WELCOMING WINTER Kym Gouchie sings and plays the drum at UNBC’s Gathering Place as part of Four Connections Celebration: Winter Solstice 2020. Happy New Year from all of us at The Citizen. Our office is closed Friday and will reopen on Monday
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A suspicious and deadly fire at a local motel, a surge in drug-related gunplay and a fatal stabbing were among the major stories on the police and fire beats in 2020.
On the morning of July 8, firefighters were called to the Econo Lodge City Centre Inn. Three people had died and, in the aftermath, a wave of questions have been raised as those who survived maintained they never heard a fire alarm go off.
The fire was deemed suspicious and
RCMP have an ongoing investigation. However, in September, one of the roughly two dozen people who escaped filed a class action lawsuit against the motel owners, the fire alarm company and the City of Prince George seeking damages.
CHRISTINE HINZMANN
Citizen staff
It’s all about the love for this 2020 Citizen newsmaker of the year nominee.
Hearts of PG is a movement that started in March when one local mom wanted to keep her two young children engaged and connected with the community while schools and most things were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bailey Grose was heartbroken to see her littlest daughter lament over having to stay home.
Claire, who was four at the time, missed her friends and the craft table at school.
So putting crafts and a reason to get outside together, Grose posted a request on social media for people to put hearts up on their windows.
Tthen as she would take her two girls out for walks in their neighbourhood they could be on the hunt for hearts and make their own to decorate their windows.
During the pandemic, the Hearts of PG movement has crossed and millions of people have taken part in similar movements.
WHAT:
City Council consideration of application:
•Proposed “City of Prince George 2851 Gogolin Road Closure Phase II Bylaw No. 9152, 2020”
WHEN:
6:00 p.m., Monday, January11, 2021
WHERE:
Council ChambersofCity Hall, 2nd Floor,1100 Patricia Boulevard, Prince George, BC PROPOSAL:
1. “City of Prince George 2851 Gogolin RoadClosure PhaseIIBylaw No.9152, 2020”
Applicant: City of Prince George
Pursuant to section 40 of the Community Charter,the City of Prince George intends to close an approximate 83.8 square metres (m²) portion of road dedicated on Plan 3034, as shown on Reference Plan EPP93591, adjacent to the property legally described as Lot 16, District Lot 1433, Cariboo District, Plan 30304 and Lot 5, District Lot 1433, Cariboo District, Plan 10848 and remove the road dedication, as shown outlined in bold black on Location Map #1 below.
The purpose of the road closure is to enable the sale of the closed road area to the adjacent property owners. The proposed closure and sale provides the property ownersthe ability to consolidate the closed road area with their adjacent property and rectify an existing encroachment.
Location Map#1 2851 Gogolin Road Closure Phase II
Residents are invited to provide comment in writing.
As aresult of the COVID-19 pandemic, City Council at their meeting held April 6, 2020 passed aresolution to discontinue informal hearings for certain Bylaws and all other applications where such hearings are not legally required to be held.
As apartofthe Provincial Health Officer order issued on December 7, 2020, members of the public are prohibited from attending City Council meetings and Public Hearings. These meetings are live streamed on the City’swebsite www.princegeorge.ca and the recordings are archived for viewing at anytime.
Residents are encouraged to provide written comments to Council to be included in the Council meeting agenda package and available for public viewing on the City’swebsite.
Forsubmissions to be included on the agenda for Council’sreviewinadvance of the meeting date, theymust be received by the Corporate Officer no later than 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, January5,2021.Submissions received after the noted deadline and before 3:00 p.m., Monday, January11, 2021,will be provided to Council on the dayofthe meeting for their consideration during deliberations on the application.
Submissions maybesent by email to cityclerk@princegeorge.ca, faxed to (250) 561-0183, mailed or delivered to the address noted below
Please note that written submissions for all applications will formpartofthe Council agenda, become public record and are posted on the City’swebsite. By making a written submission you are consenting to the disclosure of anypersonal information that you provide.
Personal information is collected under the authority of section 26(g) and disclosed under the authority of section 33.1(1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). Forinformation or questions, contact the City’sFIPPACoordinator at (250)561-7600 or 1100 Patricia Boulevard, Prince George, BC, V2L 3V9.
Acopyofthe proposed Bylawand anyrelated documents will be available for review by the public on the City’swebsite www.princegeorge.ca under ‘News and Notices’ beginning December 30, 2020.These documents mayalso be reviewedatthe Development Services office on the 2nd Floor of City Hall on December 30, 31, 2020, January4,5,6,7,8 and 11, 2021, between the hoursof 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Formore information with regards to Road Closures, please contact Real Estate Services, by telephone at (250) 561-7611 or by email to realestate@princegeorge.ca.
The City of Prince George has been in regular conversation with NorthernHealth about the most reliable sources of information on novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and any assistance the City can provide residents and visitorswith reliable information about measures that can be taken to prevent the spread and stayhealthy.
People are advised to takeall necessaryprecautions to prevent exposure such as staying home when sick, disinfecting surfaces, washing their hands, and coughing and sneezing into the crook of their arms.
Formore information:
•Visit the BC Centre for Disease Control website
•Visit the BC Transit COVID-19 website
•Visit the BC MinistryofHealth webpage on Pandemic Preparedness
•Visit the Government of Canada’swebsite on COVID-19
•Visit the HealthlinkBC website
•Visit the WorldHealth Organization website
•Download the BC MinistryofHealth’sAdvice on Recreational Facilities -March 13, 2020 [PDF]
NorthernHealth COVID-19 Update
NorthernHealth has launched aCOVID-19 Online Clinic and Information Line to help answer questions and concerns from NorthernB.C. residents. The NH COVID-19 Online Clinic and Information Line can be reached at 1-844-645-7811.
CHRISTINE HINZMANN Citizen staff
Editor’s Note: When The Citizen started asking around of who the Prince George artist of the year for 2020, Christina Watts was at the top of the list Here’s why:
Local artist and entrepreneur Christina Watts faced the pandemic head-on.
She went online with the art classes she teaches. When her art supply sales halted, she created her own brand of paint.
Watts Art Academy continues to provide art classes and art supplies including Butterfly Forest paints she makes by hand. It all just looks a little different. To create the paint, Watts started to import raw materials and heavy duty equipment.
“Then we went out and harvested a lot of local rocks this summer and that was nice because it was something I could do with my kids,” she said. “We have a massive crusher so the rocks go through that.”
The process is intensive and Watts formulated her own binder so the paint does what it’s supposed to do. Her paints are now shipped across the world.
“And that’s been keeping us hopping,” Watts said.
It’s become a social media event as people would video themselves opening their packages of paint on TikTok.
Watts took classes with many different artists to learn all she could.
“There was lots of trial and error on my part,” Watts said. “I was never afraid to experiment.”
She explored water colours and then acrylics, mixed media and epoxy “I blew through all the mediums,” Watts said.
As Watts put more energy into raising her two children, she decided to make a choice.
“I just wanted to do this,” Watts said. “So we set up the shop. I love marrying that passion for art with the business aspect of it.”
There is an expectation of the type of personality that goes into finance and as time goes on Watts has let her sense of humour shine through as she explores that part of her creativity through a series of quirky videos she’s posted for her friends to see.
Viewers of the videos come away giggling, with smiles on their faces according to their comments on Facebook.
“So the online classes ended up producing a Colour Club,” Watts said. “So our paint sets, created here, go out in the mail and people get an online corresponding class and that’s doing really well and we have students all across Canada now.”
friends right now so we’re facilitating that environment as well as doing a paint class with them,” she said.
Online paint parties and Christmas parties are very popular, Watts said.
“People can’t get together with their
Watts started her career in accounting and finance and stuck it out for 17 years.
During that time she met a local artist who she took classes with at Studio 2880.
“During this pandemic people need to be patient and kind and for God sakes have some fun,” Watts said. “This time is like a gift - when I think about how much time I am getting with my kids right now - that’s huge to me. They’re not going to be home forever. It is what you make it.”
Citizen staff
Kim Gullion-Stewart, a former longtime local resident, will have her art in the collection at the Canadian Indigenous Art Centre.
The centre has an extensive collection that includes more than 4,300 pieces.
The piece is beadwork incorporated into a map that was torn from the pages of a 1950s school atlas book.
“I am really emotional and so humbled,” Gullion-Stewart said about her piece going to the Art Centre.
Gullion-Stewart learned how to do beadwork from elder Alberta 20-Stands in 1996 in Tumbler Ridge.
“She was from Montana and came to live in Tumbler Ridge for a time - of all places - and she taught me how to create using a Metis art form,” Gullion-Stewart said. “That was something I’d never done before.”
Gullion-Stewart fondly remembers reaching out to youth at risk during a com-
munity outreach program here in Prince George where she taught 25 youth how to tan hides through another grant from the Canada Arts Council.
“It was a lot of fun,” Gullion-Stewart recalled. “So that kind of set me on this whole journey of exploring what wellness looks like in our Metis and Indigenous communities and how our art forms are connected to our personal well being.”
The beadwork piece that will now be part of the Indigenous collection at the art centre speaks to that for Gullion-Stewart.
“It’s based on a counter-mapping idea,” she said.
“Counter-mapping is where communities will take a traditional map created by a cartographer and will put their own marks of meaning - so it might be the trail to Johnny’s house and that was put over top of these maps to kind of bring meaning to themselves and to their community.”
When Gullion-Stewart saw some of those maps she decided to put her own spin on
maps when she got Dent’s Canadian school atlas books from the 1950s.
“So I thought I would map over top of it using my beadwork because if you look into why Metis women decorated so much of their garments - it had a lot to do with the wellness of the community, showing respect for the land, the flowers and medicinal plants that grew So I’ve chosen a couple of different flowers in this particular piece that I beaded right over top of the map of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.”
The piece is called They Make a Well Beaten Path.
The map is attached to a piece of linen and the beadwork is done over the map.
“It’s super satisfying and meaningful for me,” she said. “It’s very exciting to have my piece join all of these other pieces and I am humbled at the idea that they are going to take care of them and preserve them and make them available to people to see well into the future.”
Kim Gullion-Stewart will have her beadwork on display at the Canadian Indigenous Art Centre.
from page 1
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Also in September, RCMP were kept busy when a rivalry between two groups involved in the drug trade escalated into driveby shootings targeting homes around the city A woman suffered a gunshot wound in one of the attacks and survived but was not cooperating with police. RCMP did arrest three men suspected of opening fire on a Bellos Street home. Kenneth Ricardo Munroe, Bradley Andre Ouelette and Eric Vern West remain in custody.
Also in response, local Mounties got some help from B.C. Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit’s Uniform Gang Enforcement Team. Three times in three months they paid a visit to Prince George to conduct checks of people known to be involved in drug trafficking. The campaign has led to some major breaks Most notable was the discovery of a drug operation in some shipping containers buried into a hillside in Salmon Valley Charges remain pending from the December 3 find
Also among the more unusual crime stories of 2020, the driver of a stolen truck struck an ambulance on Highway 97 just north of the Simon Fraser Bridge. Police said it appeared the truck had come barreling out of a ditch alongside the highway and hit the ambulance, which was carrying two patients.
Jocelyn Rae Wood of Chetwynd, 34, was subsequently charged with dangerous driving, fleeing the scene of an accident, refusing to provide a breath sample and possessing stolen property over $5,000 from the October 28 incident. Two others in the truck also face charges.
Perhaps the saddest story of the year was the fatal stabbing of a woman near the courthouse steps on July 2. It was the city’s first homicide of the year and shortly after RCMP said they had a person of interest but charges remain pending. The victim has since been identified as Jessie-Mae Hayward-Lines. She was 26 years old
The COVID-19 pandemic weighed heavily on court proceedings Cases were delayed while offenders were given lighter-than-usual sentences to keep the number of inmates at the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre down to a manageable level for a time.
However, some major decisions were handed down. The most significant
occurred in November when Seaver Tye Miller was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 15 years and Joshua Steven West to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 13 years for second-degree murder from a January 2017 shooting that left two men and a dog dead and another man with lasting injuries
The two had pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of David Laurin Franks and Thomas Burt Reed. They were shot to death in their car at a pullout alongside Foothills Boulevard after driving to the spot to sell some cocaine.
“While this is not a planned, deliberate murder, they brought shotguns – ostensibly to rob (the victims). They used those shotguns to shoot indiscriminately into the vehicle,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church said “The moral blameworthiness of the offenders is significant.”
Reed’s Shih Tzu dog, Molly, was also killed in the shooting.
A sentencing hearing for one last co-accused is to be held in 2021. Perry Andrew Charlie was found guilty of second-degree murder following a trial in November 2019.
In February, Barbara Joan Husband, 85, was banned from driving for five years after she drove over a toddler in a parking lot off Ospika Boulevard. An appeal of the decision for the December 2018 incident was dismissed.
And in March, Zacharie Xavier Paul Bock, 32, was sentenced to a further three years in prison for pistol whipping a woman while leading a drug-related home invasion in July 2018.
Looking ahead, James David Junior Charlie is to be sentenced in the new year after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the January 2012 death of Fribjon Bjornson on the Nakazdli reserve just south of Fort St. James. In October 2017, a jury had found Charlie guilty of first-degree murder but the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the verdict, finding the judge overseeing the trial failed to properly explain to the jury the law on liability for murder
Bjornson, who was 28 years old at the time of his death, had been buying drugs from Charlie and his friends
Testimony and evidence indicated that the father of two young children was strangled and beaten to death in an unprovoked attack in the basement of a home on the reserve.
Local artist Ken Ferris is retiring from his work at Ducks Unlimited Canada as manager of volunteer and corporate fundraising for northern BC.
Ferris often offered his artwork for silent auction as a way to fundraise for wetland conservation. That started in 1981 when he was asked to donate a painting for a banquet in Vancouver. Since then, his art has raised more than $1 million for Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).
As Ferris continued to donate his art, he was recognized as tbe Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year in 1984.
“Ducks Unlimited Canada and the work they do is just something that I firmly believed in,” Ferris said from his home in Prince George. “As an artist you get some recognition and it’s wonderful, a feather in
the cap. But that’s not why I did it It did it because I support wetland conservation and I believe in the work.”
Throughout almost 40 years donating to the cause, Ferris won the Wildlife Habitat Conservation Stamp competition in 1993 and 2000 and DUC’s Waterfowl Stamp and Print Artist in 2020 He was also one of 30 world-acclaimed artists whose work was included in Waterfowl of North America, a limited-edition book featuring full-size art prints commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of DUC.
Ferris has donated more than $300,000 worth of art and for that Ferris received the DUC Emerald Teal Award.
Ferris started working for DUC in 2000 when he became a customer services representative for northern BC and then later
took on the role of manager of volunteer and corporate fundraising
“You really do form wonderful relationships with people that you get to see year after year,” Ferris said. “I went into the job where there had been a number of staff changes, so I was mending fences a little bit. But we built some stability back and now we look forward to being able to continue the work It’s been a great ride, that’s for sure.”
He said he’s going to spend more time on his art in hs retirement.
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
Artist Ken Ferris with his eagle Majesty on the Wing in 2009. Ferris is retiring from his longtime work with Ducks Unlimited Canada.
Citizen staff
City council will be keeping close tabs on a new construction project downtown, slated to be completed late next year.
The city received $3.98 million in funding from the Childcare BC New Spaces Fund and a Union of B.C Municipalities grant program to build an 85-space childcare centre downtown.
The centre will be operated by the YMCA
of Northern B.C. and it will be built at 1075 Sixth Ave. as part of the city parkade and Park House condominium development.
City council approved adding the project to the city’s 2020-2024 financial plan, with the intent that the construction would be completed by the end of 2021.
“This sounds like a great opportunity for the downtown, more spaces (are) certainly needed for this type of program,” Coun.
Kyle Sampson said. “I’m just wondering what our plan is to ensure we don’t run
into any cost overruns? (To) make sure we do stay in line with the grants that were awarded.”
Acting deputy city manager Ian Wells said the city will be looking for a guaranteed-price contract to prevent cost overruns.
A 15 per cent contingency amount has been built into the project budget, and city council will be updated regularly as the project proceeds “Before we go, the project will be
tendered as part of the contract,” Wells said. “So we’ll know the price before we proceed.”
The city has seen multi-million-dollar cost overruns on several major project this year, including the Sixth Avenue parkade and new fire hall.
According to information released by the YMCA of Northern B.C the new childcare centre will have room for 42 preschool-aged children and 48 for schoolaged children.
CHRISTINE HINZMANN
The Russell family has made an impact in the arts scene in Prince George for decades.
Judy Russell has Enchainement Dance Centre and produces live shows on a grand scale through Judy Russell Presents while Bill Russell created Russell Audio Visual.
This year’s pandemic has created some monumental challenges in the live entertainment industry. Shuttering the whole world and preventing large gatherings, people who thrived once in their dream jobs have been forced to change directions, adapt if they could or abandon entirely their life’s work to seek other ways to make a living.
Jon Russell, Bill’s son, took on a more serious role in Russell AV in 2013 and while other aspects of the industry suffered, Jon was able to adapt.
“As industry professionals we have all just been shocked at how quickly our industry was affected,” he said “It’s interesting because by nature our industry is kind of in the background - we’re not really supposed to be seen - and in this case it’s worked against us during this time because people have forgotten this is an industry that very much relies on gatherings. It’s just been weird. So weird ”
Jon wondered if live entertainment would come back the way it was or if there will be a new adapted version
“Will there still be a place for industry
workers of the same magnitude?” he asked.
“There’s a lot of unknowns.”
As the world shut down abruptly, Jon said he took a cautious approach to adapting the business.
“We weren’t sure what was happening and we didn’t want to make rash decisions early on,” he said. “Now that we’ve gained more insight into how long things will be like this and how in some ways it’s more economical and feasible to do more things online using a virtual platform, we’re putting together a business model that
definitely utilizes that more.”
Looking ahead, the Russells will be retrofitting the dance centre’s 3,000 square foot studio space to offer a virtual event space, Jon said. The black box will be a venue where an entire socially-distanced band can perform for a virtual audience. Cold Snap, the annual winter music festival planned for Jan. 29 to Feb. 6, 2021, will be hosted virtually in that space, Jon added.
“So that will be our first job there,” he said. “Now that we’re getting a sense of what the future is going to hold and how in some ways this model may be a mix of live events and live production but certainly there’s going to be an aspect of virtual then it totally makes sense to do it,” Jon said. “Who wants to travel all the time if you really could just take part virtually? There’s a lot of upsides to that.”
The Russells will transition the space to a live stream venue while Jon tries to keep busy with other work like installs and other post production work that includes video editing and audio mixing, he added.
Jon knows he’s lucky he’s been able to adapt his business. Peers in bigger centres have not been so lucky.
“This isn’t the easiest industry to move up in and some people have been hit really hard,” Jon said.
He said his family, with their combined businesses, have managed to weather the storm quite well but that’s not been the case for those who were only on one track for their entire careers.
“It’s sad to see some people who work really hard to build their businesses - especially the freelancers - and it’s been pulled out from under them,” Jon said. “They really had no choice but to transition to another industry where they are starting from the bottom and working their way up. I feel a little guilty because at one time in my career I was considering switching things up and this kind of happened at a good time.”
Jon was under contract to manage the Prince George Playhouse for many years and the contract ended recently. It won’t be renewed because events can’t be held there and as he was transitioning away from that sort of thing, it worked out well for the City of Prince George and Jon.
“So it was all about timing,” Jon said “That circumstance made the decision for us and we’re moving on. This way I don’t feel like we’re letting the community down as much as we move on to other things.”
Despite the challenges there have been a lot of positives for Jon, he added.
“I’m a pretty positive person so I’ve been trying to look at the bright side of things,” Jon said. “So you know what? We’re all healthy and we are in a pretty good position from a business perspective so it’s just finding the niche and finding what this particular region needs and the context of how we relate to some of those opportunities in our neck of the woods. Those are the big questions as we continue to face all the unknowns during the pandemic.”
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from page 1
There was one recent incident that really brought home how far reaching the Hearts of PG has become.
“I swear I’m not 100 but I watch Coronation Street all the time and the other day I noticed they had hearts in their windows and I just thought ‘oh my goodness - wow. Wow, that’s so interesting - I made an impression on my favourite show!’”
For her efforts, Grose was recently honoured by the local YMCA with their Peace Medal, which is given to individuals or groups during YMCA Peace Week to recognize the impact as community minded people provide PEACE, which stands for participation, empathy, advocacy, community, and empowerment, without any special resources, status, wealth or position and have made significant contributions within their local, national or global community
Grose would like to further contribute to the community’s well being so she reached out to Upnorth, a business that takes inspiration for their hand-crafted items from their surroundings, who created an ornament that features their signature talents of wood burning.
The image is that of a house and in its window is a heart.
Grose knows seniors can be especially vulnerable to the coronavirus and may feel particularly vulnerable during the holiday season so $5 of every ornament sold will go to the Prince George Council of Seniors, a non-profit organization that runs multiple programs that assists local seniors by offering friendly phone calls, Christmas food hampers, meals on wheels and a resource centre to help address all seniors’ needs
Information about how to purchase the ornament can be found at can be found on the Upnorth Facebook page.
Sixteen Prince George arts and culture groups have secured $622,450 from the B.C. community gaming grants program.
Two Rivers Art Gallery received the highest amount at $185,000, follwed by Exploration Place, $92,250, fPrince George Symphony Orchestra Society, $66,000, Theatre Northwest, $58,200, and Huble Homestead, $50,600.
Other recipients were Central B.C. Railway and Forest Industry Museum Society,
$30,000, Le Cercle des Canadiens Francais de Prince George, $30,000, Multicultural Heritage Society of Prince George, $27,800, Prince George Folkfest Society, $26,000, Community Arts Council of Prince George and District, $15,600, Bel Canto Choirs Association, $10,000, Yalenka Ukrainian Dancers Society, $8,000, Prince George Cantata Singers, $6,500, CFUR Radio Society, $6,000, Northern Orchestra of B.C. Society, $5,500, and Alban Classical Artists Society, $5,000.
BC Housing has purchased the National Hotel with the intention of converting the building into 27 units of supported housing by early 2022.
The agency has been leasing 18 units at the hotel since the summer of 2019 for use as temporary support housing. Cost of the purchase and renovation has been set at $6.4 million
“The purchase ensures much-needed supportive homes permanently remain in the community,” the
province said in a statement.
It said BC Housing will select an experienced non-profit service provider to manage the building with staff on site 24-7 to provide supports, including meal programs, life and employment skills training, as well as health and wellness support services. Each resident will pay monthly rent at the social assistance level of $375 per month.
As well, it said a new 30-bed temporary shelter in the community at 1151 2nd Ave. would be opened by January and operated by the Prince George Native Friendship Centre during the winter months.
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
B.C.’s forest practices watchdog is calling for a revamp of the way old growth forest is treated in the Prince George Timber Supply Area, saying the biodiversity of the stands may be at risk.
In a statement, Forest Practices Board chair Kevin Kriese said the legal order drafted to protect biodiversity was developed nearly 20 years ago and needs to be updated “to reflect the impacts of the mountain pine beetle, updated science or society’s changing values.”
Prince George is one of the few TSAs in B.C. where the amount of old forest legally
required to be conserved is not specifically identified on maps, but is measured as a percentage of the overall forest inventory.
“This creates risks to other forest values,” he said
The FPB is recommending the remaining old growth forest be mapped and that the definition of old growth forest be changed to trees at least 250 years old from the current 140 years.
“The board is calling for the Province to update its objectives for old forest in the PG TSA,” Kriese said. “Updates to the order and identifying important old forest should be undertaken in partnership with Indigenous peoples.”
Michelle Connolly of Conservation
North said raising the limit at which a tree is considered old growth will prevent forest companies from retaining trees that barely meet meet their old growth retention targets while still going after the older trees.
“140 years is ‘old’ in a fire-maintained forest - like lodgepole pine forests - but not in a rainforest, like the Anzac or the Morkill,” Connolly said.
She also welcomed the proposal to map the remaining old growth forest and draw lines around specific areas.
As it stands, Connolly said they “add up all the fragmented guts and feathers and count them as intact forest.”
“They take all the little pieces that they
didn’t want to log anyway - areas with poor quality trees, small trees, scraggly trees that wildlife might not use anyway - and then they add those together and that contributes to their target.
“As opposed to an area that’s larger, that actually maintains the qualities that wildlife need. Any intact old growth forest has to be big enough for wildlife to use.”
The findings come out an investigation of a complaint about the management of biodiversity in the Prince George TSA, which is the largest in the province at about eight million hectares.
Connolly said she had filed a complaint with the FPB but hers was not the one that prompted the investigation
Let’s hope COVID-19 put an end to two stupid stereotypes.
First, governments can move quickly and change direction overnight when sufficiently motivated. In future, politicians and bureaucrats asking for more time for “the process” should be mocked and/or ignored.
Second, artists and entertainers are some of the most adept entrepreneurs in business. The successful ones don’t just sit around waiting for handouts.
If anyone needed more proof, the arts and entertainment sector proved in 2020 how it is led by savvy business people with the skills and imagination to make dramatic changes to their business model to stay open and relevant.
Christina Watts, The Citizen’s choice for Prince George’s 2020 artist of the year, not only altered her business in the past nine months, she expanded it, adding national and international customers for her art, her virtual classes and her latest offering of handmade paints.
Her kids help her collect the rocks that go into a crusher, one of the first steps in the paint making process.
She wasn’t the only one
The fiercely prolific Carla Joseph was
selling new work and prints as fast as she could create them. Local residents responded.
The refurbished Community Arts Council gift shop did a booming business selling the works of local artisans, especially in the Christmas season.
The Prince George Symphony Orchestra sold out a series of small, intimate socially-distanced shows.
Theatre Northwest’s stage readings of Canadian plays, as well as the work of local playwrights, were also a hit
Based on the public reaction, expect these artistic innovations to remain in place in one form or another, once the pandemic is in the rearview mirror.
Local businesses showed the same hustle, offering curbside pickup and delivery options for everything from food to home renovation supplies.
There were casualties, of course, and there will be more in 2021 but the entrepreneurial spirit, as well as the willingness of area residents to support that spirit with their hard-earned dollars, shone through.
Faced with the choice of “buy local or byebye, local,” Prince George shoppers kept as much of their money as they could in the local economy.
The tourism sector was also hit hard but responded with creativity, partnering with fellow operators and other businesses to create unique experiences for area residents hungry for a holiday from COVID-19 but forced to stay close to home.
Furthermore, governments and other publicly funded institutions demolished the myth that the public sector can’t do anything fast.
Northern Health made rapid changes to its health-care delivery model while local family doctors altered their practices and connected to patients over the phone, on FaceTime or Zoom.
Almost overnight, UNBC and CNC switched to online learning for the vast majority of programs and students School District 57 also moved quickly with online learning and revised schedules when schools reopened in September
Certainly, some of that change was less than desirable but it showed these institutions are not slaves to their bureaucracies Alternative service delivery options can be developed and implemented quickly
The federal government rolled out massive aid programs in record time while the provincial government coordinated a rapid public health response to the pandemic.
The year 2020 has been like none other. Not only has the world been impacted by a devastating global pandemic, we have finally begun to honestly recon with the negative impact of colonialism.
Boston College Professor of Moral Theology, Mary Jo Iozzio, recently stated: “The present state of dis-ease in the United States stems from centuries in the making of America’s original sin… of anti-Black racism.”
While Iozzio is completely accurate regarding the perpetual racism demonstrated toward people of African descent in the U.S , her argument also has profound global implications Yes, the United States has never truly dealt with the human impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but the dark pages of subjugation of peoples likely goes back to the dawn of the agricultural age and its impact has been compounding since that time
It was as if the eight minutes and 46 seconds of a white police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck brought the world, finally, to a turning point. We realized that
GERRY CHIDIAC
#Black-Lives-Matter is a rallying cry for all survivors of Eurocentric colonialism. The world said, “Enough is enough! We’re tired of the lies that are told to justify the crimes against humanity which have endured for centuries and continue to perpetuate violence.”
The death of George Floyd is the death of millions of Congolese during the years of the Congo Free State. It is the death of innocent citizens of Yemen and Afghanistan in drone attacks It is the murdered and missing Indigenous women along the Highway of Tears in northern British Columbia. Iozzio is also correct in calling these crimes a sin. While powerful groups have been trying to wipe out their enemies for millennia, from the Germanic tribes expulsing the Celts in England to the Roman destruction of Carthage, European
The politicians and the bureaucrats clearly proved they can act and deliver in short order when the will to do so is there.
Sadly, the City of Prince George was not one of those governments that responded well. After taking a wait-and-see approach for the first few months of the pandemic, city council and administration finally responded over the summer with some layoffs and civic facility closures. Those closures, however, left Prince George as possibly the only B.C. municipality that didn’t put in ice in August and open up its rinks in a safe manner for local residents. It took a public outcry for city council to reverse course
Hopefully, city council and a new city manager in 2021 will change the business as usual culture at city hall
They certainly don’t have to look far for inspiration.
There have been plenty of great local examples in the public and private sector of rapid adaptation to the pandemic, fostered by creative leaders willing to go the extra mile in service of their employees and their customers.
Those innovations won’t be forgotten once everyone is vaccinated.
- Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
conquest since the time of Columbus was done in the name of Christ Jesus himself told us to love God and to love our neighbours as ourselves. He also taught us who our neighbour is: the stranger, the outcast and the vulnerable. Following this line of thinking, it is difficult to call colonization and the theories that perpetuate and justify it to this day anything but the sinful antithesis of love.
This is not to say that every outcome of colonialism was evil, though it can certainly be argued that more equitable trade agreements between Europeans and the residents of other continents would have resulted in a better world than the one we find ourselves in today
But this is the world we find ourselves in. We cannot change the past but we can change the present and we can build a better future for the generations who follow us.
We are all in this mess together because exploitation victimizes everyone. Leopold II of Belgium did not kill any Congolese himself; he coerced others to do this work for him. Poor white people in the United
States, like many black and brown people, are also victims of unjust structures in their education and healthcare systems. Despite all the challenges we faced in 2020, it was a year when the brutal truth became a focal point. It was very interesting to teach social justice classes this past fall. It was as if my students were saying to me, “We get it. Things are not right. Tell us how this happened and what we can do about it.”
The danger now, especially with the defeat of Donald Trump, is a return to complacency. We need to remember that Trump was never the problem; he was simply the result of the problem. It is up to us to determine if 2020 really was the beginning of an age of honest transformation.
May the words of U.S Congressman John Lewis, who died of natural causes weeks after George Floyd’s martyrdom, ring forever in our hearts and minds “Each generation must do its part to help build… a nation and a world at peace with itself.”
We have work to do.
Let’s get to it
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“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”
So wrote Douglas Adams in A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Our ancestors may have had a much better appreciation of just how big the night sky is than we do today because they didn’t have light pollution blocking their view. But they also didn’t have the telescopes, radio dishes, spectrometers, and satellites extending their view. Nor did they have the understanding of physics, chemistry, and astronomy, which illuminate our knowledge of the cosmos.
Standing in an Agora in Athens, 2500 years ago, would an ancient Greek imagined one day we would send probes to meet with asteroids? Or that the probes would be able to pick up material from these asteroids and return it to Earth?
Two weekends ago, Japan’s space agency retrieved a capsule released from the space probe Hayabusa2 containing uncontaminated samples from the asteroid Ryugu. This concluded a six-year mission, which saw the probe travel 5.25 billion kilometres to the asteroid and back (the equivalent of 131,250 trips around Earth.)
Ryugu is a dark, carbon-rich rock a little more than half a mile wide. Yet the sample from its surface should help to shed light on the earliest eons of our solar system. It might even provide some clues as to the chemical composition of the early Earth and tell us about the origins of life.
And which astronomer standing on an Aztec pyramid 1,500 years ago would have thought a giant space telescope would one day occupy nearby islands and reveal the depths of the universe?
The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico was the second largest radio telescope in the world. I say ‘was’ because it had been falling apart over the past several months, a victim of benign neglect and an unwillingness to keep the facility looking at the universe. Two of the cables connected to the support towers gave way a few months ago and the whole facility began to unravel. Finally, the instrument platform gave way, plummeting 137 metres into the reflector dish below After 67 years of service, it had met its demise but during
its life it had given us so much
In 1970, Arecibo took the first pictures of the surface of Venus. Using radar to penetrate the hellish atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide and opaque to optical telescopes, it was able to map the highly reflective Alpha and Beta regions, along with the huge Maxwell Montes mountain chain. In 1988, using electromagnetic waves across several polarizations, Arecibo showed us just how different and complex Venus’ surface really is. It allowed us to go to a place where we had never gone before.
But Arecibo was also the telescope that discovered the pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula in 1968 and a binary pulsar in 1974, explaining the fate of stars. It measured the 21-cm line for hydrogen, which allowed astronomers to calculate how fast galaxies rotate and how far away they are. Arecibo’s observation of galaxies in the Pisces-Perseus supercluster generated the first three dimensional map of the massive string-like structure of galaxies. And its observations confirmed the loss of energy by gravitational radiation as predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity
And what child looking up at the night sky in 1969 would have imagined we would now be able to construct a map of the Milky Way showing us where thousands of
stars have been and perhaps more importantly, where they are going?
In 2013, the European Space Agency launched the Gaia space observatory Its mission was to travel to a point 1.5 million miles from Earth, called a ‘Lagrange point’, and perch there for a decade generating the best atlas of the stars possible.
Tracking over 1 billion stars in our galaxy, the observatory slowly spins, allowing it to measure the same stars many times and over long periods. Further, because it is tied to the Earth and the Earth orbits the sun, it is able to obtain pictures of the stars across a base-line which is 300 million kilometres wide. This results in parallax –tiny shifts in the position of stars against a static backdrop – which provides for precise measurements of distance. By utilizing the deep field images of distant galaxies as a constant reference, Gaia has obtained precise measurements of both the distance to 400,000 stars and their apparent motion. For stars within 5,000 parsecs or 16,000 light years of Earth, it can measure distance with an accuracy within 10 per cent. And for the 300,000 objects within 300 light years, the data is even better.
Space is big. But we have learned so much over time and we will keep on exploring.
It was icy and the pickup truck on the road in front of me started sliding out of control as it rounded a corner on our way back from the ski hill the other day. While others in the car with me were shouting distracting instructions to me, in my head I could hear my father’s voice from my driver training lessons with him.
“Just focus on the road, David.”
At this point, I didn’t worry about the truck ahead. I concentrated on feeling my tires on the road, the road conditions and what was happening around the vehicle.
For many leaders, 2020 was a year when they saw organizations slipping out of control in front of their eyes. Revenues dried up for a month or two, employees didn’t want to come to work, governments and health authorities were shouting out distracting instructions and fear was paramount. Even now, we seem to be on a slippery slope, unending waves of pandemic, ever more dangerous virus strains, and considerable anxiety about whether businesses will be able to survive the
seemingly endless threats of lockdown.
How do we remain grounded in these turbulent times?
For several years, I have been encouraging my clients to name their year as I have. I learned this from Christina Bianchini while presenting at a conference she hosted. The idea of naming a year is geared at helping us to focus on a desired achievement for the year. For example, some people might name their year the year of love, or prosperity, of health or fitness or the year of the marathon. In business, a company might name their year the year of transparency, or clarity, of profitability or communication.
Last year I named my year the “year of presence.” I tried to be present in each moment of 2020. I can’t say that I succeeded, but I tried. I pinned up my name of the year on my computer and looked at it every
day I tried to be present to those around me, my clients and my family, as well as being present in my activities.
Having a focus for my year grounded me when I felt out of control, bored, or complacent When the world news, social media, or other distractions were fighting for my attention, I tried to come back to my goal which was to be present in the moment.
This year is coming to an end and as I look back and evaluate how I did as a husband, father, business owner, employer, coach, or friend, I know I have lots to work on. I have decided that 2021 will be the year of “Listening Deeply.”
Like the last few years when I have written down my focus for the year, I have not understood exactly what I am trying to accomplish. I just know that I need to be grounded in a focus. I recognize that I need to become a better listener.
As I explained my focus for 2021 to one of my clients this past week, they commented over Zoom that they thought I was a good listener. It was just at that moment that I realized that I wasn’t listening to
what they were talking about and I was thinking about something totally irrelevant, confirming my need to focus on listening deeply
As we returned from the ski hill, thankfully, the truck in front of me stayed on the highway, and because I was grounded and able to focus on the road, I was able to avoid being frozen in fear, which could have resulted in an error of judgment. Being rooted and attentive to a guiding motto, principal or goal can keep us from being distracted while others around us feel out of control.
I encourage you to name the upcoming year and to reflect daily on your goal for the year. Hopefully, come next year, when others have floundered, you will feel a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment because you have bettered yourself in some little way that might just change your life.
- Dave Fuller, MBA, is an award-winning certified professional business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Naming your year? Dave would love to hear! Email dave@pivotleader.com
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
Milly Saville and Gord Johnson were two patients in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at the YMCA of Northern BC in March 2016.
For over 50 years, the YMCA of Northern BC has been a cornerstone to our community through child care services, camps, community health services, employment services, recreation, and health and fitness.
During the pandemic, the Y has continued to provide front line supports including emergency child care, access to health and fitness programs, combatting isolation to seniors, tutoring low-income children, helping youth find meaningful employment, and providing mental wellness support.
For nearly two centuries, YMCAs have been adapting, changing, and responding to the needs of the communities we serve.
The YMCA has provided supports to Canadians since 1851, weathering events such as previous pandemics and world wars.
As we continue to rebuild and recover together, the YMCA is more relevant now than ever We know that people need to feel connected and move their bodies, and that the resulting mental health crisis is already underway. We know that movement and connection are medicine.
During this global pandemic, the reliability and dedication of charities and non-profit organizations has endured. We have seen charities and non-profits throughout our communities show up in a significant way They are demonstrating the power of people and making a true impact during COVID-19 as part of the response, the
Dear Santa,
Thank you for recognizing Too Close 2 Home as a diverse group of PG citizens trying to invest in the future of our city (which we love!). As you know, we share profound concerns and are raising key questions about the (return of) a proposed West Coast Olefins (WCO) multi-purpose large-scale petrochemical and plastic pellet production site. Santa, we wonder if WCO is on the naughty or nice list but it’s hard to get that information since they have only existed since 2018, have no other projects listed, and are based out of Alberta. Anyway Santa, here is our Christmas wish list. We would like:
1) For the City of Prince George to make clear whether it is still seriously considering the proposal given that the leaders of the Lheidli T’enneh and McLeod Lake First Nations have stated their clear disappointment with the process and WCO and so will no longer discuss this proposal. The province of B.C. is a signatory to UNDRIP (the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) and any discussion of this project should reflect this.
2) A transparent discussion of the expansive scale of the proposed plant, and clear description of the full set of facilities proposed, including those operated by third parties.
3) An admission that this is an old-fashioned “dinosaur” of a proposal that combines two dying industries: oil and gas, and
plastics production, and is not a “green” or a cutting-edge project.
4) A detailed description of why the WCO proposal(s) keeps changing locations, and why the Kitimat-based proposal seems now to have disappeared off the list of sites contemplated. We’d also like to know why the proposal is back in PG since we are not “a path of least resistance.”
5) A review of similar sites in North America, and the balance of costs and benefits that have resulted from such facilities being introduced into communities near family homes and key waterways, in similarly polluted airsheds. This should also include an examination of how this could foster a “sacrifice zone” reputation for Prince George— an outcome that does not fit with community or city visions of Prince George as a dynamic and attractive place progressing towards economic diversification and sustainability goals.
6) A frank, evidence-based discussion from project proponents, including City of Prince George councillors (if there are some are in favour), about how they see the proposed petrochemical site as beneficial for the city, its residents, local First Nations, and surrounding environment, given the known environmental history of negative impacts and costs associated with similar sites. Further, we’d like to know their views of benefits vs. probable costs, as they relate to current and future city goals.
7) More information on WCO’s profes-
AMANDA ALEXANDER
recovery, and the solution.
It has been a difficult time for our communities and a difficult time for our YMCA The impacts of pandemic have led to temporary layoffs, greatly reduced revenue from fees and charitable giving, centre closures, and uncertainty We are both grateful and proud of the way in which our team has adapted and continues to show up for our northern communities.
Charities and non-profits will continue to work on the front line and take a supporting role to provide help to communities across Canada in countless meaningful ways from health and well-being, to quality child care, to housing supports; the list goes on. But the non-profit and charitable sector is in trouble. Operational charities like our YMCA run on a combination of provincially and federally funded programs, child care and membership fees, municipal grants, and charitable gifts to fund financial assistance.
Our YMCA subsidizes $300 000 annually because we believe that health is a right, not a privilege – no one is turned away due to an inability to pay. Without being able to generate adequate revenue, YMCAs are in a risky place. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy has allowed us to make it this far
But we need help to keep going. The entire charitable sector is in trouble. Imagine Canada projected that the charitable sector could lose up to $15.6 billion in revenue and 194,000 employees. This means the work that governments and people in our communities have trusted charities to do for decades may not be able to continue Many communities do not have the infrastructure or expertise to deliver these services if organizations like the YMCA start to disappear.
Charities and non-profit organizations need and deserve to be included in the recovery plans of all orders of government, alongside policymakers and those deciding and directing investment dollars and support efforts. Our community cannot, and will not, recover and thrive without the aid and contributions of charities and non-profit organizations
We know that almost every individual in our community relies on the work of countless non-profits and charities. We are grateful for the government and charitable support received to date, but it is still the early days We need to make sure that charities like ours are able to continue to do the needed work throughout the COVID-19 crisis and through the tough years to come. By investing in organizations like the YMCA, governments invest in the people supporting the most vulnerable, ensuring that we have communities where everyone can connect and thrive again.
- Amanda Alexander is the CEO of the YMCA of Northern BC.
sional track record given that their website lists no other projects (past or present), and they share their Alberta mailing address with another oil and gas company We would also like information on any recent lawsuits or forfeitures linked to the names on this project as we know that our city is interested in risk and loss reduction
8) An open evidence-based discussion of the inevitable health consequences and cumulative impacts this proposal would bring for potential workers and the greater community. This would consider all on and off-site aspects of the facility (shorter and longer term), and how those would interact with existing environmental burdens and cumulative impacts.
9) Strategies from the city, WCO, Tourism Prince George, and the Northern BC Tourism Association that will reconcile related branding conflicts. How can one city take on a proposed noxious heavy industry proposal while also promoting a diversifying economy and much-loved nature-based tourism and recreation?
Thanks, Santa!
Zoe Meletis and Too Close 2 Home administrators
I would like to commend Mike Maslen for his letter in the Citizen. He wrote what a lot of people think about but do not have the courage to write about The city’s bureaucracy, bloated salaries, and people using Prince George as a stepping stone I still look forward to reading the Citizen
and I still do business downtown. About a week ago, I was coming out of our great bakery on George Street when I had a young man come up to me and wanted me to give him money. He said he was hungry
When I was young and I was hungry, I went to work at Lloyd’s Drive Inn, I didn’t go out trying to bum money off of old ladies who have worked hard all their lives I told the young man the Fire Pit was across the street and they have free food. He said yes but they are not open.
I grew up with a father that told me the world doesn’t owe you a living. We have a downtown that is full of people from all over that feel Prince George taxpayers owe them everything from food to housing to cleaning up their garbage. They feel we owe them a living.
I feel so sad when I go downtown and see the sorry state it’s in and wonder how did we let it get into this deplorable condition.
How can we bring new businesses to the downtown when the faithful ones we have and need to support have to put up with so much crap? I would love to see a vibrant downtown with entertainment, residential and retail but to get that we have to get our downtown back.
We need a leader that cares about Prince George and wants to live here and make our city vibrant and safe and do something about our downtown before it’s totally turned into East Hastings.
Anyone up for the job?
Helen Robertson, Prince George
ACROSS 1. Electrical units 5. Happy 8. Mulligan or Irish 12. Enroll 13. Mineralbearing rock 14. over (study)
15. Choir member 16. Young louse 17. Enjoy abook 18. Back end 19. Milk factory 21. Pair 23. Marry secretly 27. Bat wood
30. The whole amount 32. Used a computer
Opponent
Elevate
Label
Alert
Angled addition 40. Messy place
Broadantlered deer
Andean country
Without feeling
Large truck
Puppy’s bite
Milky jewel
Skip
20th letter
Traffic barrier
Wilder’s “____ Town”
Recognized DOWN
Cracked open
Burrowing animal
Flat bread
Sound of contempt
Venice transport 6. Elaborate melody
7. Abominable Snowman 8. Nimbly 9. Shoe front 10. Pitcher’sstat 11. Tie the knot
20. Narrate again 22. Gentle heat 24. Picks 25. Soil additive 26. Fidgety 27. Distantly 28. Shoe part 29. Make better 31. Commit perjury
35. Snorer
38. Say from memory
43. Insult 45. “____ the Woods” 46. Stead 48. Aware of 49. Lion’s hair 50. Gusted
51. Lawn material 52. Ostrichlike bird
53. At the center of
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1through 9only once.
Each 3x3 box is outlined withadarker line. You already have afew numberstoget you started Remember: you must not repeatthe numbers 1through 9inthe same line, columnor3x3 box.
HOURS: Monday-Friday8:30am -3:00pm •Closed
(Mathew) Korolek May 30, 1936 - December 10, 2020
It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Matt Korolek, at home, on December 10th, 2020 at the age of 84. He was born in Theodore, Saskatchewan before moving to Prince George where he was hired on the CNR and worked for 36 years as a Conductor on the railroad. He married the love of his life Gerda in 1959 and they were married for 61 years. He is survived by his wife Gerda and his 5 children; Carla Korolek-Spicer, Holly Gerrish, Leslie Korolek, Liana (Duane) Grant, Jason (Niki) Korolek. He is also survived by his 13 grandchildren; Jenelle, Justin (Natalie), Lindsay (Sebastien), Laura, Carly (Kayle), Duncan, Chelsea (Owen), Keaton, Sam, Erica (Cole), Austin, Kayla, Jenna and two step grandchildren, Jozi (Rob), Riley (Chika). He also leaves behind his 7 great grandchildren and two sisters Anne Baron and Rose Ryboticki. He was predeceased by his parents Stefan and Patty Korolek and 10 siblings.
Matt loved life and his family more than anything in the world. He will always be remembered as a dedicated and loving husband, father and grandfather. Matt loved working with mother-nature and grew a beautiful garden every year where he would harvest vegetables to last the winter, make homemade sauerkraut, jellies, jams, and soups and freely share all of his harvest with his children. He had a natural interest in health and healing. Matt valued hard work and was an excellent role model for his children and grandchildren. He will be fondly remembered for his exuberance and enthusiasm for life, big bear hugs, bone crushing handshakes, generosity, and lucky hands in crib. He was the life of the party, told the best stories and had a great sense of humor. He will be so deeply missed and never forgotten. There is no service by request. We are hoping to have a celebration of life sometime this summer.
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Rita Ida Switzer, in the early morning, of December 10th 2020.
Predeceased husband - Kerry Switzer, sons- Raymond and Irvin Switzer, many other brothers and sisters as well as grandchildren - Michael, Angel and Luke Switzer.
Survived by daughter- Helen Murray, son Vincent Switzer, her loving brothers Jimmy and Bobby Bear and sister Kathy along with many nieces and nephews and many many grandchildren and great grandchildren she loved so very, very much.
Also survived by Judy Vallee, her friend of 50 years that became her family as they relied on each other and all of the Vallee family.
From sunrise of November 28th, 1935 to sunset December 10th, 2020, Grandma Rita passed peacefully.
She lived her best life with what she had and those in it that made her smile and days brighter until the day she left us. She was an amazing woman with a very kind heart and soul and loved her family and friends very much. She will be greatly missed but never forgotten with cherished memories as she imprinted and blessed us with her presence on all of our hearts and souls.
We love you very much and you will be sadly missed here on this earth.
Whyte,MarkF. September25,1952-November29,2020
As you share the stories and the memories of how they lived their lives and how very much they meant, may you find comfor t...
Wearesosadtoannouncethepassingofourbrother andfriendMarkFraserWhyteonNovember29,2020.He wasfounddeceasedinhisapartmentafterhiscolleagues atWinnersinPrinceGeorgebecameconcernedwhen theycouldn’tlocatehimforwork.Thecauseofhisdeath wasdeterminedtobeheartfailure.Markwasbornon September25,1952athirdsonforGordonandDoreen Whyte.HegrewupinruralPortMoodywherehespent manydaysexploringthewoodsonhisbelovedhorse, Duke!Althoughasanadulthelivedinmanylargercities, includingPortMoody,Vancouver,FortSaintJohnand PrinceGeorge,healwaysfoundwaystospendmostof hisdaysoutdoors,anddevelopedapassionforthesport ofgolf.Hiscareerpathincludedconstruction,retailsales, realestate,farming,andeventuallylawenforcement,a positionthathefoundverysatisfying.Markwasamanof contrast,beingcontentwhetherhewasaloneinthegreat whitenorthorworkinginthebigcity.Helovedapartyas muchashelovedhissolitude.Markhadawonderful senseofhumor,andalthoughhehadnochildrenofhis own,hewasamuchloved’UncleBuck’tohisnieces, KatherineBates(Westbridge),PatriciaPhillips,(Kelowna) PamelaHolmesWhyte(Seattle)andSueWhyte(Whyte Rock).Aswordofhisuntimelydeathhasspread,we begantoreceivemessagesfromhisco-workers,family, andfriends,withthecommonthemebeingMarkhada bigheart,arobustlaugh,akeensenseofhumourand hadkindwordsforeveryone.Ithasbeensovery comfortingtoreceivethesenotesaswespendtime rememberingwhohewastous.AsabelieverinJesus, weknowthatMarkisnowaliveinChrist,reunitedwith hismom,hisdad,hisgrandpop,andolderbrotherPeter. Onceweareabletogatheragain,wewillhosta celebrationoflifeinhishonor. GordandJanWhyteandfamily
Ralph William Bramble
February 5, 1945
~ Enderby, BCDecember 19, 2020
~ Prince George, BC
Ralph passed away peacefully on December 19, 2020 at the age of 75 years.
Ralph was born in Enderby and lived a few years in Vernon before moving to Prince George for work. He worked many years at Fred Walls & Son then YRB until retiring.
Left to mourn are wife Theresa, son Ronald and daughter Diana.
Ralph is predeceased by his parents Floyd and Murl Bramble, sister Anna and brothers Charles Bramble and Roy Bramble.
No service requested. Celebration of life in the summer. NO FLOWERS ~ Donations to Rotary Hospice House accepted.
Shankel,Len 1937-2020
LeonardCharlesShankelpeacefullyandquietlypassed awayonDecember10,2020,attheageof83.His memorylivesoninhischildren,JasonandLavona(Cliff), andgrandson,Michael.Lenwaspredeceasedbyhiswife, Dolores(Birkeland),whopassedawayin2009.
BorninLiverpool,NovaScotia,Lenmadeanexcitingand courageousmoveacrossthecountrytoPrinceRupertin 1956.Whilelivingnearthe"saltchuck",heworkedasa longshoreman,alabourer,andapipefitter.Hemet Dolores,marriedherandtheymovedPrinceGeorgein 1964.LenworkedatPGPulpfor34years,28ofwhich heservedaspresidentofthePPWCLocal9.Heretiredin 2000.
Outsideofwork,Lenenjoyedbaseball,boxing,trapping, fishingandhunting,althoughsomeofhismostenjoyable andmemorabletimeswerecelebratingspecialevents suchasbirthdays,Christmasoranyotherreasontoget togethertodiscussanddebatethenewsandpolitics.Len wasalwayswillingtohearandconsideranalternative perspectiveorposition.
Notonlyloveddearlybyhisfamily,Lenearnedand maintainedthehighregardofhispeersforhisthoughtful anddedicatedyearsofservicetohisunion,hisworkwith andcommitmenttovariousorganizationsincludingthe BCTrappersandElderCitizensRecreationAssociations. Lenbelievedinfairrepresentation,fairwagesandequality forall,andwasnotafraidtostandupforwhathebelieved in.Itdidnotmatterwhoyouwere-youdeservedtohave yoursay,belistenedtoandtreatedwithrespect.
ItgoeswithoutsayingthatLenwashighlyrespectedand willbedeeplymissedbymany.
AcelebrationofLen’slifewillbeheldinthenewyearona dateyettobedetermined.Inlieuofflowers,donations ofanykindoramounttothePrinceGeorgeHospice Societywouldbegreatlyappreciated.
Edwin Hans Sten
February 24, 1942December 16, 2020
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, son, and brother. Ed passed away at the Palliative Care Unit of Nanaimo Regional Hospital at the age of 78 after a courageous battle with cancer.
Ed is survived by his loving wife Mansje, son Karl, mother Iris Basrab, mother-in-law Betty Taling and sisters Betty Cusson, Shirley (Vic) Rue and Marilyn (Ole) Jennette.
Predeceased by his father Hans and stepmother Grace, father-in-law Wim Taling and brother-inlaw Ron Cusson.
A celebration of his life will held at a later date.
GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN
To send a condolence to the family please visit www.yatesmemorial.ca
YATES MEMORIAL SERVICES
250-248-5859
“Lives Cherished and Celebrated”
Olivia Leslie Anne O’ Brien
The most beautiful young woman, daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend. Olivia Leslie Anne O’Brien passed away quietly in her sleep Dec 20th, 2020.
Olivia is survived by her parents: Eric and Shauna, brothers: Brogan and Fischer, grandmother: Heather Alderson, grandmother: Marjorie O’Brien (Davis Edwards), grandfather: Mic O’Brien, uncles: Chad Alderson (Kristy, Sawyer ,Paxton) Barry and Leanne O’Brien (Nolan, Moira), Mark and Raylene O’Brien (Devin), Kevin O’Brien (Michelle Bouffard) endless extended family and her Rainbow house family who all loved her like their own.
She was her brother’s BIGGEST fan, her grandparent’s treasure, and our miniature miracle that grew to be someone so much larger than life. Words cannot describe our heavy hearts and magnitude of emptiness and loss we feel.
Our precious girl touched every person she met in some special way. If you were lucky enough to know Miss Olivia- you LOVED her. You adored her. She was our core strength, glue to our family. She was our everything. Her resilience, brave determination, radiant smile, kind soul and unconditional love will never be forgotten…….
George Iwasiuk
Mar 21, 1932Dec 20, 2020
It is with great sadness that the family of George Iwasiuk announce his peaceful passing on Sunday, December 20, 2020 at the age of 88. George was born March 21, 1932 at West Bend Saskatchewan. He is survived by his loving wife Gloria, children: Andrea (Ken), Ellen (Dominic) Dora, Wentworth, Luella, grandchildren Amanda (Peter), Bethany (Eric) Celina (Matt), Andrew and Daniel; and 8 great-grandchildren as well as numerous nephews and nieces.
Dad is predeceased by his parents Harry and Dora, siblings William, Metro, Peter, Lily, Mary, Victor and Ann; nieces Patsy and Sonia, and nephew Ronald.
In keeping with George’s wishes his ashes will be returned to Saskatchewan, and a memorial will take place there when we are all able to be together to honour him.
We would like to thank the kind staff at Prince George Rotary Hospice for their care of George and ask that any donations in his name be directed to the Hospice Society.
Condolences may be offered at AssmansFuneralChapel.com.
June 5, 1933December 22, 2020
It is with deep sadness that the family of Dora Perri announces her passing on December 22, 2020 at the age of 87.
Dora is survived by her five children; Antonio (Rita), Adele (Ed), Maurizio (Chantal), Maria and Laurie (Dean). She will be remembered by her eleven grandchildren; Brock, Marco, Michael, Daveen, Darcel, Thomas, Rocco, Gabriella, Brenden, Perry and Liam; four great-grandchildren; Reiner, Chloe, Chase and Alessandra. Dora is survived by two sisters; Giosina and Anna, as well as extended family and friends. She is predeceased by her loving husband of 65 years Giulio; parents Maria and Vincenzo; infant son Vincenzo and sister Romilda. Dora was born in Santo Stefano di Rogliano, Calabria, Italy where she later married her husband Giulio in 1955. In 1966 they moved their family to Canada and made Prince George their home. Dora shared an incredible love for her family and friends, they were everything to her.
As
She is safe in her Papa’s arms. She is our Angel. Her wings were ready for her, our hearts most certainly were not. We love her so much.
Those fortunate to have Dora in their life always felt her love and welcoming embrace. She enjoyed working at Shakey’s Pizza where she had the opportunity to share her love of cooking and continue to immerse herself in the new country she loved. Dora later worked for many years as a custodian with School District 57 until her retirement in 1995. Dora maintained her Italian heritage which included helping Giulio grow amazing gardens, making wine, gnocci , breads, Italian desserts, pasta, tomatoe sauce and cured meats to fill the cool room. Dora will be lovingly remembered for her love and dedication to her family and friends. A private prayer service will be held with entombment at Prince George Memorial Park Mausoleum. The family would like to send a special thank you to Shannon and also the wonderful staff at Jubilee Lodge for their care and compassion of Dora over the last six years, it was a comfort to know she was in loving hands.
Rest in Peace Nonna, we will miss your love, laughter, and kindness.
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
Office 250-596-9199 Cell 250-981-1472
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
Correc tion Notice: Anyapplications submitted to search.pgso.com should be re-submitted to search.committee@pgso.com
PRINCE GEORGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA GENERAL MANAGER
ThePrinceGeorge SymphonyOrchestra(PGSO) seeks aGeneral Manager. This is afull-time permanentposition.
ThePGSO which is celebrating its 50th anniversar ythis season, ser vesthe City and the surrounding region. It is akey member of the per forming ar ts communityinthe City and provides oppor tunities forprofessional musicians,communitymusicians and encourages and suppor ts the development of young ar tists.
TheGeneral Managerisresponsible to the Boardthrough the BoardChair forthe direction and execution of all fiscal and administrativeactivities of the PGSO
TheGeneral Managerpar ticipatesinthe Board’sdevelopmentand implementation of its strategic plan.
Theposition has full responsibilityfor the business office, budgeting,financial recordsand repor ting,marketing and promotion and financial development. In conjunction with the Music Director the role includes concer t produc tion managementand relatedvolunteer engagement, musician recruiting and oversight with par ticular referencetothe termsofengagement.The GM is also theprincipal staff spokesperson forthe organization for polic yand non-ar tistic matters
Thesuccessful candidate will have apost secondar yeducation or equivalent experience, an appreciation of and ideally experienceinclassical music and orchestras,possess ahigh levelofleadership and demonstratestrong interpersonal sk ills as ateam player. Ademonstratedabilitytoengage donors is an impor tantasset.
Applicants areasked to submit their resume in full confidenceto search@pgso.com
Salar yrange -$50,000 -$60,000
Application Deadline: Januar y15, 2021
de_Booklet.pdf
Spacious, 3 level 4 bdrms, 4 baths, superb location. $277,500. 250-561-1255 Ready to sell!
auto, 2 owner, receipts since new, no accidents, 107K, $27,900 obo. 596-5434
1998 FORD F250 Diesel w/ plow. Exc. cond. $10,000. 250-3980720
1977 FORD 1 ton, renovated, $2500. 250-306-2292
Chrome tailgate, fits 3/4 ton GMC, cover top fits GMC 6 1/2 ft box, chrome rails. Shop vac250-963-6898
V.I.M. Wheelchair conversion van.
Side entry power ramp, removable front seats, loaded 2003 Grand Caravan Sport, 139,000 miles. $15,500. Will accept trades 250-981-0055 or 236-423-2297
2220 & 2226 UPLAND ST. 2 bdrm duplex w/ 2 bdrm finished suite each side. Good revenue property, in good shape. $450,000 250-614-6667 or 250568-2338
260 & 264 RUGGLES. 4BDRM, c/w appliances, fenced, $2650/mo revenue. $398,000. 250-5682338, 614-6667
Turnkey business, ColHts. Hotel Alternative. Two 2bdr units $5630 mo revenue $398K 250-214-0909
1000sq
