to our communities?

Currently, 46 judicial regions are up for tender in B.C. It would be a miracle if those bids were awarded to any firm that has not already been operating in those regions. Training new firms is such a task for the ASU of the PPSC, hence the fair bidding process.

The agent affairs program with the PPSC is a program designed for the federal government to have their cake and eat it too. There is no support, no training, no resources and definitely no discretion allowed by any agent firms so fairly awarded these contracts, they are but poor man’s prosecutors propped up to puppet the PPSC’s protocols.

In P.G. the defunct law firm of Kaun Law operated for a short seven years, but its founder prosecuted for nearly 17. He opened his firm on his 65th birthday year and he died on his 72nd. During those seven years, his organic firm went from holding four regions to 21. Most absorbed and then awarded.

For 20 months, the PPSC knew that KLC would not be bidding on any contracts and just three working days before the end of tender the fine feds informed KLC that we were “not the successful candidate.” News flash - we didn’t bid.

The lack of federal crown is due to a lack of organization and care from the ASU of the PPSC. It is also due to the contracts being awarded to a firm in North Vancouver that has not yet been vetted, announced, organized, and has the best puppet they could find.

Fair and transparent? I think not. Virginia Kaun Prince George

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PRINCE GEORGE

PRINCE GEORGE

Call spending what it is

By now, your City of Prince George utility bill has arrived in the mail. In case you just looked at the amount due but didn’t look at the text below, “there has been an increase of 3% for water, 5% for Sewer & 2% for Garbage rates effective January 1, 2020.”

Unfortunately, that’s all it says. No brief explanation of the increase or some context. Just another tax increase above the rate of inflation. Has it suddenly cost more to run water through the pipes, to treat sewage or to pick up garbage? Who knows?

In the private sector, the normal practice is to provide some sort of pithy explanation on the bill of why the rates are going

up. The bad and annoying habit of government, of which the City of Prince George is the standard, rather than the exception to the rule, is to just pass on increases small and large with nary an explanation. That mentality is indicative of the thought process at City Hall. As city council works through finalizing its budget, language itself has been twisted to mask what’s going on. Using the city jargon, mayor and council are debating “service enhancements.”

Well, who doesn’t want a service enhancement? It sounds so wonderful, like an upgrade to business class on a flight to Toronto or being moved from a basic room to a suite at a hotel. Those things don’t come for free, of course, and in the rare instances when they do, most people can’t help feeling they’ve won the lottery.

The problem with the phrase “service enhancement” is the emphasis on the end result, rather than the means. Both the elected officials and the civic employees

want to offer great service to local residents. So when a service enhancement is proposed, the first thought is finding a way to make it happen. An enhancement is better and who doesn’t want better?

So imagine for a moment that instead of calling them service enhancements, the same budget proposals - to hire more police, to add a climate change coordinator, to make snow removal more efficient, to improve social services and bylaw enforcement downtown - were called “spending increases?”

Suddenly, everybody’s paying attention. Suddenly, the lens is “how much is this going to cost?” rather than “we need this to make things better.” Suddenly, the rationale for the proposal starts with financial value, rather than intrinsic value.

What we call things shapes how we see them, which is why the two sides of the abortion debate refer to themselves as pro-choice and pro-life. Who doesn’t want more choice? Who doesn’t support life?

Stop romanticizing otherS

It is just part of the human condition that I will occasionally be infuriated when I see the types of books on display at a library or in bookstores. Book covers with angelic, beautiful, young girls wearing a head-covering, reflecting the utopian stories inside, especially bother me. The reason this bothers me is that I grew up in a similar community and I know that the innocence portrayed on the cover and in the pages of the book hide the complexity and difficulty of living in a community like that. Trapped inside a world from long ago, most people stay, not because they believe it is the best way to live, but because if they leave, they lose their standing in the community and risk their entire family and friend support network. A few do leave, but the trauma of leaving everything they know, (in exchange for their ability to work and think as they feel called, having no place that is truly theirs, never really belonging in a world so com-

THINKING ALOUD

TRUDY KLASSEN

pletely “other,”) takes years and hard work to overcome.

Yet the outside world glorifies this way of life. Interested people hire tour guides and tourists clutter up the roadways in Lancaster County and other Mennonite or Amish communities, hoping to get a glimpse of these “interesting” people. And buy books. The “Amish romance” or “bonnet ripper” book industry has sold over 30 million copies. (Someone is making a lot of money off these books, but I can tell you, it is not the Mennonite or Amish people.)

This brings me to the non-Indigenous protesters across Canada. (Bear with me as we follow the squirrel.)

A Twitter conversation of an Indigenous friend had this comment on it: “the protesters want my people to be “monkeys in a zoo.” I was disturbed. What made him say that? My squirrel ran over to my own story, and as the human story usually repeats itself in slightly different forms, I began to see signs of similarity.

Thomas King, in his book The Inconvenient Indian, makes the case that nonIndigenous people have difficulty dealing with the modern Indian, that we prefer the “Indian” who dresses up in ceremonial clothing, dances his traditional dances and lives in his teepee or igloo. All we “civilized ones” need to do to preserve the “Hollywood Indian” is to keep the “savage” in his place and he will remain noble, beautiful and perfect.

The idea of “The Noble Savage”  is an old one. Largely credited to French Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it means, according to Encyclopedia Brittanica: “an idealized concept of uncivilized man, who

all the world’S a Stage

Only in Prince George can you hear an ad on the radio and find yourself in a major summer theatre production within a few short weeks and have a bucket list dream come true.

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were driving up the hill on Foothills Boulevard when I heard the familiar melody of The Sound of Music on the radio along with an open audition call. Something came alive on the inside and I just knew I had to do it. Besides, as a good insurance sales person in Prince George, it was my job to do my rounds, so I told myself I had nothing to lose.

The audition process was quite a thrill. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of performing arts as well as the incredible talent in our city. There were dancers, singers and actors of all ages doing their thing in an electric atmosphere of nerves and anticipation. It was all I could do to get

LATITUDE

LINDA REMPEL

through the audition and move on.

Two weeks later, out of the blue, I received a call back email to audition for the role of Frau Schmidt. I couldn’t believe it. The second audition is all a bit of a blur, although I do have two specific memories. One was someone laughing as I rolled my eyes while reading for the part. The second was as I was leaving seeing out of the corner of my eye someone speaking intensely to the director. This seemed strange and made me feel uneasy.

Looking back, I realize now that it was a beloved and very generous musician and performer in our city advocating hard for me to have the role of Frau Schmidt. It

The same questions have come up during the recent pipeline protests. Should the people taking part be called pipeline protesters or land defenders? Wet’suwet’en supporters or illegal demonstrators?

Individual opinion of those issues dictates the answer.

In the case of service enhancements and spending increases, both are factually accurate descriptors. Calling them spending increases, however, puts the horse before the buggy.

It’s an in-your-face reminder for bureaucrats and politicians alike that the spending increase happens first, then the service enhancement.

If mayor and council are truly unhappy with the tax and spend reputation they’ve earned at the expense of local homeowners and businesses over the past six years, one minor change at no cost - renaming service enhancements as spending increases - could make a big difference. - Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout

symbolizes the innate goodness of one not exposed to the corrupting influences of civilization.”

So, I hurt for the Indigenous person who feels he is being told that the best thing for him is to go sit in a cage for other’s viewing pleasure. Telling the Indigenous people that they must fit into someone’s romantic idea of what it means to be Indigenous is simply a new form of colonialism and surely we don’t want to start that again.   To bring my squirrel back, the community I was raised in actually had a form of the idea of “the Noble Savage” as their unstated goal - the less education, the less contact with outsiders, the less influenced they would be by evil civilization. Inadvertently, because it was hard to leave and redefine oneself, most became monkeys in a zoo, in cages of their own making.  Think of that the next time you see one of those idealistic books on a shelf and keep walking.

worked! I will be forever grateful for the challenging and life changing opportunity to play Frau Schmidt in Judy Russell Presents The Sound of Music.

It wasn’t easy by any stretch, but so much good came from being involved. I had to learn quickly and thicken my skin. Solid bonds were formed with many in a special community theatre way. I now have such enormous respect and admiration for the leadership, skill and talent it takes to choreograph and produce incredible shows year in and year out.

Participating in theatre also opened my eyes to the great bounty of performing arts available to us in our region. One of my favorites is the wonderful and philanthropic works of Miracle Theatre. Since 2015, Miracle Theatre has thoroughly entertained local audiences, while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of the Salvation Army, the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation, United Way,

and most recently The Prince George Community Foundation.

Miracle Theatre’s current production, Mark Crawford’s The Birds and the Bees, is a heartwarming and hilarious tale about the life lessons of sex, love and family relationships. This year has been another sold out success, and the good news is the play is being held over until March 8th. This overwhelming support from our city shows just how much Miracle Theatre touches hearts and draws out our generosity and compassion for the important causes it champions. Don’t miss this chance to be tickled and to laugh out loud while supporting the Prince George Community Foundation’s Children of Prince George Fund. The investment income of the fund is dispersed annually to local charities in Prince George that focus on child development.

What an incredible contribution to our community!

SPORTS

kings seT To faCe Trail

Ted Clarke Citizen staff

They might be the defending champions of the B.C. Hockey League but nobody, not even the most optimistic fan of the Prince George Spruce Kings, expects them to run the table in the playoffs like they did last season.

Playing in a league in which 16 of the 17 teams make the playoffs, the Spruce Kings (18-32-3-5-0, 44 points) got in by the skin of their teeth as the 16th seed. If they get through their first-round series, which starts Friday night in Trail, it would be a major miracle.

“I don’t think that being an underdog is a bad thing, I kind of like it,” said Kings centre Preston Brodziak. “I think they’re going to take us for granted. We know we can play hard and we can play with them. I think it’s going to be a good series and I’m looking forward to it.”

The Kings finished fifth in the Mainland Division and cross over into the Interior Division to play the Smoke Eaters, the second seed in the Interior. With 77 points, Trail finished 13 points behind the first-place Penticton Vees.

The Smoke Eaters (36-17-2-2-1) won all three of the head-to-head regular season games with the Spruce Kings in regulation time. It started Sept. 28 when they beat the Spruce Kings 3-0 in Prince George and continued Oct. 5 with a 7-4 win over P.G. at the BCHL Showcase in Penticton.

The most recent encounter, a 9-2 shelling in Trail, happened on Jan. 29.

Trail hosts the first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday and the series comes to Rolling Mix Concrete Arena for games next Monday and Tuesday and, if necessary, a Game 5 on Thursday. The next two games, if needed, would be played in Trail Saturday and Sunday, March 7-8.

The Spruce Kings finished the season with a pair of losses at home to the regular season-champion Coquitlam Express, who took Friday’s game 4-2 and won 4-3 Saturday in a shootout. Kings associate coach Colin Minardi liked what he saw out of his team in both games as they picked up where they left off after a three-point weekend in Kitimat against the Langley Rivermen.

“I was pretty proud of our guys to stick with it and show a bit of resiliency, which we lacked at times this season,” Minardi said. “It’s perfect to see that right before playoffs. We battled hard right to the end

in the first round of the playoffs.

of the game and it was great to see from our guys.”

Home ice has not been kind to the Spruce Kings. They went 7-15-3-4-0 at Rolling Mix and their seven wins were the fewest of any team in the BCHLtheir lowest total in the past 15 seasons.

“It’s weird,” said Brodziak. “It’s tough to win on the road so we’re happy with how we’ve performed on the road on most nights but we definitely want to give back to the community. They do a lot for us and we want to start getting some wins at home for the fans.”

Injuries plagued the Spruce Kings this season, especially on defence, and there was a revolving door in and out of the locker room which saw a dozen players come and go. Not one Spruce King played the entire 58-game schedule and losing top-line 20-year-old winger Chong Min Lee to shoulder surgery after just 24 games hurt the bottom line.

But there were some bright spots. Poisson led the Kings with 47 points and had 21 goals in 49 games as the team MVP.

P.G. minor hockey product Corey Cunningham thrived in his second full season with his hometown Kings. He scored a team-leading 26 goals and was second on the team with 44 points. Captain Nolan Welsh, in his 20-year-old season, provided 39 points and Nick Bochen led

the defence with 33 points. Rookie Fin Williams, despite missing 18 games with a leg injury, still managed 11 goals and 20 assists.

In a season that’s had a lot more downs than ups, probably the best find for general manager Mike Hawes was 19-yearold defenceman Mason Waite, who anchored the left point and had seven goals and 29 points in his first BCHL season since coming to the Kings from the Lloydminster Bobcats.

Just-turned 19-year-old Carter Woodside joined the Kings in late-November and seized his chance to take over the role as starting goalie from 20-year-old Jett Alexander, who played well in the season-ending loss to Coquitlam. Either way, head coach Alex Evin, has a reliable backup if the other falters in the series.

“We think we match up pretty good,” said Minardi. “If we stick to our strengths and play a strong simple game I think we’ll have success against them. Obviously they’re a fast, skilled team but if we work hard and bring our game I think we’ll have a good chance.”

Team awards handed ouT

Nick Poisson rose to the top of the Prince George Spruce Kings’ class of 2019-20.

In his last season before he moves on

to the NCAA with Providence College in Rhode Island, the 18-year-old from Vancouver had a standout season and was recognized for it Sunday at the Kings awards banquet.

Poisson was selected as the most valuable player after leading the Kings in scoring. The second-year left winger averaged nearly a point per game, finishing with 21 goals and 26 assists for 47 points in 49 games.

He represented the Spruce Kings at the World Junior A Hockey Challenge playing for Team Canada West in Dawson Creek in November and was also selected for the CJHL Prospects Game in Hamilton, Ont., in January.

Poisson is also the Mainland Division candidate for the BCHL’s Bob Fenton Memorial Trophy which goes to the league’s most sportsmanlike player.

Other Spruce Kings award winners were: Top defenceman - Mason Waite, Nick Bochen; Rookie of the year - Fin Williams; Most improved - Corey Cunningham, Waite; Most inspirational - Colton Cameron, Kolton Cousins; Off-ice fitness - Carter Cochrane, Bochen, Williams; Plus-minus award - Cameron; Fan favourite - Will Kushniryk; Scholastic award - Cameron; Outstanding community service - Jett Alexander; Most dedicated player - Williams, Cochrane.

Citizen photo by James Doyle

prince George spruce Kings forward preston brodziak goes one-on-one against Coquitlam express goaltender Jack Watson while being hooked from behind by defender steven bellini on Friday night at Rolling mix Concrete arena. the Kings are set to play the trail smoke eaters

Olympic curlers visit school

Ted Clarke Citizen staff

In countries where the only ice ends up chilling a beverage in a glass, floor curling is the next-best alternative to rinks where Olympic curlers Tom Brewster and Karri Willms honed their craft.

They brought the gymnasium version of the game to Harwin Elementary School to raise student awareness of the 2020 World Women’s Curling Championship, which will be hosted in Prince George next month.

Three classes of students in grades 4-7 took part in the Olympic Celebration Tour and the kids curled on the hardwood floor, sliding light rocks on wheels at the rings of a target mat. They didn’t get to toss any of the 44-pound curling stones the women will be throwing on the ice at CN Centre, March 14-22, but they did get to feel the weight of the Olympic medals Brewster and Willms brought with them.

Brewster, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, passed around the silver medal he won at the 2014 Sochi Olympics with Team Scotland, which lost to Brad Jacobs of Canada in the final. Brewster, 45, quit curling competitively two years ago to focus on his young family and he coaches some of the top junior teams in Scotland.

Brewster has been involved in curling since he was eight. His international experience in curling has given him not only success but friendships in many countries.

“I have really good friends in different parts of the world and that’s part of what this sport is, it’s a social sport and that’s how it started in Scotland because the farmers couldn’t do anything else,” said Brewster, through his thick accent. “It was too cold, so let’s go throw some stones on the ice and have a dram. It originated because of the social aspect and that’s what draws me to it. You can walk into any club in the world and strike up a conversation around the sport.”

Willms, a native of Vernon, teamed up with Julie Skinner (nee Sutton) to win bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, the second year in which curling was an Olympic demonstration sport.

“The Olympic atmosphere was super,” said Willms. “All the emotions you go through and you get to see all the other Olympians and you, all the different coun-

tries, and everybody is so proud to represent their countries. The biggest memory for me was not only curling but the closing ceremonies and being part of that Olympic movement. Of course, at the time, you’re focused and all the training you do is to go for gold but we came home with the bronze and we’re very proud of that.”

The year before Albertville, Willms played lead for Canada in the 1991 world championship in Winnipeg and lost 4-3 in an 11-end final to Norway.

On Sunday, Kerri Einarson skipped Manitoba to an 8-7 win in 11 ends in the final of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Einarson will represent Canada next month in Prince George.

Willms, 50, the competition and development officer for the World Curling Federation, lives part of the year in Italy. She’s coached the national teams of Italy, Latvia and Great Britain.

She says said the game has gone through a lot of changes since when was in her prime. The equipment is better. There’s more focus on pebbling of arena ice to make it more conducive to allowing rocks to curl and the curlers themselves take better care of themselves as athletes.

“Everything has been taken up to another notch,” she said. “A lot of the teams now are focused on their fitness, eating properly. Maybe back then, some of the teams didn’t focus on that as much, and it was more working on the ice. We worked in the gym six days a week and so we were higher up on that compared to most of them. I think that gave us an edge, but now it’s a given. You have to have your nutrition and you have to work out.”

Now in its seventh year, the Olympic Celebration Tour goes all over the world and will be in Glasgow, Scotland next month for the men’s world championship, with plans to also visit Ukraine, Brazil, Japan and Alaska. The presentation started with a cartoon which covered the basic rules of curling, followed by a short quiz, which gave the kids a chance to win curling pins.

“This floor curling program we’re using is used in schools all around Canada,” said Scott Arnold, head of development for the World Curling Federation. I think 1.5 million kids have been introduced to the sport of curling using floor curling. It was developed here in Canada.”

Citizen photo by James Doyle

olympic curler tom brewster, left, and terry philips, right, watch as teacher tamara blackburn throws a stone while student Kennedy ouger, 9, sweeps during some floor curling at harwin elementary school during a learn-to-curl session.

Photographer showcases wildlife

Christine hinZMAnn Citizen staff

Artnerships in Prince George see businesses and organizations supporting local artists by  showcasing their work.

The juried program is a Prince George & District Community Arts Council effort that celebrates the diversity and exceptional standard of excellence achieved by regional artisans.

Currently, the City of Prince George and the Prince George Airport are part of the program.

Recently wildlife photographer Eric Seeman presented his picture of a bull moose to Mayor Lyn Hall.

The piece will be showcased at City Hall in the fifth floor lobby.

This is the first time Seeman has been involved in the Artnership program.

“It’s fantastic,” Seeman said. “It’s a great honour. I like people to see what I do and have the opportunity to share my work with everyone in Prince George.”

Seeman wanders off into the bush as often as possible to ‘shoot’ his subjects.

“The bull moose that I hung up at City Hall - he was a monster,” Seeman said who has been a photographer for more than 20 years. “He was actually with two cows and I walked in pretty peacefully and he was pretty busy with the cows. He didn’t seem to be too worried about me. But again I shot from a very long distance upwind from him so everything was pretty good. I spent probably about an hour with him. I searched for a couple of years now for a big bull like that - like most hunters around here I suppose. They are few and

far between and I felt very lucky when I found this one. It took a lot of patience and a long, long time to find him - just like anything I do out here.”

Seeman was on a mountain top near Prince George staying in cell range during the Citizen’s phone interview.

On his website, Seeman has a photo series called Nature’s Way that captures a linx making a meal of a frozen deer carcass only to have an element of surprise added to the mix.

The images showcase a dedicated pho-

Art bAttle brewing

Christine hinZMAnn Citizen staff

All it takes is 20 minutes to create a painting.

That’s the premise for Art Battle Prince George where 12 artists take up the challenge to make a complete piece of artwork under the hot lights in the main branch of the Prince George Public Library on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m.

Each spectator to the live competitive painting challenge gets to vote for their favourite.

There are three preliminary rounds with the artists moving into the final round by popular vote.

The wild card sees the artist with the most second place votes earning a spot in

the final round as well.

The dozen artists competing in this year’s event hosted by the Prince George & District Community Arts Council are Carla Joseph, Karen Erickson, Michael Kast, Harshpreet Kaur, Viv Fox, Emily Holmes, Erin Stagg, Ekaterina Filatov, Mandy Paavola, Audrey McKinnon, Sebastian Nicholson and Jennifer Pighin.

“A lot of the artists have competed before but there are some new ones in the group, too,” Lisa Redpath, program manager for the Community Arts Council, said.

“The artists love the energy during the live event and really, it’s a challenge for local artists. It’s so amazing to see what can be developed and where their minds go.”

There is no theme for the event and each

tographer whose patience pays off with a series of 28 photos that speaks to the nature of things.

“You have to be out there a lot,” Seeman said, about capturing nature in its element.

“I spent about three and a half hours with that linx that day.”

For a nature photographer, there is always a chance of a close encounter.

“For a lot of my photos I am using a long lens so I have that safe distance but there has been one bluff charge from a black bear but most of the pictures that you see

artist has to do their research to see what images are trending right now because they need to inspire votes from the audience, Redpath added.

“So the artists have to capture that emotion and draw that voter into their piece,” she said. “This is our seventh annual and I have seen some remarkable things done at the last minute that were heart-stopping.”

There are particular elements that are added into the competition.

“The music is absolutely thumping, the lights are hot, and the stress level rises when the audience is at their backs because we let them get fairly close to create that remarkable energy and the audience starts to circle the artists during that 20 minutes so they can see all the art

Performers invited to Auditions

I have spent two or three days going into the same area and I think the animals just get used to me being there and they know that I am not a threat. It seems to be pretty calm.”

Seeman’s most recent grizzly bear photos were taken in Kodiak, Alaska, where he was escorted by a guide.

“So those bears really didn’t care about us being there,” Seeman said. “They were so fed with fish and we just weren’t a concern of theirs at all. They’re so used to humans coming into the area, they don’t take us as a threat.”

Some of those grizzlies in Kodiak are the biggest in the world, Seeman said. He saw one grizzly that stood five and a half feet at the hump. During his adventures, Seeman took some time off when his father became ill and then when he passed away in 2013 Seeman was inspired to do more because he knew his father had enjoyed the photos Seeman shared with him.

“I knew he loved the wildlife and I think that’s what pushed me to get out there more,” Seeman said.

The message Seeman wants to convey through his photography is to love wildlife as he does.

“I’ve never hunted, I don’t have anything against hunters who fill their freezer but trophy hunting I am totally against,” Seeman said. “I love to share what I see - the moose, the linx, the bears, the cute little fox - I love to share those images with people who have no idea what this part of the country holds and it’s for a lot of the older folks who can’t get out to enjoy what I enjoy.”

in the making,” Redpath said.

Everyone is asked to vote at the end of each round.

“Everyone takes it extremely seriously,” Redpath said. “People are not there to vote for their friend. They vote for their favourite painting regardless of who has painted it. We’ve seen that over and over again since the beginning.”

All paintings are auctioned off to audience members.

The artist that wins the local Art Battle goes to the regional competition that is held in Vancouver in July to battle against the best in the province.

Tickets are $15 at artbattle.ca or at Studio 2880 - 15th Ave., home of the Community Arts Council.

“By doing joint auditions we can see a large number of artists and we can save the artist from having to audition over and over again.”

Judy Russell Presents and Theatre NorthWest are offering an opportunity for local performers to attend joint auditions. “We have a very talented pool of local artists and whether they are full-time or part-time performers, we want to see them have the opportunity to do what they love in the community they live in,” Judy Russell, owner of Judy Russell Presents, said.

Russell is on the look out for rock opera and musical theatre artists for upcoming 2020 productions while Theatre NorthWest is on the search for young women for their year-end musical production.

Auditions will be held at Enchainement Dance Centre, 3540 Opie Crescent, on Friday, March 6 from 6 to 9 p.m., again at Enchainement on Saturday, March 7 from 2 to 6 p.m. and at the Prince George Playhouse Sunday, March 8 from 1 to 5 p.m.

Those performers interested in auditioning should bring a head shot and resume, prepare 16 bars of an appropriate song and be prepared to move and possibly do a reading. To request an audition time, send an email to JRPandTNWauditions2020@ gmail.com and be sure to include the age of the person auditioning.

Citizen photo by James Doyle

mayor lyn hall, left, and eric seeman show off a photo that will be hung on the fifth floor of City hall as part of the City of prince George and Community arts Council’s artnership program.

Crow returns for PGSO show

Christine

hinZMAnn Citizen staff

The Prince George Symphony Orchestra presents Jonathan Crow Comes Home Saturday, Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Vanier Hall.

Crow grew up in Prince George and learned how to play violin in School District 57’s string program and was a student at the Prince George School of Music.

After moving to Victoria with his family, Crow then went to the University of Montreal to study music, and now is the associate professor of violin at the University of Toronto’s faculty of music and the concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony since 2011.

“I kind of grew up in the symphony from about the age of 11 and so it’s going to be really nice to come back and see friends and colleagues that I haven’t seen in such a long time,” Crow said. “And in Vanier Hall - the same place where I grew up learning the violin.”

The PGSO reached out to Crow as they were asking former musicians that used

Around Town

Miracle TheaTre

Until Sunday, March 8 at 8 p.m. every night except Mondays and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at ArtSpace, above Books & Co., 1685 Third Ave., Miracle Theatre presents the comedy The Birds and the Bees, a full-length professional theatre production. Proceeds from the show will be donated to the Children of Prince George Endowment Fund under the trusteeship of the Prince George Community Foundation. This new endowment fund for local charities was established with $84,039 donated from Miracle Theatre’s last production. Tickets are $34 each at Books & Co. or call 250-563-6637. For more information visit www.miracletheatre.ca.

ToasTMasTers

Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6:45 p.m. at the AiMHi Building, 950 Kerry St., there is a Toastmaster demonstration meeting to show newcomers that by raising communication and leadership skills, people can make the world a better place. See how Toastmasters can help without obligation to join or speak. For more information visit the Facebook event page. Contact: 250981-5628 | thejonuks@shaw.ca

to play with the symphony to come back for a visit and Crow said he was pleased to agree.

“It felt like the perfect situation,” Crow said.

The piece Crow will perform during the show is Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26.

“The piece that I will be playing - the Bruch Concerto - is a piece I have a real connection with this orchestra,” Crow said.

“I remember very vividly a guest soloist, Marc Beliveau, playing the Bruch concerto and then I played it in a master class program for him, doing that same piece probably when I was about 12 years old. So coming back to this piece again so many years later makes a lot of sense.”

Eventually, Biliveau became a colleague of Crow’s at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for many years, Crow added.

Crow was concertmaster for the Montreal orchestra before he moved to Toronto to take on his current position.

AROUND

inTro To D&D

Thursday, Feb. 27 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Bob Harkins Branch, Prince George Public Library, 888 Canada Games Way, there is an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons for 10-18 yrs. During ever-changing campaigns, adventurers will learn the basics of D&D. Materials provided. Free drop in. Contact: 250-563-9251 | ask@pgpl.ca

JonaThan crow coMes hoMe

Saturday, Feb. 29 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Vanier Hall, 2901 Griffiths Ave., former Prince George resident Jonathan Crow, who learned his craft in SD 57’s string program and the Prince George School of Music is now associate professor of violin at the University of Toronto, faculty of music and the concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony since 2011. This concert begins with award winning Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich’s Postcards from the Sky,

“The Bruch concerto is one of the most underrated pieces,” Crow said.

“It is one of the greatest concertos for violin. It doesn’t get as much press or acknowledgment as Tchaikovsky or Beethoven because those composers are more famous but this is one of the most appealing pieces I can think of.

“The tunes in it are incredible, the romantic melody, the virtuosity - it’s a really appealing piece and for somebody that’s new to classical music perhaps this is one of the greatest pieces to introduce you to what classical music is all about. It’s not stuffy and boring or formulaic but something that’s accessible to anybody,” he added.

The concert starts with award-winning Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich’s Postcards from the Sky, followed by two pieces by Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 Unfinished and Entr’acte from Rosamunde, with the highlight of the evening being Crow’s performance.

For more information and tickets visit www.pgso.com.

followed by two pieces by Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 Unfinished and Entr’acte from Rosamunde. The highlight of the evening will no doubt be Jonathan Crow’s performance of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26. For more information and tickets visit www.pgso. com.

heriTage expo

Saturday, Feb. 29 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Central BC Railway & Forestry Museum, 850 River Road Prince George the 2020 Central Interior Heritage Expo invites guests to come explore, share and celebrate the history of people, events and locations in the Central Interior of British Columbia. The Central BC Railway & Forestry Museum, Prince George Heritage Commission, The Prince George Public Library and UNBC Continuing Studies Department are coordinating the free Heritage Expo. Contact: (250) 617-5931 | rob.bryce@ unbc.ca

leap Year exTravaganza

Saturday, Feb. 29 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Bob Harkins Branch, Prince George Public Library, 888 Canada Games Way, celebrate the leap year with leap-themed activities. Free drop in for event geared for 0-9 years old. Contact: 2505639251 | ask@pgpl.ca

hisTorY Talk

Sunday, March 1 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum, 850 River Rd., Ghost Towns on the

East Line author Ray Olson will offer Power Point presentations, stories, discussions, and great fellowship. Olson is a dynamic speaker with many interesting stories and images to share. There is no cost to attend and light refreshments will be served. For more information visit www.pgrfm.bc.ca.

coMMuniTY gaMing granT workshop

Sunday, March 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Civic Centre-Wellness North Expo, 808 Canada Games Way, the Northern Interior Community Association assists non-profit organizations throughout BC to apply for monies from the BC Community Gaming Grant Program within their sectors of Arts & Culture, Sport, PACs & DPACs, Public Safety, Environment, Human & Social Services within their appropriate dates to apply. Attend the workshop for all the answers. This is a free event. Contact: 250612-2031 | coordinator@northernica.org

The DiaMonDs, a funDraiser

Sunday, May 24 at 2 and 7 p.m. at Vanier Hall, 2901 Griffiths Ave., the Prince George Council of Seniors is hosting a fundraiser featuring the doo wop band called The Diamonds who present Old Gold Retold. Ticket are $42.75 each and available at ticketsnorth.ca or at the CN Centre.

TSO handOuT phOTO

Jonathan Crow returns to Prince George for a show Saturday with the PGSO at Vanier Hall.

What entrepreneurs need to know

Ishould have paid more attention to the fact that my parents and their friends were rather tipsy from the wine they were drinking when they proposed an idea for a new product. However, being 21 years old, having just finished my business program at college, full of energy and looking for a world of excitement in business, I thought the idea for this novel product to keep wine cool on a warm summer night, might be just the thing to set the world on fire.

Over the next few weeks and months, I worked on fleshing out the concept. My brother Rob suggested that we use a new material that the astronauts used to keep warm in space. I had a seamstress create some samples. I drew up a budget, made a prospectus and pitched some investors to the tune of $10,000.  After raising the money, I got in my Honda Civic, drove 500 miles to find a factory to manufacture the product and packaging. In the subsequent months, I hit the road to sell the product to retailers and consumers.  Entrepreneurship is hard work. For many months over the next couple

had pitched to my investors.

years, I spent hundreds of long days from morning to night trying to flog my Winetux. I had meetings with my investors to keep them up to date, bought and boxed my product, I worked trade shows and consumer shows, made cold calls to prospective buyers and ordered product based on my projections.

The work was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Due to the amount of work to build the business, I seemed to have little time for my family or friends. I believed that if I could push harder, I would achieve a breakthrough that would enable me to be a hero to my investors and build something that generate an income. However, no matter how hard I worked, I never seemed to be able to achieve that colossal success that I

An extension cord ran under her apartment door, plugged in to the outlet in the hallway. With their Hydro cut off, my sister’s resourceful boys were finessing power for a single light bulb. The incandescence doubled as heat source for the no-name hotdogs they were pressing in to it. The eldest would later iron a pair of pants on the same bulb. I could go on, but suffice it to say, we’ve been there. Somewhere in a tiny village between here and the coast, things were looking up. That first bump towards middle class is one of the most exciting things a family can experience, especially when it comes through a steady job. Hard-battled agreements have been in place for several years and the money is already flowing. Nobody for a moment suggests this is a simple thing, but the argument has been resolved as a community, save a few who claim genetic supremacy over their peers, supported by the millennial urban protester class – none of whom have ever even considered frying a hotdog on a dirty light bulb.

BUSINESS COACH DAVE FULLER IT’S ONLY MONEY

While my friends and family thought I was on my road to becoming a millionaire, I knew a different reality. After a few months of struggling to grow sales, I realized that because the cash flow was tight, I would have to get a parttime job to supplement the income so that I could pay my rent and put gas in the car. Luckily, I didn’t have a family to support at the time.

The reality of entrepreneurship is often different than the one we dream about. We think that if we start a business, we will enjoy easy money without the scrutiny of a boss, working the hours we want and spending plenty of holidays on the beach. The truth is that owning a business is usually very hard work. Perhaps we don’t have one boss but we have many. We need to report to investors, customers, and suppliers who all want to know how things are coming along and more importantly, when they are getting paid. As owners of the business, we are usually the last to get paid if there is any money left over.

Fortunately, the rewards of entrepre-

Economy has a runny nose

RYAN

Just three months after a weeklong strike reduced rail transportation activity to a three year low, the industry is facing new challenges with protests and blockades dramatically curtailing rail traffic. Both commercial and passenger operators have announced layoffs.

The impact of transportation disruptions is temporary. A count of idled train cars shows activity bounced back almost immediately after November’s strike ended, as did most other industry impacted. Still, February’s rail disruptions aren’t the only blackfly biting the back of Canada’s economy of late.

Wintry weather, which can force operators to shorten trains, and a derailment in BC contributed to an 11% decline in rail transportation in February 2019. Activity quickly rebounded.

Like ticks on a moose, the cumulative impact of the varied distractions are real. We draw from a recent RBC Economic summary, noting a resilient, if not impervious Canadian economy.

Maintenance issues shut down some of Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil production in July, contributing to a four per cent drop in conventional oil and gas extraction. Production didn’t rebound until October.

Significant snowfall in early-fall brought the Prairie harvest to a halt, impacting farm wholesalers and rail transport, but the negative impact on Canada-wide GDP was modest.

A leak forced the Keystone pipeline to be shut down in early November and crude oil pipeline transportation GDP fell six per cent in the month. But with the sector representing just 0.25 per cent of Canadian GDP, the impact on overall growth was small.

Labour disruptions south of the border resulted in production cutbacks in Canada, contributing to three per cent declines in motor vehicle and parts output in both September and October. While the shutdowns were largely

neurship do exist. We live in countries where if we can figure out the maze of business ownership, we can live handsomely on its bounty. As entrepreneurs we do have the ability to follow our dreams and do what we are passionate about. Yes, there is risk but there can also be a nice reward. Unfortunately for many, the reward isn’t quite what they dreamed however, if your business has the ability to survive for three to five years, you may be at the cusp of success with only a few changes to the business model.  Business ideas can come after a bottle of wine or after a brainstorming session with your team. Businesses and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. Not only do we need entrepreneurs to have the vision to start a business but we need entrepreneurial attitudes within the business to ensure long term success in changing marketplaces.   - Dave Fuller, MBA, is an AwardWinning Business Coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Have an entrepreneurial story to tell? Email dave@profityourselfhealthy.com

reversed in November, they weighed on Q4/19 GDP growth.

The GM Oshawa plant accounted for nearly seven per cent of light vehicle production in 2019. Its permanent shut down at the end of last year will weigh on motor vehicle output at the start of the year, though the plant was already winding down in late 2019. The closure will have spillover effects on parts suppliers and the Durham region as a whole.

The coronavirus outbreak in early 2020 drew comparisons to 2003’s SARS outbreak, which the Bank of Canada estimated trimmed 0.6 percentage points off Q2/03 GDP growth. The impact of COVID19 is ongoing, but modest so far.

- Mark Ryan is an Investment Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (Member–CIPF). These are Mark’s views, and not those of RBC. This article is for information purposes only. Please consult with a professional advisor before taking any action based on information in this article. See Mark’s website at: http://dir.rbcinvestments. com/mark.ryan.

$300 mIllIon for yeAr

Lumber and pulp producer Canfor Corp. has recorded a year-end loss of $294 million.

The outcome, reported in its quarterly report issued last Thursday, is in contrast to the

$608 million in operating income the company gained over 2018, the highest it had achieved in 10 years.

Adjusted for countervailing and anti-dumping duties, inventory write-down recoveries and  restructuring costs related to mill closures and curtailments, the loss stood at $92 million, compared to a gain of $814 million over the previous year.

On Feb. 3, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Canadian lumber producers could see their

duties cut in half by August. If that happens, Canfor would be see its deposit rate drop from 20.52 per cent down to 4.63 per cent and a recovery adding up to $140.6 million but only once the litigation has been settled, the company said.

Citizen staff

OUTDOORS Land set aside for caribou

Glacier Media

Nearly two million acres in the B.C. Peace be placed into protected areas as part of a caribou recovery agreement signed in Vancouver last Friday.

Under the 30-year agreement, billed as the first of its kind in Canada, caribou habitat in the area of the Twin Sisters mountains will not be disturbed by new industrial development, according to a news release from the West Moberly First Nation.

“For thousands of years, the caribou have given us food, clothes, and tools to survive harsh winters,” Chief Roland Willson said. “They are not just animals to us. They are our brothers and sisters, our friends and our ancestors. The caribou have been suffering for decades as their habitat is destroyed piece by piece. They need us now, all of us. This partnership agreement gives us hope. It means that help is on the way.”

The agreement is focused on efforts to recover populations of the Klinse-za (Twin Sisters) caribou herd.

The herd numbered just 16 animals in 2013 and has risen to 80 today thanks to efforts being credited as a mix of traditional knowledge and Western science, and which has included a wolf cull, maternal penning and habitat restoration.

The agreement includes multi-year funding to support maternal penning and further habitat restoration, and for a new guardians program. It also establishes a caribou recovery committee, staffed by officials from the West Moberly and Saulteau, as well as the federal and provincial governments. The committee will review development applications in other areas of the South Peace covered by the agreement.

Overseers of a fund established to protect the Nechako River and Cheslatta watersheds have issued a strategy for how the money could be spent over the next 30 years.

Out of the $50 million Rio Tinto’s predecessor, Alcan, committed as part of a 1997 deal with the provincial government, the Nechako Environment Enhancement Fund has $42.9 million left to spend. Under a plan made public this week, $850,000 a year of that money will be allocated to restoration and stewardship projects in the Nechako watershed, $231,251 a year to similar projects in the the Cheslatta watershed, $200,000 a

West Moberly says the federal government is unlikely to impose an emergency order with the agreement now in place, and that the agreement “will not close hiking, fishing or camping sites in the backcountry, and will not shut down mills, mines, or pipelines.”

Several local governments are actively participating in the design of forestryrelated mitigations, snowmobile management plans and the review of socioeconomic impacts, West Moberly said.

“This will help make British Columbia a better place to live for everyone,” Saulteau Chief Ken Cameron said in a statement. “It shows that we can find ways to balance the environment and the economy. And it brings increased certainty for indigenous people, government, and industry.”

The B.C. government says the agreement is committed to protect over 700,000 hectares (1.73 million acres) of caribou habitat in northeastern B.C.

As part of that, the Klin-se-za Provincial Park will be expanded by about

year to post-secondary research projects and $59,248 a year to administrative costs. NEEF’s management committee will consider projects of up to four years and while proposals for projects with a longer lifespan will be subject to written approval by both parties to the 1997 agreement.

Justus Benckhuysen, who represents Rio Tinto on the management committee, said the step provides clarity for those interested in applying for a grant and confirmed they will remain subject to the applicant securing matching funds from another source.

He also confirmed the fund will remain in a “draw-down” format, meaning the

30,800 hectares (76,000 acres) to incorporate the Twin Sisters mountains, considered to be a sacred place and key to recovery efforts that are proposed. The park is currently around 2,689 hectares in size. The province also says the agreement includes new language to involve collaboration with local governments and tenure holders in recovery efforts.

In a statement, Peace River South Liberal MLA Mike Bernier called the step a “slap in the face” that was reached without any meaningful input from the general public.

“(B.C. Premier) John Horgan continues to ignore rural voices on everything from the forestry crisis to caribou conservation,” he said. “We deserve a Premier who listens to, and governs for, the entire province, not just his friends and insiders in Victoria and Vancouver.”

Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies Conservative MP Bob Zimmer took a similar stand, saying the agreement was signed “without any real consultation with local leadership.

money will run out at some point.

That does not sit well with Wayne Salewski. The Vanderhoof-based advocate for restoring habitat for salmon and other species along the Nechako said the money should be invested so it could last in perpetuity with the proceeds metered out to restoration projects.

Moreover, Salewski said NEEF should be governed by a broader group that includes representation from First Nations. Salewski had a bad experience with NEEF. In 2014, the Nechako Environment and Water Stewardship Society was allocated $1 million in 2014 to be spent over five years to work on stream restoration. But three years later the project

“This was done without formally consulting our mayors and councils, our regional district directors, our local Members of Legislative Assembly, myself as the local Member of Parliament, our local industry and other local First Nations,” he said in a statement.

In a joint statement, B.C. Council of Forest Industries president Susan Yurkovich and Forest Products Association of Canada president Derek Nighbor said they are “deeply disappointed” the agreement removes a significant amount land that can be logged.

Conversely, Wilderness Committee, an environmental advocacy group, welcomed the development.

“This marks the first plan of it’s kind in B.C. that actually put endangered caribou needs as the top priority,” said the group’s conservation and policy campaigner Charlotte Dawe. “We must hold this plan as the gold-standard going forward on the caribou file and follow the leadership of First Nations on protecting wildlife and wilderness areas.”

was suspended and the group gave back $700,000.

The fund was established in 1997 as part of a dispute between Alcan and the then NDP government over its scuttling of a $1.3-billion hydroelecric project. The Kemano completion project - on which which Alcan had already spent $500 million - would have diverted more water from the Nechako River system.

So far, $7.1 million has been spent or committed. The amount includes $4 million for sturgeon recovery and $999,950 for UNBC research to help Rio Tinto make better decisions about when and how much water to release from the Nechako Reservoir.

Citizen staff

CP Photo

Migrating caribou are shown in the Porcupine River tundra in the Yukon territories, on August 12, 2009.

&CONDITIONS:

In Memoriam

Love Randy and Janice

In Memory Of BOYD BAYNE

Miss these Days, Think of You Daily.

Love Allan

CL ASSI FIEDS

PACIEJEWSKI, ALAN

It is with a broken heart that I announce the passing of the light and love of my life, Alan. He was born on August 22, 1959 in North Vancouver, B.C. and went to be with our Lord on February 18, 2020 in Prince George, B.C. He grew up in West Vancouver, B.C., graduating from West Vancouver Secondary School in 1977. He immediately attended UBC and graduated from there with a Bachelor of Education degree in 1982. During the Christmas break of 1982 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but ultimately was successfully treated for it. He went on to live a full and active life, always being aware of how lucky he had been to beat cancer. He knew he had been given a second chance and was determined to “give back” and make his life count - he was a good and honourable man. We were married in 1987 and together we built a wonderful life, never taking anything for granted, and cherishing all the special and wonderful times. Alan’s teaching career took us to Anahim Lake for 2 years and then brought us to Prince George in 1990. He taught at College Heights Secondary School for 2 years and then spent the remainder of his career at Prince George Secondary School. Teaching for Alan was a calling, his vocation - he loved it! While at PGSS he was responsible for getting the Football Program up and running and was the head coach for a number of years. The highlight of his coaching career was when the PGSS Polars became the Northern Football Conference Champions in 2010. The last few years were challenging for Alan with regards to his health, but ultimately the end came quickly and peacefully. He had a strong faith and I know he is now in heaven’s realm, happy, at peace, and free of pain. Rest well my love - I will be with you again one day.

Alan was predeceased by his parents, Mary and Wladyslaw Paciejewski, and his in-laws, Ruth and Henry Frank. He is survived by is wife, Karla; his step-mother, May (Mum); his siblings Stephen (Barbara), Richard (Maureen), and Julie; his niece Tandra (Nick) Geraedts and nephews Brock, Travis, Derek, and Cole; his great-nephew Alexander Geraedts.

Many thanks to the multiple Drs. who have been involved in Alan’s care as well as the staff of the Renal Clinic at UHNBC. A very special thank you to Dr. Auton St. Rose, our family Dr., who was always there to help Alan through the yearsyour kindness and compassion will never be forgotten.

The funeral service will be at 1:00 PM, Friday, February 28th at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Flowers are gratefully declined. If desired, donations can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Prince George Hospice Society.

REMEMBRANCES

February 1, 1933February 13, 2020

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Jose Soares (Joe) on Thursday, February 13, 2020, at the age of 87 with his family at his side. Although gone, his spirit and love will forever live in the memories he shared with those who knew him most. He enjoyed spending time with family and friends, but was most happy in front of a BBQ. He enjoyed gardening, pruning, and grafting his apple trees. He looked forward every year to travel back home to Portugal, spend time with extended family, more friends, more gardening, and more fruit trees. Jose was a beloved dad, husband, grandfather, and great grandfather. He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years Lidia, and sons Oscar (Paula), Jorge (Camilla), Roy (Colleen), and Luis (Melissa). grandchildren Amanda, Daniel, Nicholas, Tiana, Rohan, Delaney, and Colby. great grandchildren Blake, and Emmett. Also many nieces and nephews in Portugal.

Jose was born in Luso, Portugal and immigrated to Canada in 1970. He worked in various locations across BC until settling in Prince George and working at Canfor Polar sawmill in Bear Lake until his retirement. The family would like to thank Dr. Janzen, and the many staff at UHNBC for their kindness and support in the care of our father.

Dai-lhes, Senhor, o eterno descanso.

A prayer service will be held at 6:00pm on Friday February 28, 2020, at Assman’s Funeral Chapel 1908 Queensway St. with a Funeral Mass to be held at St. Mary’s Church 1088 Gillett St. on Saturday February 29, 2020 at 2:00pm. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the British Columbia Lung Association.

Sheila Anne Thobo-Carlsen, age 85, quietly passed away on Thursday, February 20th 2020, in her home at the Alward Place residence in Prince George, BC. She was born in Vancouver, BC on April 20th, 1934, to Hector and Annie (Kennedy) Munro, and was their only child. Graduating from the Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing (Class of February 1956), she was very proud of her subsequent years as a Registered Nurse. Sheila married John Thobo-Carlsen (of Odense, Demark) in Vancouver, BC on July 12th, 1958. During 61 years of marriage they made homes together in Kamloops, Penticton, Prince George and Fort St. James, BC. Sheila was a long-time volunteer and advocate for the sport of speed skating, helping to establish clubs in Prince George, Fort St. James and several other BC communities, and serving as membership development coordinator and various other positions with the BC Speed Skating Association. She was active in many other volunteer activities including the Fort St. James Arts Council. Blessed with a green thumb, Sheila loved tending to her bountiful ornamental and vegetable gardens. She was proceeded in death by her father, mother and son Billie, and is survived by her husband John, daughter Anne, son Paul, grandchildren Toven, Jennifer, Alexa and Erin, and great-grandsons Madan and Ryland. Sheila will be fondly remembered for her passion and strong commitment to family, career and many community organizations. Respecting Sheila’s wishes, no public service will be held. Special thanks to the staff of Northern Health in Fort St. James and Prince George who’s excellent support helped keep Sheila comfortable in her final years.

Jose Jesus Soares

Sheila Anne Thobo-Carlsen

Robert Alan Parris

It is with heavy hearts, the family of Robert Alan Parris Announce that he has joined his queen and passed peacefully at the age of 86 on February 16th 2020, in his home at the Simon Fraser lodge. He is survived by his loving children and family, and predeceased by his queen Elizabeth Marie Parris. He will be forever missed and always in our hearts.

ROBERT (BOB) COLVILLE

May 26, 1932 - Feb 14, 2020

Robert (Bob) Colville passed away on Feb 14, 2020. Born on May 26, 1932 in Biggar, Sask.

Survived by children; Raymond, Darrel, Charleen and Barbara, brother Charles (Janet)

Predeceased by father Leslie, mother Lily,wife Fern, sister Dorthea, brothers Albert, Edward & Fred.

A celebration of life will be held on April 4, 2020 in Savona, BC at 1 pm.

TERENCE (TERRY) JOHN TUNNEY

Terance died on February 18, 2020 at Rotary Hospice House. He was born on July 24, 1954 in Vancouver, BC and was raised in Kitimat. He was predeceased by his parents, Doug and Jeanne Tunney and his younger brothers Timothy and Michael. He is survived by his partner, Marnie Bateman, his sister and brother-in-law Laura and Albert Radzanowski, his nieces Siobhan, Alisa, Caitlin, his nephew Heath (Pam), his great nephews and nieces Aaron, Liam, Aisling & Sonia and his great great nephew Bruce.

A Funeral Mass for Terence was held on February 22, 2020 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Father Gilbert Bertrand O.M.I. officiated.

We have lost his presence but never his spirit

SANDRA CLERMONT

2x37.5

PGC001968

MEIERHOFER,Faye

August28,1935-February16,2020

Itiswithgreatsadnessthatweannouncethepassingof ourbeautifulmotherFaye,whojoinedherloveGerryon Sunday,February16,2020.Fayewillbedearlymissedby herchildren,grandchildren,great-grandchildren,siblings, andfriendsoldandnew.Servicetobeannouncedata laterdate.Inlieuofflowers,donationstoPrinceGeorge Hospicewillbegreatlyappreciated.

Business Opportunities

Hart Pioneer Centre

March 26, 2020 1:00pm Personal Messages

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Established Franchise Photography Business Serving Northern B.C for over 35 years

Gross Revenues of $150.000 plus annually from seasonal work Lots of opportunity to expand the business.

Transition support available to the right buyer

Serious Enquiries Only

Office 250-596-9199

Cell 250-981-1472

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Established Franchise Tax Preparation Business Mackenzieservicing and McLeod Lake area for over 30 years.

Gross Revenues of $85,000 to $90,000

Annually and Potential to expand revenues in a growing economy.

Transition support available for the right buyer.

Serious Inquires Only

Office (250)997-9003

Home (250)997-5538

Cell (250)990-0152 Business Opportunities

Sawmills

COUNCIL

Band Manager

SALARY: Negotiable Dependent Upon Experience

On behalf of, and under the general direction of the Kispiox Band Council, the Band Manager manages, directs, organizes, implements and controls the provision of a wide variety of programs and services to the Band membership. The Band Manager is directly responsible to Council for the effective and efficient operation of the band administration and for ensuring the implementation of Council policies and directives.

Education/Professional Requirements:

• Must have a post-secondary degree in Business and/or Human Resources;

• Must have minimum of five (5) years of Senior Management working experience;

• Must have working/education experience in managing finances and budgets.

Consideration will be given to individuals possessing a combination of an undergraduate degree, within similar disciplines and relevant working experience.

Qualifications/Abilities:

• Extensive knowledge of First Nations as to their political roles and structure;

• Ability to communicate with personnel from various levels of government, First Nation Organizations and Funding Agencies;

• Ability to develop and maintain policies and procedures pertaining to all aspects of the First Nations Band Administration;

• Must possess management and leadership skills and supervision of staff in a fair and equal manner

• Must be proficient in strategic planning and program development

• Must possess skills in the administration, management/planning of human resources;

• Ability to establish good working relationships with funding agencies/ other organizations;

• Ability to research funding sources and provide funding proposals;

• Must be able to plan and manage the First Nation finances; strong skills in Financial Management – analyze, advise and recommend on allocation of budgets, funds and organization;

• Must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills and strong computer skills;

• Must possess excellent skills in problem solving and decision making;

• Experience in management of band housing is an asset: working with rental arrears, construction, building contractors, etc.

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to work independently and build effective interpersonal relationships;

• Ability to work collaboratively with staff and Chief and Council in establishing goals, preparation of budgets, and funding proposals;

• Ability to self-regulate, meet deadlines, and give attention to details

• Recognizes and respects all cultural diversity and has an understanding of First Nation culture.

Working Conditions:

• Must provide a recent Criminal Records Check

Forward Resume, Recent Criminal Record Check And 3 References To the attention of Sandi Reviakin:

KISPIOX BAND COUNCIL, 1336 Kispiox Valley Road, Kispiox, B.C., VOJ 1Y4

DEADLINE: MARCH 6, 2020 AT 4:00 P.M.

We thank all applicants for their interest however only those shortlisted will be contacted.

R0011798608

BLACK PRESS - CLASSIFIEDS R0011800305

3.00x119.0-BW PG23 / 615595

RIDLEY TERMINALS INC. JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Ridley Terminals Inc. is currently seeking the following positions for their marine bulk handling terminal, located on the north coast of BC, approximately 16 km from the City of Prince Rupert. Committed to a safe and healthy workplace, Ridley Terminals Inc. provides an excellent working environment for individuals who have a high degree of initiative and are able to assume responsibility.

Heavy Duty Mechanic, Permanent Full-Time

The successful candidate must have an Inter-Provincial ticket (Tradesman Qualifications with l/P standards) with experience in an industrial environment. Good welding and cutting skills are required as well as demonstrated evidence of troubleshooting experience in mechanical, hydraulics, electronics and pneumatics. Experience with Caterpillar equipment an asset.

Journeyman Millwright, Permanent Full-Time

The successful candidate must have an Inter-Provincial ticket (Tradesman Qualifications with I/P standards) with minimum 5 years experience on an industrial site as a journeyman. Troubleshooting experience in mechanical, hydraulics and pneumatics would be considered an asset.

Equipment Operator, Permanent Full-Time

The successful candidate must have experience operating heavy equipment in an industrial environment. Minimum of Grade 12. Equipment operator training through a recognized training school an asset. Valid BC Class 3 driver’s license with air endorsement. Candidates should also have an excellent health, safety and environmental record. The ability to work with a team to achieve results is essential.

These positions offer a very competitive salary and benefits package. Ridley Terminals Inc. provides an excellent working environment for individuals who have a high degree of initiative and are able to assume responsibility. The ability to work with a team to achieve results is essential. Candidates should also have an excellent health, safety and environmental record.

For a complete job description go to: www.rti.ca.

Qualified candidates are invited to mail their resumes by March 8, 2020 to:

Ridley Terminals Inc.

P. O. Bag 8000, Prince Rupert, BC V8J 4H3 Attention: HR Manager Or by e-mail to: jobs@rti.ca Or fax to: (250) 624-2389

Ridley Terminals Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Individuals of Aboriginal descent are strongly encouraged to apply.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only candidates to be interviewed will be contacted.

R0011800305

R0011796961

3.00x84.0-BW

PG11 / 615595

RIDLEY TERMINALS INC.

ACCOUNTING ANALYST (FULL TIME)

JOB OPPORTUNITY

Ridley Terminals Inc. has an opening for a full time Accounting Analyst. The successful candidate must have a minimum of three years accounting experience. A degree or diploma or in final stages of completion in Business, Finance, Accounting or a related discipline would be an asset. Professional accounting designation - CPA, CA/CMA/ CGA would be an asset. Experience with computerized accounting systems as well as, proficiency with MS Office (Excel and Word) is essential. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, attention to detail and accuracy and good organizational skills are also required. A complete job description is available at www.rti.ca

This position offers a very competitive salary and benefits package. The ability to work with a team to achieve results is essential. Candidates should also have an excellent health, safety and environmental record. For complete job descriptions go to: www.rti.ca. Qualified candidates are invited to forward their resumes by March 5, 2020 to:

Ridley Terminals Inc.

P. O. Bag 8000, Prince Rupert, BC V8J 4H3

Attention: H.R. Manager

Or by e-mail to: jobs@rti.ca Or fax to: (250) 624-2389

Ridley Terminals Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Individuals of Aboriginal descent are strongly encouraged to apply. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only candidates to be interviewed will be contacted.

BLACK PRESS - CLASSIFIEDS

R0011800274

3.00x84.0-4C

PG23 / 615595

MAINTENANCE SUPERINTENDENT

Hampton Canada Services Ltd. is currently searching for a full time Maintenance Superintendent to join our Fort St. James Forest Products operation. The Maintenance Superintendent reports directly to the Canadian Regional Operations Manager and is responsible for day-to-day comprehensive maintenance activities for the operation.

The successful candidate will have strong communication, mathematics, organization and problem solving skills. Red Seal certification in industrial mechanics (Millwright) is preferred. Good hand-eye coordination and a strong understanding of mechanical and engineering concepts are required. You should be detail oriented with an ability to meet deadlines and oversee teams, and have advanced knowledge of Microsoft applications (specifically Excel). Familiarity with financial and production metrics, dimension sawmill and planer operations (including maintenance requirements), capital projects and budgeting would be an advantage.

Core responsibilities include: coordinating activities such as cleanup, training, staffing, and tracking the maintenance needs for the facility, working closely with each department to ensure machine centers produce what’s needed to fulfill our customer obligations and ensure that the facility is properly maintained and protected from losses.

We offer competitive compensation, benefits and the potential for advancement and provide equal opportunity for employment.

Resumes will be accepted until March 31, 2020. We wish to thank all those who apply; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Please forward your resume to: Anne Currie, Human Resources Assistant Hampton Canada Services Ltd. 503-291-5591 (Confidential Fax) #HRCanada@hamptonlumber.com

Fort St. James Forest Products, Fort St. James BC r0011800274

PRESS - CLASSIFIEDS

R0011800231

3.00x77.0-BW PG23 / 615595

Babine Forest Products is currently searching for a Certified Millwright to join our Burns Lake operation.

The successful candidate will have substantial knowledge of machines and tools, including their design, use, repair and maintenance. You will have experience installing equipment, machines, wiring or programs to meet specifications. You will be confident in determining the appropriate tools or equipment needed to complete a job and must be able to troubleshoot efficiently and be proficient with mathematics.

The demands of this position require that you; are in good physical condition, are able to visualize how something will look after it has been moved or rearranged, have the ability to see details at close range, have excellent manual dexterity and coordination.

Preferred qualifications would be a minimum of 5 years in an in a sawmill environment and certification from a recognized institution. Good verbal and written communication is also necessary for this position.

Babine Forest Products, working jointly with First Nations, provides equal opportunity for employment including First Nation status privileges. We offer competitive compensation, benefits and the potential for career advancement. Hourly rate for this position is per the USW Local 1-2017 Collective Agreement.

Resumes will be accepted until March 23, 2020. We wish to thank all those who apply; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Please forward your resume to: Anne Currie, Human Resources Assistant Babine Forest Products Limited 503-291-5591 (Confidential Fax) #HRCanada@hamptonlumber.com Babine Forest Products Limited, Burns Lake BC