OCTOBER 29TH, 2022, Saturday Evening Bingo at 6pm $7,000 Jackpot
THURSDAY, October 20, 2022
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
Simon Yu will be the new mayor of Prince George next month, according to preliminary election results released by the City of Prince George on Saturday.
Yu received 6,092 votes (40 2 per cent), ahead of Terri McConnachie (4,152 votes/27 4 per cent), Roy Stewart (2,424 votes/16 per cent), Adam Hyatt (1,773 votes/11 7 per cent), Lisa Mitchell (553 votes/3 6 per cent) and Chris Wood (159 votes/one per cent)
“I’m so happy to see the size of support within the community,” Yu said “This win, it was unexpected to say the least ”
Brian Skakun (9,370 votes), Garth Frizzell (6,911 votes), Kyle Sampson (6,840 votes), Cori Ramsay (5,971 votes), Ron Polillo (5,685 votes), Trudy Klassen (5,515 votes), Tim Bennett (5,295 votes) and Susan Scott (5,224 votes) were elected to city council
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ON THE TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE LHEIDLI T’ENNEH
Simon Yu celebrates his victory Saturday as the next mayor of Prince George with city councillor Brian Skakun, the top vote-getter among city council candidates
Meet the new city councillors
As well as a new mayor, Simon Yu, Prince George has three new faces on city council. City council incumbents Garth Frizzell, Cori Ramsay, Kyle Sampson, Susan Scott and Brian Skakun will be joined by Tim Bennett, Ron Polillo and Trudy Klassen.
Bennett and Polillo previously served as School District No 57 (SD57) board trustees before running for a seat on city council
Candidates Wesley Mitchell (4,790 votes), Cameron Stolz (4,401 votes), Karm Manhas (4,333 votes), Karen Muir (3,973 votes), James Steidle (3,947 votes), John Zukowski (3,440 votes), Colleen Mahoney (3,399 votes), Chris Stern (2,425 votes), Paul Serup (2,081 votes), Doug Jeffery (1,903 votes), Nour Salim (1,729 votes) and Richard Cook (1,202 votes) did not receive enough votes to be elected
The total voter turnout was 15,310 (26 27 per cent), up from 2018 when only 24 per cent (13,184) of the eligible 54,852 voters cast a ballot
Yu came to Prince George from Hong
Kong in 1975 to attend what was then called Prince George College, a Catholic boarding school
He’ll be the first first-generation immigrant to be mayor of Prince George, when he and the rest of the new city council are sworn in on Nov 7
The first regular city council meeting will be held on Nov 21
See ‘I WANT TO GET THINGS DONE’, page 2
“I am incredibly humbled with the support I have from the community It has been an absolute honour to serve the community for the last 11 years as a trustee,” said Bennett, who was elected with 5,295 preliminary votes, coming in seventh place He said it’s been no secret that the last few years have been a challenge for SD57 but he can’t wait to get to work on behalf of the community as a city councillor
“For me, it was important that I ran on a pillar of accountability and over the last few years there has been decisions made by the school district that weren’t necessarily decisions that the community always agreed with and it is important that I was held accountable for those ” See ‘I AM LOOKING FORWARD, page 2
HANNA PETERSEN Citizen staff
‘I am looking forward to the next four years’
Continued from page 1
He said he applied as much clarity in his campaign towards his positions that he could.
“I am thankful to that the community put their trust in me to represent them for the next four years ”
Bennett said there’s a lot of work ahead for the new city council and he is looking forward to working with the new mayor and council at creating change for Prince George.
“We have multiple ongoing crisis right now as a community we need to look to address and we heard loud and clear that there’s an expectation that we get to work right away and I cant wait for the opportunity to be able to do that ”
Polillo said he was elated and humbled to be elected
“I felt good during the campaign and I am really pleased with the positivity and the response I was getting during the campaign translated into votes I am looking forward to the next four years,” said Polillo who was voted in fifth place with 5,685 votes.
Polillo said he thinks he can bring over his experience with governance and budget from serving on the school board
“Bringing that knowledge and experience will help me greatly but obviously will be an entirely different challenge and issues that we will be tacking I think I
am well positioned to really role up my sleeves dig in and make a difference ”
Polillo said he wants to focus on social issued downtown, capital infrastructure and getting a handle on over budget capital projects
“I am really exited to work on the branding project that has been started by the City of Prince George and really developing an action plan for truth and reconciliation that is a priority as well ” Former Citizen columnist and business
VOLUNTEER FOR THE CITY OF PRINCE GEORGE
The City is seeking residents interested in serving on the Prince George Public Library Board.
The Board meets monthly and is responsible for providing library services and programs in Prince George. Their work includes creating policies, establishing goals and objectives of the library, and advocating for the library in the greater community Visit www.pgpl.ca/board for more information on current members, the time commitment required and the activities of the Library Board.
The City is accepting applications to fill five (5) vacancies for two-year terms beginning on December 1, 2022 and ending on November 30, 2024.
Involvement with council committees, commissions, and boards provides residents the opportunity to contribute to the growth and development of our municipality and to provide input on important civic issues.
How to Apply
Individuals interested in serving on the Library Board must be available to attend regularly scheduled meetings and be willing to actively participate in projects that the Board undertakes throughout the year
Applicants must undergo a criminal record check. Details regarding the criminal record check process will be sent by email to the applicant upon receipt of a completed application form. Applicants must begin the criminal record check process by the application deadline noted below for their application to be considered.
Applications may be completed and submitted online (www.princegeorge.ca/committees), delivered to the Legislative Services Division, 5th Floor City Hall, at the address below, emailed to legislativeservices@princegeorge.ca, or faxed to (250) 561-0183
Deadline for Applications: 5:00 p.m., Thursday, November 3, 2022
For any questions, or to have an application form mailed to you, please contact the Legislative Services Division at (250) 561-7792 or legislativeservices@princegeorge.ca.
Subscribe to receive information and updates regarding council and committee meetings, committee volunteer recruitment, public hearings, and more by registering at www.princegeorge.ca/Subscribe.
owner Trudy Klassen was elected in sixth place with 5,515 votes
“I am somewhat surprised I thought there would be more energy for new candidates and new faces at the table but here we are,” said Klassen, in reference to the five incumbents who were re-elected
“We have a new mayor, so I am looking forward to a lot of energy from the mayor’s chair and just a lot of working together to begin to work on some of the
issues facing Prince George and the very serious issues we have downtown ”
She said she wants to focus on getting city hall to be a place that is a great service to the community with better permitting times and sense of a can-do attitude that will help local businesses expand and grow
“I hope that this is the beginning of realizing Prince George’s potential as B C ’s northern capital A fresh beginning,” she said
‘I want to get things done’
Continued from page 1
“Here I am - 1975, and I’m still here,” Yu said “I never, ever felt I was an outsider Diversity is doing well in Prince George.”
Yu said he wants to be known as the “3-A mayor,” with the A’s standing for accessible, accountable and action-oriented.
He said he wants to make sure he is available to everyone in the city, including the city’s homeless population, be accountable to the public and “I want to get things done ”
“Job 1 is meeting with the council elect. I’m only one of the nine votes (on city council),” Yu said “I want to get all the council elect together and set our priorities ” Yu took an early lead in the advance voting, receiving 1,180 votes, ahead of Terri McConnachie (1,093 votes), Roy Stewart (689 votes), Adam Hyatt (328 votes), Lisa Mitchell (143 votes) and Chris Wood (34 votes)
On election day, Yu garnered the most votes at all eight city polling stations
Beginning November 1, 2022, statutory Public Notices will
(www.princegeorge.ca/PublicNotices), the City’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/cityofpg) and at City Hall on the 1st Floor Bulletin Board.
Stay informed and receive emails from the City of Prince George with information and updates regarding upcoming public hearings, land use, licensing, or zoning amendment applications, council and committee meetings, elections, media releases, and more by subscribing to our notification service at www.princegeorge.ca/Subscribe.
Trudy Klassen, Tim Bennett and Ron Polillo are the three new city councillors after Saturday’s civic election.
Incumbent councillors ready to get back to work
HANNA PETERSEN Citizen staff
Alongside a new mayor, Simon Yu, and three new faces, five incumbents will be returning to the Prince George city council horseshoe.
Each of the five re-elected city councillors said they are thankful for the support and ready to get back to work.
“I’m really pleased with getting re-elected and I’m just humbled with all the support that I get People really get behind me when the going gets tough, and I really appreciate the support,” said Coun Brian Skakun who won re-election to serve his seventh term
“I’m sad to see Terri go, we worked really well together for two terms, but you know, working with Simon, I’m looking forward to that,” said Skakun, as former Coun Terri McConnachie finished in second place behind Yu in the race to be Prince George’s next mayor
Skakun said he hopes to be able to give Yu as much advice as he can and be able to provide a leadership role.
He noted that he’d also like to focus on the downtown social issues as well as examine the city’s management structure
“I’m just hoping that some of the candidates that ran this time get involved with some city committees and stay in touch with us and council and run again in four
years because the four years goes by really fast,” added Skakun.
Coun Garth Frizzell said this time it’s less about the jubilation and excitement and more about the amount of work head of the new council.
“Because this election was different from the other four I’ve been in - the issues are, right there, in your face, they are provincial jurisdiction, but they’re ones we, we have to deal with,” noted Frizzell.
He said there’s an opportunity for the city to apply for a rapid housing program that is going to be released by the federal government on Dec 1 and the city can’t wait to get an application in for that program
Frizzell noted he also wants to investigate the home energy retrofit programs available. Other communities have access to it and he wants to see what a Prince George solution would look like for that.
He said the new mayor and council will have to make sure the partnerships that former Mayor Lyn Hall built for reconciliation are not just maintained, but strengthened
“We’ve got five that are incumbents, of course, and we’ve worked together before. We’ve been talking back and forth about what this could look like, and I’m really excited to see the new directions that Simon Yu will bring to council and
what his leadership style looks like ”
Coun. Cori Ramsay, who will now be serving her second term, said although it was a tough campaign period, being re-elected by the community was an affirmation that her hard work over the past four years has paid off
She is also ready to roll-up her sleeves and get back to work
“I think it’s really important for us to develop an advocacy strategy moving forward. There’s 188 local governments in the province of B C , and all of them are really struggling with a lot of similar issues,” said Ramsay
“We are all going to the province asking for help But we have to be more creative and more strategic in order to get that help that we need on those big-ticket items I’m really hoping that we can develop that advocacy strategy through our strategic planning session, and really just have a really clear road map of where we want to go and how we are going to get there.”
Ramsay noted she is excited to welcome the new faces to council and excited to work with a new mayor
“He’s very enthusiastic and he seems full of hope He’s very eager to make a difference in Prince George for the better and so that’s definitely something I can get behind ”
Coun Kyle Sampson was also re-elected
to serve his second term on city council and said he was thrilled to regain the confidence of the Prince George voters
Sampson said there are two initiatives he plans on tackling right away and one is bringing various ministries that deal with mental health and addictions, housing, and health to Prince George so they can see what we are facing as a community and what a made-in Prince George solution would be
“I think there’s no doubt that everyone across B C is experiencing these similar issues but it’s obvious that Prince George is unique in its own way, as well ”
He also noted that he’d like to look at how Prince George can partner to achieve goals of reducing carbon emissions looking at economic drivers in the region that will help achieve that
“I’m ready to get to work and keep that momentum going and keep working hard for the community of Prince George.”
Coun Susan Scott said she’d heard from a variety of different voices during the election period and doesn’t want those voices to drop.
“I found this very interesting in terms of the number of people that were willing to actually put a face and voice to a comment. I had a lot of people reach out to me on social media that way that was different and I really appreciated that people took the time and energy to do that ”
Mobley elected to regional district board
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
Victor Mobley will be the new director for the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George’s Electoral Area A (Salmon River-Lakes), according to preliminary election results released by the district on Saturday.
Mobley received 166 votes (62 2 per cent), ahead of Kyanna Coe with 101 votes (37 8 per cent)
Only one candidate came forward in Electoral Areas C, D, E, F, G and H, meaning those candidates were elected by acclamation
Incumbent board chairperson Art Kaehn will return to represent Electoral Area E (Woodpecker-Hixon), incumbent vice-chairperson Lara Beckett will
represent Electoral Area C (Chilako River-Nechako), incumbent directors
Bill Empey, Kevin Dunphy and Dannielle Alan will represent Electoral Areas D (Tabor Lake-Stone Creek), Electoral Area F (Willow River-Upper Fraser Valley and H (Robson Valley-Canoe) and new director Jerrilyn Kirk will replace outgoing director Pat Crook in Electoral Area G (Crooked River-Parsnip)
Jennifer Hebert (38 votes), David Nicholson (32 votes), Thomas Kendall (29 votes) and Marlaina McClure (30 votes) were elected to the Bear Lake Community Commission
Bear Lake Commission candidate Sandra McClure’s 24 votes were not enough to get her elected.
Voters in the Miworth area approved the establishment of the Miworth
Community Facilities Service to provide funding to help operate the Miworth Community Hall
One hundred people voted in favour in the referendum, and 25 people voted against it
Voters approved a maximum tax requisition of $35,000, a $ 00029 tax increase per $1,000 of assessed property value, to fund the hall
The regional district board is made up of seven rural directors representing Electoral Areas A, C, D, E, F, G and H (there is no area B), four representatives of Prince George city council, and one councillor each from the District of Mackenzie, Village of McBride and Village of Valemount
Currently outgoing Prince George
HELP VOTERS MAKE THEIR MARK
Mayor Lyn Hall and outgoing councillors Murry Krause and Terri McConnachie and returning city councillor Kyle Sampson represent the City of Prince George on the regional district board.
Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson, McBride village councillor Allan Frederick and Valemount Mayor Owen Torgenson also currently sit on the board.
The final meeting of the current board will be held on Oct. 20, and the new board will be sworn in on Nov 16
Elections BC is looking for local leaders to serve as District Electoral Officers and Deputy District Electoral Officers throughout B.C. These roles plan for and manage provincial elections, by-elections and related projects. These management-level positions are critical to ensure voters and other stakeholders experience an
fair, accessible and inclusive electoral process. We are seeking highly motivated leaders with strong administrative, human resource and project management skills.
VICTOR MOBLEY
School board results
HANNA PETERSEN Citizen staff
There will be plenty of new faces at School District No. 57 board meetings this fall.
Incumbents Betty Bekering, Rachael Webber and Bob Thompson will be joined by new trustees Erica McLean, Craig Brennan, Gillian Burnett and Cory Antrim.
Milton Mahoney, who was elected during a byelection in February, wasn’t re-elected
The vote totals for the victorious school trustee candidates were:
McLean - 5596
Brennan- 4621
Bekkering - 4348 (incumbent Burnett - 3964
Antrim - 3531
The vote totals for the unsuccessful school trustee candidates were:
Shar McCrory - 3106
Josh Silva - 2913
Cathy Fortin - 2843
Mahoney - 2818
Damon Robinson - 2569
Bob Schroeder - 2466
Mike Rositano - 2264
Martin Taylor - 2165
Voters were tasked with electing five trustees for Prince George and two additional seats are reserved for representatives from the rural communities of the Robson Valley and McBride
Rachael Webber and Bob Thompson are the only candidates for those respective categories and therefore win by acclamation.
Prince George Secondary School teacher Shannon Schinkel has been awarded a Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, Certificate of Achievement.
The Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence honour outstanding and innovative elementary and secondary school teachers in all disciplines. Recipients are recognized for their remarkable educational achievements and for their commitment to preparing their students for a digital and innovation-based economy
Schinkel, who teaches English, social studies and drama to students in Grades 8 to 12 is being recognized for her success and dedication for changing the culture of the classroom from measuring success in terms of grades to honouring
progress and learning growth. A D P Todd Secondary School graduate is among 44 young people from across the province to have earned a Coast Capital Standing Tall Education Award
While overcoming family and health challenges during her adolescence, Alessia Monai remained focused on her education, excelling academically with incredible determination, the financial cooperative said in a press release
Monai is now attending the University of Saskatchewan where she is working towards a bachelor of arts and science in health studies
“Winning the Standing Tall Education Award helps propel me to my highest potential,” said Monai, whose goal is to work with Doctors Without Borders.
City council seeking more housing solutions
TED CLARKE Citizen staff
If it takes a village to build a community, the Aboriginal Housing Society of Prince George is well on its way to achieving its ultimate goal.
Construction is now complete for a 35-unit supportive housing complex near the centre of the city to serve the complex needs of Indigenous seniors and elders at risk of being homeless.
By December, tenants will be moving into their new homes in the three-storey Phase 3 development at 1919 – 17th Ave , and they will soon become part of an Indigenous residential community unlike any other in the city’s history
The three-storey elders complex is in close vicinity to an already-completed 50-unit townhouse development (Phase 1), which opened to tenants in June, and a former church that has been converted into a community centre/office space for the Aboriginal Housing Society.
It was a proud day Thursday for society president and chair Ruby Baptiste and her board members, who teamed up with BC Housing and the Prince George Native Friendship Centre to invite their partners in the project at the public unveiling of the new facility
Baptiste spoke of her committee’s nervous reluctance to take on the daunting
task of creating an urban aboriginal residential community The society has raised several million dollars to make it happen, backed by an $11 7 million combined investment from BC Housing, the Ministry of Child and Family Development and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation
“For starters, when we purchased the property, it wasn’t just the cost of a house, it was a few acres and a few million dollars – taking the risk was huge, and look at what it’s grown into,” said Baptiste “So how did we find the money
to do that? We took some of our older units and sold some of those, and Integris Credit Union and BC Housing worked really hard with us and we started doing community consultations with the UNBC planning department and we did a mock project of what it would take to build it from scratch ”
The Prince George Native Friendship Centre will oversee the elder housing unit and will also operate the daycare facility, built as an extension to the community centre It will provide daycare for as many as 40 toddlers and school-aged children
By giving them homes and a sense of belonging to a community, the tenants will have caring people on hand, willing to help them try to overcome the traumas that cripple their lives All the elder tenants who will live in the apartment complex will have access to social workers trained in dealing with addictions and mental health disorders and an on-site nursing station next to the dining room will by staffed 24 hours a day Continental breakfasts and suppers will be provided to the tenants, cooked and served in a kitchen staffed by Canadian Mental Health Association
The daycare centre is slated to open Nov 1 Ward-Burkitt is hoping to connect some of the elders who are well enough to serve as volunteers looking after the kids, where they can teach them their language and pass on their history and traditions as Indigenous people The cost of daycare will be minimal. Priority will be given to families already part of the Aboriginal Housing Society and if there any available seats the community at large can apply.
Construction has now begun on Phase 2 of the village – a 57-unit development, to provide one-to-three bedroom unit housing for singles, students and families. When complete, sometime in 2024, the 6 8 acre site will have a total of 200 affordable rental units
The city’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in September, according to an estimate based on Statistics Canada labour market survey results.
The number represents a decline from 6.7 per cent recorded for the same month last year as the number of people working rose to 55,500 from 52,700 while those looking for jobs declined to 2,500 from 3,800 People not looking for work held steady at 25,000
The estimated number of people of working age stood at 83,000, up from 81,500
Month-over-month, the unemployment rate fell from 5.1 per cent in August.
Some 300 more people were working and 500 more people were looking for work while 1,000 fewer were classified as inactive and there were 100 fewer people of working age, according to a Statcan estimate.
However, Statistics Canada strongly advises against making a month-overmonth comparison because the data has not been adjusted for seasonal factors
The numbers are based on a threemonth rolling average
Lheidli T’enneh elder Darlene McIntosh tours the kitchen area of one of the elders apartments built by the Aboriginal Housing Society of Prince George.
Former mayoral candidate Fetterly mourned
CHRISTINE DALGLEISH Citizen staff
Eugene Fetterly, who often sought the mayor’s seat during municipal elections in Prince George’s history, died Sept. 5 at the age of 69 and his memorial was on election day this past Saturday.
Fetterly was planning another run at the mayor’s chair this year with his memorable campaign slogan ‘Remember the F Word’ while undergoing treatment for terminal kidney cancer when he succumbed to the disease
“He had just filled out the forms for his latest run for mayor when he took a turn and passed away,” daughter Sara Waldner, a nurse, said.
She has been accessing the Citizen’s digitized archives to print off the many
colourfully opinionated letters to the editor her had sent to the Citizen over the years.
“That was a pretty big part of his life –he was kind of a local legend,” Sara said about Eugene, who worked for BC Rail
“He wanted to bring awareness to political issues and always wanted to get more people involved. He was the middle man, the blue collar worker and everything was always about paying taxes and sticking it to the man - he wanted fairness for everybody – well, I should say there was a bit of prejudice there,” Sara laughed
“There are some very colourful things he included in his letters to the editor but he always wanted everyone to be included and I think that’s important for people to know about him He wanted everybody to have a voice and he knew everyone
should have some sort of say.”
Despite his rough, tough, intimidating demeanour, as a friend Eugene was as loyal and supportive as they come, Sara said.
“He always fought for the underdog and I remember years ago he had a friend going through cancer treatment and his friend was worried how he was going to look when he lost all his hair so my dad shaved his head so his friend wouldn’t feel so alone,” Sara recalled “That’s the kind of person he was ”
As a dad, Eugene was always there for his children and very supportive, Sara said
“Education was very important to him and each of his kids went to post-secondary school,” Sara added “Knowledge is power, he always said. He had thousands
and thousands of books and we all became avid readers because of him And he always encouraged us to do better and he had high standards for us and we were expected to get only As and Bs in school and as his kids we all followed through He always said we should be who we wanted to be and we are all unique individuals and f*** you if you dare stand in our way – that was his attitude This is what you need to do for you, he would tell us – don’t let anyone stand in the way of your dreams and we didn’t ” Eugene leaves behind his three beloved children, Jenny Waldner, Sara Waldner and Thor Fetterly along with grandchildren Brooklyn, Katie, Linkin, Jake, Maeve and Ben. Eugene is predeceased by Lenore (sister), Tyler (brother), Elroy (father) and Lorna (mother).
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Local voters have spoken
Simon Yu won easily Saturday night to become the next mayor of Prince George but the work starts now. Once he moves into the mayor’s corner office on the fifth floor of city hall next month, he’ll find the issues stacked up, all demanding close attention.
The first task, however, will be to form working relationships with a group of experienced incumbents and the three new faces at the table He can’t expect too much to change, considering five of the councillors are incumbents
To no one’s surprise, Brian Skakun topped the polls for city council again With Murry Krause retired from local politics, Skakun now finds himself the senior hand at the table with his fifth different mayor Both the new mayor and the new faces will be looking to him for the experience and the background knowledge as they acquaint themselves with municipal government policy. Lots of chatter about change heading into this election but it really didn’t happen.
Garth Frizzell didn’t pay a political price for chairing the city’s finance and audit committee during the George Street Parkade fiasco or for running last fall as a Justin Trudeau federal Liberal against Cariboo-Prince George Conservative incumbent Todd Doherty. He easily won re-election Cori Ramsay, another member of that finance and audit committee, handily won back her seat Kyle Sampson mobilized his supporters and got them out to vote So did Susan Scott Although she finished eighth, she was well ahead of ninth place Wesley Mitchell
The new faces aren’t so new
Tim Bennett and Ron Polillo are new to city council, coming over from the School District 57 board Polillo only served one four-year term there while Bennett was there for 11 years. City hall is a different beast than school district but their experience dealing with a large bureaucracy and the provincial government should come in handy. The least familiar winner is Trudy Klassen. She’s well-known to Citizen readers as a regular columnist and she ran in 2018 for school board but didn’t get in
Four new faces, one of them in the mayor’s chair, mixed in with five incumbents means interesting days ahead for Prince George city council.
Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
We acknowledge the financial support of the government of Canada.
Nous reconnaissons l’appli financier du gouvernement du Canada.
Business owners hanging on
Recently I was in a drive-through and had a woman beat her fists on the hood of my truck because I wouldn’t give her money.
Although I was shook up by this incident, I was deeply saddened by the state of our downtown
I decided to talk to two of the downtown businesses that I frequent to see how they are coping with the current social climate
Brian Chang, owner of Marquee International Food & Gifts, has been operating his store at the same location for the past 22 years He said Prince George has always had issues with street-entrenched folks but in the last 10 years he has observed a significant shift.
“Alcohol and vagrancy used to be the biggest problem.” he said. “ But the number of homeless has gone over the top. Now it’s about drugsaddiction to hard drugs ”
Brian says the number of incidents he’s had in the store with aggressive individuals and theft or attempted theft has been climbing steadily
He’s had rocks thrown through the windows and on one occasion, a woman kicked his door and broke it.
Brian said it’s important to observe and read people’s body language and eye contact to get a feel for how people are going to react
At the same time, Brian says having compassion is key to effectively managing his business.
“My store backs onto a shelter Every morning when I park in the alley I say ‘good morning’ to the folks who are there. I would say 90 per cent of
EUGENE FETTERLY WILL BE MISSED
Sorry to hear Eugene Fetterly has passed away
GUEST COLUMNIST
DIANE NAKAMURA
them are nice and polite They come into the store to buy chips and pop. Sometimes when they don’t have enough money to buy what they want, I don’t expect full payment There have been many times I will give them free drinks I’m all about Karma Trying to make a difference in our little circle ”
Most of the time I will say
‘good morning’ to the people hanging out behind the store. I’m not going to walk by and not acknowledge them. For crying out loud, they are human beings!
Brian has a female co-worker who he will not leave alone for more than 15 minutes if he has to leave the store He will put a sign on the door and close the store for short periods of time if he has to.
“I don’t want to put her at risk ” he said. “ I really feel for the female downtown business owners ” Meanwhile, down the street at The
Niche Clothing & Trading Co., owner Kellie Young comes to work most mornings with folks shooting up in the alley and having to step over human excrement and used needles.
There was a time when Kellie would park in front of her store But after receiving numerous parking tickets she decided on a different approach.
“I told myself okay, I’ll just take my life into my own hands and park in the alley ” Kellie said “I have to pick and choose who I establish eye contact with and who I talk to Most of the time I will say ‘good morning’ to people hanging out behind the store I’m not going to walk by and not acknowledge them. For crying out loud, they are human beings!”
On one occasion, Kellie initiated conversation with a man who was slumped over in the alley.
He told her he had recently lost his daughter to suicide. The man thanked her for talking with him Kellie says our present social dilemma has many layers and she senses a lack of caring for the marginalized population.
“How is housing effective when you can’t have your partner live with you?” Kellie said in reference to very few spaces available for couples. “All levels of government need to come together ”
Kellie has operated out of her current location for seven years and continues to love her store
Both Kellie and Brian told me that they have not reached the tipping point and hold out hope for better times downtown.
Diane Nakamura is a Prince George writer
I never did vote for him but thought his many letters to the Citizen were well written and had meaning He was a guy who did not care about being politically correct and was an
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honest man and hid nothing
More people need to be like him. Rest in peace, Eugene Roland Hill Prince George
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Emails reveal Sampson’s efforts to get support
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
On Aug. 29, city council voted unanimously to have the city prepare a report looking at the process used to determine if the mayor should write letters in support for local businesses, non-profits and elected officials.
Coun. Brian Skakun brought the issue forward, after learning that Kyle Sampson Productions, a business owned by Coun. Kyle Sampson, received letters of support from Mayor Lyn Hall and the city’s manager of economic development in support of obtaining a grant from the provincial BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund Kyle Sampson Productions ultimately received a $157,000 provincial grant to host The Best Damn Music Festival on Aug 12-13 this year
Skakun told the Citizen he was “extremely frustrated” by the “flawed process” the city used to issue those letters In response, Sampson said he acted in good faith as a local business owner and event promoter, not as a city councillor.
“I would never have taken advantage of my position on council,” Sampson said in an interview with the Citizen in August But what actually happened behind the scenes, and who decided the letters should be written? On Aug. 24, the Citizen filed a Freedom of Information request to the city for emails, letters, texts and other documents related to the issue The Citizen received that information on Oct. 7 at 4:27 p m , right before the Thanksgiving deadline and too late for this story to appear in last week’s paper before the election
BY THE NUMBERS
Mayor Lyn Hall wrote a total of nine letters of support for local organizations applying to the BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund The letter written on Sept 28, 2021 by former city manager of economic development Melissa Barcellos, in support of Kyle Sampson Productions, was the only letter of support for the grant program written by a city staff member.
Kyle Sampson Productions was one of two organizations which received two letters of support from the city, and the only one which received two letters in support of one event Mayor Hall wrote two letters of support for the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, one for the 2022 Canadian Biathlon National Championships and one for the 2022 BC Cross Country Skiing Provincial Championship.
Kyle Sampson Productions was one of only two businesses to receive letters of support from the city for the grant program, and the only business to receive support for a for-profit event UNLTD Media received a letter from Hall in support of Northern FanCon, which is a non-profit event hosted by the Northern FanCon society.
The Prince George Folkfest Society’s Coldsnap event, P.G. Agricultural and Historical Association’s B C Northern
Exhibition (BCNE), Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation’s Festival of Trees, 2022 BC Summer Games, Prince George Symphony Orchestra and Downtown Prince George’s Downtown Winterfest and Downtown Summerfest events each received one letter of support from Hall.
‘COUNCILLOR SAMPSON IS ALSO LOOKING FOR A LETTER’
The first mention of a possible letter for support for The Best Damn Music Festival occurs in an email on Sept 15, 2021 Esther Prosser, executive assistant to the mayor, wrote an email to Sampson’s city council email account, discussing the format for the potential letter
“Hi Kyle, Here’s an example of a support letter that we just did for BCNE,” Prosser wrote “Some bullet point facts about your event and your work on bringing similar events to the community will be helpful to us in building your letter ”
The same afternoon, Sampson responded to Prosser from his city council email account
“Hi Esther, Rather than bullet points, I wrote a quick draft,” Sampson wrote “I fully expect you’ll want to make changes, but I’m hoping this can be a launch pad for you! Please let me know if there is more information you would need from me to write this!”
Then on Sept 20, 2021 city manager Walter Babicz forwarded an email to Prosser, regarding the number of groups seeking letters of support for their applications In a response to Babicz later than morning, Prosser said a letter had already been provided to the BCNE, and prepared for Northern FanCon and Coldsnap
“Councillor Sampson is also looking for a letter in support of his application but Mayor Hall indicated that he wanted to discuss it with you before I prepare it,” she wrote.
Two days later, on Sept 22, 2021, Hall sent Sampson a letter of support.
‘WE DO NOT WRITE LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES’
Approximately 22 minutes after
receiving the letter from Hall, Sampson emailed Barcellos from his private email to ask for a second letter of support from the city’s economic development department.
In that email, Sampson said he intended to attach the second letter to the letter from the mayor in his grant application The grant submission process only allowed five letters of support, and Sampson had already secured letters from MLA Shirley Bond, Tourism Prince George, the Prince George Chamber of Commerce and Spirit of the North Foundation Barcellos responded the following morning to say she had forwarded the request to her direct supervisor, city director of planning and development Deanna Wasnik, and Babicz for direction and approval She also forwarded Sampson’s email to Wasnik, adding that “most of our conversation was via text ” No text messages were provided to the Citizen regarding this issue, and Barcellos no longer works at the City of Prince George.
Wasnik forwarded the email chain to Babicz on Sept. 23, 2021, to arrange a time to discuss the issue
“Councillor Sampson is asking EcDev to provide a letter of support for the The Best Damn Music Festival’s application to the Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund,” Wasnik wrote. “I am not sure a letter of support from EcDev is entirely appropriate in this case, but I would like to hear your thoughts on this one We can chat Monday (Sept. 27, 2021) during our 1:1 meeting about this item ”
A handwritten note titled “Walt 1:1” and dated Sept 27, 2021, which was provided to the Citizen, appears to be Wasnik’s notes from her meeting with Babicz A check mark appears in a box beside a heading labelled “letter of support for C. Sampson ”
Three point-form notes beneath the heading say “have we provided letters of support for ‘fairs, events, etc.’ grant – if this is typical, we can proceed,” “we do
not write letters of support for businesses applying,” and “ex. of letters in the past –Canfor vs private business owners ”
Sampson emailed Barcellos late on Sept 27 to ask how the conversation with Babicz went.
Barcellos emailed Wasnik the following morning to ask if Babicz approved writing the letter, then replied to Sampson saying she’d been given the go-ahead to write the letter
Barcellos wrote the letter and forwarded it to Sampson that morning, with the note “Here you go (smiley face emoji) Best of luck in getting the funding ”
‘LOUD AS HELL’
In an email on Aug 15, 2022 – the Monday following The Best Damn Music Festival – city bylaw services assistant Hayley Schmaltz provided a summary of noise complaints about The Best Damn Music Festival and Cariboo Rocks the North (which was held at the CN Centre grounds the weekend before) to city manager of bylaw services Charlotte Peters and other staff members
Schmaltz documented four complaints about Cariboo Rocks the North and eight about The Best Damn Music Festival.
“Please note that no files were created as the events had noise permits,” Schmaltz wrote “The noise permits are all attached as well. For The Best Damn Music Festival, you will see two permits One is the original and one is the revised one ”
The Citizen was provided a copy of the revised noise permit for The Best Damn Music Festival, which shows that on Aug. 12, the day the event started, the noise permit was amended to allow noise from 3 p m to 1 a m both nights
“Amended due to risk of bad weather Thunder/lightning – public safety,” a hand-written note on the amended permit says
The noise permit for Cariboo Rocks the North, which was issued to CN Centre manager Glen Mikkelsen on May 18, permitted noise between 3:30 p.m. and 10 p m from Aug 5 to Aug 7 Cariboo Rocks the North is hosted as a partnership between CN Centre and the Pacific Western Brewing Company.
One complaint, submitted to the city on Aug. 14 at 12:10 a.m. said the music festivals were “loud as hell ”
“No one can sleep, we can’t open our windows for the cool evening air all we hear is music (redacted) so damn loud we can’t even hear our own tv,” the complainant wrote.
“The last two weekends have been filled with pounding music that overpowers every other sound in the house,” another complainant wrote “Last night in particular was very loud and went on well past 11:00 p m ”
“For the past two weekends there have been back to back loud concerts,” a third person wrote. “Normally, (redacted) – but the music is straight up too loud Doors closed, windows shut, tv at 100 and I could still hear the country music ”
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
Crews set up the stage for the Best Damn Music Festival on Aug 12 at the Prince George Exhibition Grounds.
Former local swim star pursues doctor dreams
TED CLARKE Citizen staff
When former Prince George Barracuda Swim Club member Hannah Esopenko went south to Texas to study biology at the University of Houston she joined a powerhouse team.
During her four years at Houston, the Cougars ruled the NCAA’s American Athletic Conference (formerly known as Big East), with Esopenko creating ripples as a breaststroker, butterfly and individual medley specialist
“I was so lucky to be part of a team that had a lot of success It was such a good group of girls, so hard-working and so talented ”
Esopenko was six when she started swimming with the Barracudas She kept at it for 12 years and it taught her much about how to be a multi-tasker She graduated with honours from College Heights Secondary School and majored in biology at Houston, then decided during her third year to gravitate to medical humanities
“I think swimming was such a huge influence on my personality and how I live my day-to-day life,” she said. “ Just to be busy at such a young age taught me about commitment, time management, how to prioritize what you want to and how to form goals and strive to complete them and have the tools, not only
mentally but physically, to reach them.
“Through sport, in general, you create such a good relationship with the people around you and it becomes such a good support network to have.”
She’s getting a similar feeling of camaraderie from her medical school classmates, all striving to become doctors Esopenko was one of 32 students accepted into Southern Medical Program
based at UBC-Okanagan in Kelowna and so far she’s thoroughly enjoying the 35 hours of class time each week it requires.
“It’s interesting to be surrounded by so many likeminded people - I’m surrounded by 31 other students who are in the same place as me mentally, just on the same journey of going through this same experience and honestly, it’s really cool,’ said Esopenko “Everyone is super-supportive
and eager to learn together and help each other out. I like the smaller class sizes and I’m very happy where I am
“The classes we’re taking now are all relevant to the things we need to know for our future career. It’s a lot more interesting and engaging and the way they present the material is very well thought out It’s more hands-on All the things I learned in undergrad about viruses and DNA and RNA and how it affects the human body and learning about diseases and cancer and all that kind of stuff is more applicable Seeing it first-hand or experiencing it in real life setting is easier to remember and just makes the learning experience more interesting ”
She still swims recreationally and finds it helps her relax and get revived after a long day at school Now just a month into her studies, she says it’s too early to tell what kind of doctor she will become It could be pediatrics or family medicine or even psychiatry, but whatever she decides she hopes to eventually come back to her Prince George hometown
There are 288 medical students in this year’s provincial intake, including 32 in Kelowna, 32 at the Island program in Victoria and 32 in Prince George in the Northern Medical Program based at UNBC The other 192 are in the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program in Vancouver
Prince George city council approved a $475,000 budget to develop three new, multi-sport courts on the site of the current tennis and basketball courts on Massey Drive across from the fire hall.
According to a report to city council, the city would be responsible for the costs associated with preparing the site. Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities has committed to covering the cost of building the courts, estimated to be $900,000
“The new sport court will include one regulation size International Basketball Federation (FIBA) court, one flex court
that includes tennis and basketball configurations and one racket sport court that would include tennis and pickleball options,” city director of civic operations Blake McIntosh wrote in the report
Under the proposed agreement, the city would be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the facility once complete, and Jumpstart would own the naming rights for the park
What those operating costs would be and who is responsible if the project goes overbudget still need to be determined, he said
Hannah Esopenko graduated with honours with a biology degree from the University of Houston and is now attending medical school in Kelowna.
Homeless deaths seen
HANNA PETERSEN Citizen staff
New preliminary reporting from the B.C. Coroner’s Service is detailing the number of deaths of individuals experiencing homelessness in 2021.
The report found there were 247 deaths in B C which is a 75 per cent increase in the number of lives lost in 2020.
In Prince George specifically 11 people experiencing homelessness died during 2021, which is an increase from the seven people that died in 2020 and the three people who died in 2019
Throughout the Northern Health Authority 21 people experiencing homelessness died in 2021
“This report reflects the risks and realities that people experiencing homelessness face every day,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner, BC Coroners Service in a news release. “We know that many are facing significant health concerns, including physical disabilities, mental-health challenges and substance-use issues. Additionally, as is also evident in the province’s housed population, the report details the significant risks associated with toxic drugs for those who are unhoused. My hope is that this information will help support positive action, both during Homelessness Action Week and beyond ”
The report also studied a 10 year period, between 2012 t0 2021, and found approximately 120 deaths of people experiencing homelessness were investigated by the BC Coroners Service annually.
However, following a significant increase in the number of lives lost between 2015 (73) and 2016 (181), an average of about 153 deaths per year were reported between 2016 and 2020
Individuals between 30 and 59 years accounted for 72 per cent of reported deaths, and 83 per cent of decedents were male
More than half of the investigated deaths occurred in either the Fraser (32 per cent) or Vancouver Coastal (25 per cent) health authorities.
Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of the investigated deaths were classified as accidental, and 87 per cent of those accidental deaths were determined to have been caused by illicit drug toxicity
In 2021, 93 per cent of all accidental deaths among people experiencing homelessness were identified as being caused by the illicit drug supply
“The BC Coroners Service’s death review panel report into illicit drug toxicity deaths found a high correlation between deaths due to drug toxicity and persons living in poverty or experiencing housing instability,” Lapointe said
Couple realizes dream of opening restaurant
HANNA PETERSEN Citizen staff
After years of missing the cuisine from southern Vietnam, Ivy Tran has finally realized a dream and opened her own restaurant to share the flavours of her hometown with Prince George.
Tran and her husband David Duong
opened their restaurant Ivy’s Family Kitchen this weekend with a special ceremony full of family and friends who had travelled from all over B C and Alberta for the grand opening
Cooking Vietnamese food started as a hobby for Tran, but over the years it became her passion She then began selling her food online where she quickly grew a loyal fan base and received a lot of community support
“We introduced it to everyone in the beginning on Facebook before we started the restaurant because we didn’t know after COVID-19 if anyone would be interested. But it became a hit,” Duong said.
“I am not confident if anyone would love my food or not and I tried and they liked it in Hell Yeah PG After that they would message me and ask me to try it and order for the weekends,” said Tran
“I made some for them to try and I got feedback, and everyone liked my food so that is why I decided to open [the restaurant] ”
Duong said when they first moved to Prince George in 2011, they noticed there were not many Vietnamese restaurants that specialize in cuisine from the southern region of the country in the city
“It’s a bit different and the flavours are more bold than other regions Vietnam has so many regions and so many styles of cooking and we are more southern ” Duong said that the concept of Ivy’s Family Kitchen is also a bit different than other restaurants as they have a smaller menu and will feature four or five main
items that they’ll change every day
“For example, there are different types of soup that we will change up every day and different types of rice dishes, and there will be Vietnamese crepes that we will make,” said Duong, adding that they are also excited for the community to try the Pho and a special short rib with barbecue sauce that marinates for 24 hours.
“I called it the family kitchen because I want everyone to come here, and it will be like you’ve come home to eat, and
we will serve you just like family,” added Tran.
“We try to do everything fresh, and I want to bring to Prince George something new I got a lot of help in our community, so I want to say thank you and be respectful With every food item, I give love back to our community.”
It was not an easy road for Duong and Tran to open their restaurant, as they lost thousands of dollars in a shipping scam when they ordered equipment for their kitchen
“It was a pretty hard journey,” said Duong “It was delays after delays and then when the equipment came it wasn’t in Canadian standard, so we couldn’t use any of the equipment either So, there was a plan B where we had to get other equipment in and everything else we have to wait to get it certified.”
Despite the setbacks, Duong and Tran say they have been amazed at the community support they’ve received Tran said because her English is not very good, cooking and sharing her food with others has made her feel more connected to the community
“The community actually came in and were a big supporter of her and we were really surprised, and we were honoured in a way that everyone was so supportive even though sometimes we made mistakes,” said Duong
SUBMITTED
Friends and family came together to open the restaurant on October 9
Help your Digestion
Business supported after smash and grab
On Monday, Oct. 3 there was a trifecta of break-ins that occurred at three Prince George cannabis stores.
What came out it was a surprising show of heartwarming support as Grasshopper Retail Inc temporarily inserted plywood in their front door at their downtown location at 421 George Street
“People have been writing messages of support on the door since it happened,” Grasshopper employee Connor French said
Grasshopper was the last of the three stores to be hit on that night and as luck would have it the property manager was watching a live feed from the store and was able to alert police quickly. RCMP flooded the area soon after and were able to apprehend one man and two youths with the help of a tracking dog
French said they only got away with creams, balms and some accessories after smashing the glass door and reaching in and unlocking it
“So I don’t think they got what they were looking for,” French said.
Flair Airlines vice president Eric Tanner was in Prince George last week to promote the airline’s direct flight from Prince George to Tucson, Arizona
The flights, first announced in March, begin operation on Dec 2 The seasonal service is expected to operate once each way per week, from December to March
The discount, leisure-travel focused airline has “had some stops and starts in Prince George,” Tanner said, but is
“It’s kind of funny because the tropical creams and balms were closest to the door and that’s the first thing they went for,” employee Gauge Everitt explained “So they got a bunch of creams that weren’t even going to get them high ”
But the damage to the front door and glass display cases does add up
The temporary wooden insert in the front door was decorated by another employee and soon people wanting to show their support added kind words of encouragement and support
And the show of support didn’t stop there Other cannabis stores showed support by encouraging people on their social media to support those who were victims of the smash and grabs.
“So that was huge,” French said
“I don’t think a lot of other types of store owners would do that but it’s the cannabis industry where you find that kind of support,” Everitt added
Everitt thinks that once the door is repaired the plywood will be put on display inside the store as a reminder of what a great community there is in downtown Prince George.
excited to return with the city’s only direct winter sunshine getaway flight
“Why Tucson?” he said. “It is a really charming, wonderful city (And) Arizona has been a popular destination for Canadians for decades ”
According to information on the Flair Airlines website, flights will depart Tucson at 7:40 a m each Friday and arrive in Prince George by 10:45 a m The flight leaves Prince George at 11:45 a m and arrives in Tuscon at 4:50 p m
“It’s four hours to
Tanner said.
CHRISTINE DALGLEISH Citizen staff
CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO
Connor French, left, and Gauge Everitt, are happy with how the community has supported Grasshopper after the break-in Oct 3
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
Prince George actor has key role in TV drama
CHRISTINE DALGLEISH Citizen staff
Grace Dove, who grew up in Prince George, plays resilient reporter Roz Friendly in the ABC drama series Alaska Daily, which airs Thursdays at 10 p.m.
The series stars Dove along with Hilary Swank and Jeff Perry and is set at an Alaskan newspaper whose staff is starting to investigate what happened to the many Indigenous women that went missing over the last several years
“Tom McCarthy, Oscar-winning director, the one who cast me and trusted me to portray Roz, was given an article called Lawless, that was written by a reporter, Kyle Hopkins, who worked for the Anchorage Daily News. The article talked about how missing and murdered Indigenous women are not given any kind of attention and how all these murders are happening and no one is doing anything about it So everything about the show is based on reality and what is happening in Alaska and across Turtle Island, across Canada and the United States and so Tom was inspired and felt he needed to do something about it. So for me – I grew up along the Highway of Tears in Prince George, and I’ve been aware and affected personally by these murders and how little is being done about it, so it’s always been my mission as an actor to tell stories that are important There’s enough going on in the world that’s not being brought to light I have been asked to be an advocate and a voice for my people and when I became an actor I didn’t know that was going to be the work that I would be doing but it’s all come together I realize I
am in a position where people will listen and so this is the dream come true – the work that I’ve always wanted to do - to use my voice and spread awareness for my people ”
Dove said the television show is a bigger platform than the films (like The Revenant) she’s done in the past.
“I imagine that this subject is something that some people are hearing about for the first time because it’s on their
television screens in their living rooms,” Dove said “This is just the beginning of the conversation and people who watch the show can now spread the word and have important conversations around the dinner table, contribute to the cause and stand up for Indigenous people ” Behind the scenes, Dove said she feels safe on the set of Alaska Daily “Everything from my costumes, my hair and my makeup – everyone
is going above and beyond to find me really important pieces – to hire Alaska Natives to make my jewelry – to design the artwork on the back of my jacket, to make my hair pieces – you know, these are the things that I have been asking for in every project I do and in every role but normally it’s such a struggle. I have to really emphasize the importance of authenticity and on this show we’re coming at it from all sides and they are just as excited about representing Alaska Natives authentically as I am and so it’s just been so much fun and really healing ”
Dove said the costume designer went up to Alaska and bought an entire hall of jewelry created by artisans from the Tlingit Nation that in her role she is proudly representing.
“For me that contribution and that much thought is what makes this show stand out,” Dove said
The dedication of the crew was something that Dove really appreciates on the set of Alaska Daily.
“These people are so dedicated,” Dove said. “They show up to work for basically two full-time jobs when it comes to our hours and show up every day in such good spirits and are so supportive and are always so pleasant to be with. In our industry you have to really love it because unlike in film – which I’ve mostly done in my previous body of work - you go for a six week push and then you’re done whereas we’re here for six months and sometimes we’re doing six-day weeks and everyone works so hard and still shows up with such a good attitude and it’s just so enlightening and it makes me feel really, really good ”
Council of Seniors hosting comedy fundraiser
With Howie Mandel as the stand-up comedy inspiration, you know In Case of Emergency… Laugh starring Greg Morton is going to be hilarious. The shows go Saturday at Vanier Hall at 2 p m and 7 p m and is a fundraiser for the Prince George Council of Seniors. Morton is a Canadian comedian who was a disc jockey in the 80s. He was known as Greg Morton, that Crazy DJ
“And I didn’t just play records, I would get up on stage, I would play skits, I would get on the floor and dance, I put on costumes and I’d tell jokes and I just thought I’ll just do this until I figure out what I want to do,” Morton explained as he chatted from his home in Toronto “And that’s when I went to a stand-up comedy show and saw Howie Mandel and I went ‘wow’ – and it was hilarious – just side-splitting hilarious – and that really stuck with me and that’s when I realized that’s what I wanted to do ”
So he developed his own brand, doing noises and impressions
Morton has a great fondness for seniors so performing at this fundraiser for the Prince George Council of Seniors is important to him
“I’m really excited about it because people tend to forget our seniors and they are our most valuable group,” Morton said. “They shouldn’t be a wasted resource They can teach us something if we just take some time and listen. I look forward to supporting them with
my comedy because I’ve always had a connection with the elderly and well, I’m practically there now!”
Maureen Langan, comedian and Ted X Talk speaker, seen on HBO Gotham Live “Don’t Make Her Hate You!” will be the opening act for Morton
Tickets are $50 each, with net proceeds going to the PG Council of Seniors
There’s a matinee at 2 p.m. and the evening show is at 7 p m show Tickets are at www ticketsnorth ca or in person at the CN Centre Ticket Centre
CHRISTINE DALGLEISH Citizen staff
FACEBOOK PHOTO
Grace Dove shows some of her wardrobe pieces on the new ABC television series Alaska Daily
Studio Fair returns next month bigger than ever
Studio Fair in Prince George is coming back bigger than ever.
Northern B C ’s largest professional artisan fair is returning for its 45th year of being Prince George’s number-one holiday shopping extravaganza. Studio Fair will be held at the CN Centre from November 4 to 6.
This year the event will see a complete rebound from its limited size last year, and organizers expect to easily exceed
15,000 attendees
The event has grown tremendously since moving to the CN Centre and this year will boast upwards of 300 vendors and arts groups which is a record-breaking number.
The artists and artisans come from across Western Canada and include local creatives and arts organizations as well “Studio Fair this year is going to be amazing, with such a record-topping
number of vendors,” says Eli Klasner, Executive Director of the Community Arts Council
“This is only our second year in the CN Centre, and we have nearly run out of space already and so we expect people may wish to set aside an entire day to take in all of the beautiful original merchandise and artwork that will be available to purchase.”
The entry fee is $5 per person, with
SPCA seeking city’s top dog models
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
The City of Prince George and BC SPCA are launching a Pups of Prince George fundraising calendar, and are seeking photos of 12 local dogs to feature in the calendar.
The contest runs from Oct 12 to Nov 1 at 5 p.m.
Local photographers, professional and amateur, can submit photos of their dogs for consideration
A panel of judges from the city and North Cariboo SPCA will review the entries and announce winners on Nov. 7 by email
“We’re very excited to partner with the SPCA on this calendar,” city bylaw services manager Charlotte Peters said. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase some of our pets and hopefully some of our beautiful parks and outdoor spaces while at the same time raising some money for a great cause ”
Submissions will be judged on creativity, imagination and aesthetics
Winners will have their dog featured in the calendar, as well as receive a Prince George prize bag and gift certificate to a
local pet store
“A lot of people can’t afford to spay or neuter their pets,” North Cariboo
children under 12 getting in for free and all funds raised going to support the many programs, events and services provided by the CAC.
Attendees are also invited to drop-off non-perishable food items that will be delivered to a local food bank Studio Fair will take place Nov. 4 to 6 with specific times on Friday from 1-8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a m to 4 p m
SPCA manager Kristen Sumner said “I’m thrilled we have this fun way to raise money for our spaying and neutering program to help out owners who can’t meet the expense ”
Submissions can be sent by email to pupsofpg@princegeorge ca by 5 p m on Nov. 1.
Photos must be taken by the person submitting the photo, and must only include the dog – no people
Photos must be submitted in full-size JPG or PNG format, with files no larger than 15 MB.
In addition to the photo, entrants must include their dog’s name, Prince George dog licence number, and your contact information.
One thousand copies of the calendar will be available for purchase for $15 each, starting in December
“The calendar also has tips on responsible pet ownership and stresses the importance of licensing your dog here in the city,” Peters said “I know what all of my family and friends are getting for Christmas!”
Bear-proof garbage cans a bust, city council told
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
A three-year pilot project to test the viability of bear-resistant garbage cans was not successful.
City director of civic operations Blake McIntosh said 300 bear-resistant garbage cans were provided to residents in the Hart Highlands area in early 2019. The area had a history of bear problems, he added.
“The bear-specific carts included a built-in lid locking mechanism that secures refuse in the cart When picked up by the automated trucks and inverted to dump, the lock mechanism would release, allowing for routine garbage collection,” McIntosh said.
“The results of the pilot project, after the three-year duration, indicate that the locking latch mechanism is unreliable and problematic, especially in the winter months ”
Eight per cent of the garbage cans had latch failures, he said. In addition, the locking mechanism was prone to freezing up in the winter, forcing solid waste staff to leave the truck to open the cans manually.
“As a result of these challenges, administration is not expanding the program to other problematic areas within the city, using the pilot project cart model,” McIntosh said “Administration will continue to investigate other bear-resistant cart options that will not impact collection efficiencies and are better-suited for our winter conditions.”
they have a large garbage can
The locking latch mechanism is unreliable and problematic, especially in the winter months.
Pilot project participants who want to return to using a regular garbage can won’t be charged an exchange fee, and city staff will deliver it directly to their home on collection day. The bear-resistant garbage cans were five times as expensive for the city to purchase as the conventional ones, a city report from 2019 said
calls within the City of Prince George are typically related to observed bear sightings (44 per cent), around 40 (per cent) of the bear occurrence calls were directly related to bears actively knocking down garbage cans in search of food.”
The areas in the city with the highest number of bear sightings reported included Hart Highlands to Aberdeen, Stirling/Moore’s Meadow, and Lansdowne/Charella/Peden Hill/College Heights.
Coun Brian Skakun said many residents use bungee cords or rachet straps to secure their garbage can lids against bears
Residents in the pilot project area will be allowed to keep the bear-resistant can, as long as it works properly, McIntosh added in a written report to city council. Those keeping the cans will be billed as if
“Over the past 10 years, Prince George had an average of 890 bear sighting calls and the destruction of 35 bears per year, which unfortunately represents the highest numbers of any community in B.C.,” the 2019 report said. “While a large percentage of the total bear occurrence
“We’re fully in support of those temporary mechanisms We like to keep the integrity of the cart intact,” McIntosh said. “Obviously when it is put out to the curb, we need those removed, because the automatic collection will not work But those are definitely a deterrence for bear interactions ”
CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO
Peggy Sue, the springer spaniel, will be looking to make her modelling debut in the Pups of Prince George fundraiser calendar for the North Cariboo SPCA
Copper, gold mining project taking shape
TED CLARKE Citizen staff
If you’re a prospector contemplating the logistics of building a mine, the area northwest of Fort St. James is an attractive place to start
Blessed with an abundance of mineral deposits, the area has a long history of productive mining projects and three of those mines – Mount Milligan, Endako and Silver Project - are still active
NorthWest Copper of Vancouver would love to join that party and has spent the summer drilling core samples from its three mining claims – Kwanika/Stardust, Lorraine and East Niv - roughly 280 kilometres northwest of Prince George.
This year, starting in late March, NorthWest drilled 55 holes in the area and received test results from 15 of them, all from the Kwanika North site. The results have so far confirmed earlier findings which revealed high-grade copper and gold mineralization, with much of it close to the surface. One of the Kwanika samples showed 86 per cent copper in a sample of rock 87 metres thick, considered high-grade quality
NorthWest Copper president and CEP Peter Bell is hopeful that the best is yet to come He’s still awaiting sample testing from the Lorraine Project, 40 kilometres from Kwanika, and East Niv, further to the northwest, in the Skeena natural resource region
“These Kwanika results, particularly K-22-234, once again display the highgrade that we have been delivering at Kwanika since last season,” said Bell
“The northern holes show that the Kwanika system continues in that direction, with long intervals of copper and gold mineralization We have completed a tremendous amount of drilling this year and are just beginning to get our results to the market Results are still to come from holes at Kwanika (including testing of the high-grade zones and Kwanika South), Stardust, East Niv and Lorraine
“We’ve got a lot of exploratory work that we’ve done but we’ve only received a tiny bit of it back That’s one of the unfortunate things about B.C. being very active right now for exploration. There are a lot of companies trying to get results back from the labs that test the samples on our behalf and that taken a lot longer than we want it to and that’s frustrating.”
surface.
“Kwanika has some very high grades for B.C. and we continue to drill more of them,” said Bell “We think of Lorraine in terms of potentially combining it with Kwanika and Stardust and because of that we can actually make something of a deposit that might have been too small for Teck as a standalone project They did a bunch of (exploratory) work on it but they were really focused on trying to hit home runs We can do well by hitting some singles and doubles on it and adding it into our other two projects.”
We have completed a tremendous amount of drilling this year and are just beginning to get our results to market.
NorthWest is still awaiting test results from Kwanika/Stardust South, first discovered by Serengeti Resources in 2006, and the Lorraine Project, 40 km north of Kwanika
The 56,000-hectare Lorraine site was most recently explored by Teck Resources in 2009 and historic drilling samples date from 1949.
Similar to test results from Kwanika/ Stardust, mineralization in the Lorraine sample results obtained in late June contained roughly two-thirds copper and one-third gold, in deposits close to the
If quantities are sufficient, NorthWest would then have to attract enough investment to start mining and build a single grinding mill to extract the two metals.
Unlike northwestern B.C., which has much more rugged terrain and is more isolated, the area NorthWest is targeting is already well-served with infrastructure, close to the CN Rail line, with logging road access and BC Hydro lines nearby There’s also a well-trained workforce in the area, including journeymen tradespeople with experience working on mine sites.
Having one mine to serve the three projects would also limit the environmental footprint and increase the mine’s sustainability.
The company also owns the rights to
East Niv, a new copper-gold discovery in 2021
It lies in the same corridor, northwest of Lorraine, near the Kemess Underground Project being developed by Centerra Gold
NorthWest has drilled 18 holes at East Niv
Early samples were not as promising as the company’s other two sites
Spot prices for copper prices are hovering around $3 45 US per pound, after peaking at $4 90 US on March 4
The prices have rebounded since the start of the pandemic on March 30, 2019, when the copper dropped to $2.19 US per pound
“The spot price is lower than it was a year ago and that’s partly due to the strength of the U.S. dollar and fears about slowdowns in China,” said Bell “The long-term four- or five-year price, though, is actually higher than it was a year ago, which I think really reflects people’s more long-term belief in the need for copper as we try to build a transportation network that’s more electrical and less fossil fuel ” Before the end of the year, NorthWest plans to release an economic study that’s focused on Kwanika/Stardust The Lorraine test results will be added later to that report
“We want to keep exploring and all our projects we think are prospective, but the place we’re most excited about is Lorraine,” said Bell “So we’ll put more emphasis on Loraine in 2023 than we did in 2022 Some of the area we can access by road and some of it will be by helicopter later in the season ”
A drill site at NorthWest Copper’s Lorraine Project stake 280 kilometres northwest of Prince George.
HOROSCOPES & PUZZLES
HOROSCOPES
ARIES
Your week will revolve around your significant other You must have good communication to keep your relationship amicable. You may have to make changes to avoid a conflict.
TAURUS
You must put in the work to reach an agreement that’s fair for everyone. You’ll make radical lifestyle changes to improve your health. In doing so, you’ll also improve your quality of life
GEMINI
Success and recognition await you. You may be given a promotion or decide to change careers. If you’ve been sick for a while, your health will improve significantly
CANCER
You’ll have the opportunity to find a property that will give your whole family more space. You’ll streamline your daily routine to make life easier for everyone living under your roof.
LEO
Don’t forget to plug in your phone or computer every night. Otherwise, you risk dropping an important call because of a dead battery Your family may ask you to do all the driving this week
VIRGO
LIBRA
You’ll feel amazing this week. There are a lot of tight deadlines at work, and you’ll have to act quickly to avoid a catastrophe. You’d be happy to get a promotion despite the new responsibilities and stress that come with it.
SCORPIO
CAPRICORN
You must deal with a few small family or professional issues. You may have to adjust your schedule to accept a promotion. However, the increased salary will make the decision easy
AQUARIUS
You’ll finally finish an important task you’ve been putting off at work or home. Try to rest before you do anything else, or your health could suffer
SAGITTARIUS
You’ll be outspoken and confidently express what others are thinking. If your significant other starts spending beyond their means, you’ll promptly let them know
While waiting for medical results for yourself or a loved one, you could receive a relieving answer You’ll be able to sleep soundly, and your anxiety will fade because the future looks bright.
It’s time to plan your winter holidays. Whether you’re going solo, with family and friends or as a couple, you should make reservations early Making plans at the last minute may be more difficult.
PISCES
You could be assigned to collaborate with international clients or lead a training seminar at work. You may find it difficult to make yourself understood by people who don’t speak the same language as you.
HOW TO PLAY:
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 only once Each 3x3 box is outlined with a darker line. You already have a few numbers to get you started. Remember: you must not repeat the numbers 1 through 9 in the same line, column or 3x3 box.
cl assi fi eds
REMEMBRANCES
Michael Leonard Moore
19 June 1949 - 25 October 2017
I miss you so much Mike, not having you here. You will always be with me.
Love you forever, Helen
In loving memory of Larry
M Wilkes
May 20, 1946 - October 20, 2018
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished And yet that will just be the beginning And you learn that you really can endure You really are strong You really do have worth, and you learn, and you learn, with every good-bye, you learn....
Never forgotten, love Joanie
Celebrate the lives of loved ones with your stories, photographs and tributes
SHARRON
JOAN DEZELL nee Haynes
JUNE 7, 1939 TO OCTOBER 6, 2022
Beloved daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and friend to many, Sharron Dezell passed away peacefully at Victoria Hospice on the evening of October 6, 2022. She was loved and supported on this last difficult part of her journey by her husband, Clifford, her son Michael and her daughter Victoria as well as her granddaughter Sophie.
Sharron was a descendant of an important South Okanagan pioneer family and shared her parents’ strong work ethic and personal code as well as their ability to make and keep friends. She was born in Duncan and, her father being a member of the BC Police and then the RCMP, spent her childhood in many small and not-so-small towns throughout BC. In 1958 the family moved to Prince George and Sharron soon got a job at Prince George Drug, where one July day she met a young pharmacist named Cliff Dezell. They married in 1960 and called P.G. home for the next 55 years, raising a family, making many great friends, and from the Hospital Auxiliary to the Northern Sports Centre taking full part in what the wonderful community had to offer. A teacher, she returned to the profession after her own children began school, and over the decades she had an enormously positive impact on thousands of students ranging from the kids in the Spruceland Parent Participating Preschool to the adults in the Early Childhood Education program at the College of New Caledonia. She was recognized several times for her contributions to the field of ECE, winning the Goldie Maycock and Varma Crofts Memorial awards during her career.
She and Clifford had just marked their 62nd wedding anniversary on August 20th and were planning to enjoy many more but that was not to be.
Pre-deceased by her parents Beth and Barry Haynes, Sharron is survived by Cliff, her daughter Victoria (Kyle), her son Michael (Jennifer), and her three beloved grandchildren: Sophie (partner Mohammad), Sam and Tom.
Many thanks are due to the excellent staff at Royal Jubilee Hospital and the Victoria Hospice, whose expertise and attention made the last three months as comfortable and hopeful as they could be in this difficult situation.
A service will be held at a later date. If you wish donations in her name may be made to the Victoria Hospice Society or any Early Childhood Program in your community.
Rest in peace. We miss you and wish you were
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our husband, father and brother. Brent is survived by wife Joanne; son Scott; daughter Kelly and brother Paul. He is predeceased by father Bert; mother Joyce and brothers Vernon and Dale. Brent will be greatly missed by his family, extended family and many friends.
You have gone from our sight and touch, but not from our hearts and memories.
Many thanks to the staff of Rotary Hospice House for making Brent’s last days as comfortable as possible as he lost his battle with Melanoma.
Brent’s Celebration of Life will be held on Monday, October 24th at 2 pm at the Senior Centre, 425 Brunswick Street, Prince George, BC.
Condolences may be offered at www.AssmansFuneralChapel.com
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of James Lorne McConaghy on October 8, 2022. He leaves to mourn his wife, Margaret; two sons Jim and Terry (Inga); two granddaughters; brothers Bruce, Bud and Ken. James is predeceased by his three sons Neal, Gordon and David and his mother Enid Jean.
We would like to thank the wonderful care aides, the Scheduling office girls, the nurses that came out to help, the friends who came out to see Jim as he really enjoyed their company and to Dr. York.
A service for James was held on Wednesday, October 19th at Assman’s Funeral Chapel at 11:00 am with the interment following at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Condolences may be offered at www.AssmansFuneralChapel.com
Daniel Dennis DuGas
With sorrow we must announce the untimely passing of a loving husband, a devoted father and true friend to many Daniel Dennis DuGas. Daniel is survived by his wife Lenore, sons Darren (Jordan, Dante) Timothy (Shannon, Tristan, Ellis) and siblings Bud, Barbara and David.
Daniel was born in Seattle, found his true love in Vancouver, found purpose as a father in Prince George and retired to live out his days as a grandfather on Vancouver Island.
Daniel turned a love of music into a career in Broadcasting. Never one to pass up the opportunity for conversation Dan made many friends in his lifetime and he knew happiness with them all.
Dan leaves two sons who will forever have the guide as to how to be a father. We know the sacrifices you made to raise two men can never be truly repaid. You will never be forgotten and are missed more than you could have known.
Who could have seen how far a faulty gas gauge on Lenore’s car in 1974 could have taken two souls. Spanning half a century Daniel and Lenore found a love that would carry them around the globe but were always most at home with each other. True love can never be forgotten and we are certain that somewhere Dan’s voice can still be heard, if you listen close enough you will hear it echo in our hearts. You were loved.
With the opportunity for great personalization, the funeral service can truly reflect the uniqueness of the life it honours. Contact us to find out more.
Mills/Equipment
1998 KENWORTH with mixer trailer, white. $120,000. 617-3373
SAWMILL,
Sheds/Outbuildings
NEW 30’ x 50’ All Steel Commercial shop, never assembled, c/w complete set of drawings and engineer cert. Has straight outside walls, 1 12’ x 14’ service door opening, 1 3’ man door opening, inside clearance 16’, roof has 3/ 12 pitch that is 20’ high at peak. Outside wall cladding painted tan. $30, 000 Call Bob 250-983-3372
Wanted
BUYING OLD JEWELRY, COINS, OLD MONEY, COIN COLLECTIONS, 9999 BARS & COINS, ROYAL CANADIAN MINT COINS, COIN SETS, WORLD $$$ COLLECTIONS ++ TODD 25O 864 3521
WANTED SASQUATCH SKULL - Also purchasing SILVER & GOLD coins, bars, jewelry, scrap, nuggets, sterling, 999+ BULLION, maple leafs, bulk silver, pre-1969 coins. Coin collector BUYING ENTIRE COIN COLLECTIONS, old $ & Royal Canadian Mint coins. TODD 250-864-3521.
Collectibles & Classic Cars
QUICK PAY
For all gold, Estate jewelry, scrap or unwanted, coins & currency, antiques, Rolex. Unbeatable pricing, privacy assured. (250) 612-1808 24/7
BUYING COIN COLLECTIONS!
OLD COINS, ROYAL CANADIAN MINT COINS, OLD PAPER MONEY, GOLD COINS, SILVER COINS, COIN SETS, COLLECTOR COINS, WORLD MONEY COLLECTIONS, FRANKLIN MINT SETS, ALL 9999 BULLION, COINS, BARS, INGOTS, WAFERS, MAPLE LEAFS ++++ TODD 25O 864 3521
Motorcycles
SUZUKI Bandit 1200, great shape, recent tune-up and brakes. (250)613-5981
2002 BMW 1150 RT motorcycle, excellent cond. $5500. (250)5643152 (250)640-8267
$3000 now $2500
Sports Utilities & 4X4s
2012 RAM 1500 4X4 short box, loaded, maroon. Extended 7 yr 160k warranty. 21,000 kms, too much to list. Equity. $39,000 owing. Take over payments. 250301.0221, 250-967-4268
Trucks
& Vans
2006 DODGE Cummins diesel, 4x4, 4 dr, Lb, 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
Parts Trucks
Chrome tailgate, fits 3/4 ton GMC, cover top fits GMC 6 1/2 ft box, chrome rails. Shop vac250-963-6898
Lots of recent work, have receipts. 1.8 L 5 Spd standard. Momo rims w/ summers & studded winters, power locks & windows w/ tint. Looks good, runs good. 228,000 kms.
250-612-9321
2002 THUNDERBIRD REPLICA Fully Loaded, two tops. Red exterior, black interior. Never winter driven. Price $29,000 obo. Phone 250-964-6610
“DUNSTER PROPERTY FOR SALE” 115 acres with 1/2 mile Fraser River frontage. 10 acres Island. 15 acres cleared. Mixed forest. 100% reliable water source. Log cabin attached to mobile home. Water line and hydro. Easy access. Mountainscape views. Private. 250-479-5545
45.5 ACRES Corner of Upper Fraser Rd & Beaver Forest Rd. with good driveway & building pad. $210,000. 250-614-6667
Recreational Property
1000sq m building lot, #L72NCorintoPearleco-development Honduras. Contact Recap Investments, Toronto 1-888-212-8584 for more
and
250-5634999 $35,000 Canadian 11.26 acres manicured sub-lakeshore at Cluculz Lake, finest location by owner Only $399,000 end of Meier Rd. 604-908-0313 2 bdrm bsmt suite off North Nechako. Avail immediately, call for info 778-890-1208
Health Care Assistant Diploma
Notices
Spruce Capital Seniors Recreation Centre
Annual general meeting & Election of Officers
Thursday, November 10th , 2022 Meeting starts at 1:00 P.M.
Amazing Door Prizes
hurt the Titanic
Fine dense cloth
Architectural structure
Where Serena works
Stringed instrument
Estimate
Where sailors work
Popular Terry Pratchett
1. Triangular bone in lower back
2. Building toy
3. Pointed end of a pen
4. Insect repellent
5. College army
6. Highly spiced stew
7. Exploited
8. Main course
9. A bottle that contains a drug
10. The most worthless part
11. Everyone needs one nowadays
25. Popular slow cooked dish
26. Twisted Sister’s Snider
“Office Space” actor Stephen
29. Put the ball in the net
31. Ancient Greek city in Thrace
33. High school math subject
34. Looked into
36. Rhode Island rebellion
38. A pea is one type
12. Japanese wooden shoe
14. Antelopes
15. A way to cut
18. Brooklyn hoopsters
20. Gradually receded
24. Ripped open
26. College grads get one
28. Amino acid
30. Unruly gathering
32. Legislative body
34. Resembling pigs
35. Russian assembly
37. Take over for
38. Put in advance
39. You can put it on something
41. Where golfers begin
43. Make a mistake
44. Semitic Sun god
46. Ancient Greek City
48. Beheaded
52. A place to stay
53. Inanely foolish
54. Most unnatural
56. “Dennis” is one
57. Soothes
58. Exam
59. Leaked blood
40. Satisfy
42. Felt
43. Mild yellow Dutch cheese
45. Witnesses
47. Some build hills
49. de Armas and Gasteyer are two
50. Ancient people of Scotland
51. Cheerless
55. Unwell
4 ways to incorporate a TV into your decor
Whether it’s in your living room, dining room or bedroom, yourTV probably takes up quite a bit of space
Here are four ideas for integrating this device into your decor so it doesn’t interfere with the style and flow of the room where it’s located
1. Hide it in a piece of furniture. If you don’t want your TV to be the focal point of the room, consider placing it inside a cabinet This way, you can close the doors when the device isn’t being used
2. Cover it with a decorative accessory. Install a sliding panel in front of yourTV, and decorate it with a painting, picture frames or a large mirror Alternatively, you can hang a tapestry in front of your TV and roll it out of the way as needed.
3. Camouflage it with black decor. You can decorate the room your TV is in with black furniture and accessories, or install the device against a black accent wall so it blends in with the decor when it’s turned off.
4. Mount it on the wall. This option allows you to swivel the TV so it’s at the perfect angle for watching, and then press it up against the wall when it’s not in use Another option is to install the TV in an alcove.
If you want a custom solution to seamlessly incorporate your TV into a room’s decor, reach out to a local interior designer.
3 resources to help you restore an old house
Fortunately, there are guidebooks available that outline the steps involved and provide recommendations based on the style of your home They might also give you a better idea about which types of professionals can help with your project
1.
When
are a number of repair and maintenance tasks that require specific tools and training. Look for individuals and companies that specialize in traditional trades, as they’ll have the knowhow to assist you with your restoration. Reach out to local guilds to find talented craftspeople in your area
2 TECHNICAL GUIDES
Restoring a historic building is a major undertaking
3. BUILDING INSPECTORS
To ensure your restoration project is up to code and respects local regulations, you’ll need to hire an inspector The Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) is a great resource to help you find building inspectors that specialize in historic houses.
Finally, be sure to contact your municipality before you get started to find out if you need special permits to restore your heritage home
3 ways to brighten up your closet
Does your closet feel more like a cave? If you’re tired of fumbling around in the dark for clothes, here are three ways you can shed some light on the situation without doing any electrical work.
1 Replace the rods in your closet with illuminated LED models. If there isn’t an outlet nearby, opt for ones that are battery-operated
2 Place small, battery-operated puck lights in strategic
locations such as beneath the upper shelf Most models include adhesive strips to facilitate installation
3 Line the inside of the door frame with LED strip lights to provide an even distribution of light. Both wireless and plug-in models usually come with a switch
Finally, consider freshening up the inside of your closet with a coat of pure white paint to further brighten up the space
GO FOR GOLD.
3 tips for hiring an interior designer
If you want to redecorate one or more rooms in your home, an interior designer can help you create a beautiful and functional space Here’s how to choose the right person for the job.
1. DO YOUR RESEARCH
Referrals from friends and relatives can kickstart your search, but make sure you look for someone who specializes in your preferred design style and has the right credentials. Online directories offered by professional associations can be a great resource
2. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS
In addition to consulting the person’s portfolio, discuss the specifics of your project with each candidate to find
out if it aligns with their expertise Over the phone or by email, inquire about their pricing, how they work and what services they offer
3. SCHEDULE A MEETING
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of candidates to two or three people, ask to set up a meeting so you can get to know their personality. Among other things, you should look for someone who listens to your needs and asks about your lifestyle.
Whether you need help choosing new furniture or adding the final touches after a major renovation, taking the time to find an interior designer who understands your style is a must
Panelling: 3 materials to use in your home
If you want to install decorative panelling on a wall or ceiling in your home, here are three materials you can use
1. PVC
Lightweight and easy to install, this wall covering is ideal for humid spaces, such as bathrooms, because it doesn’t rot Plus, it can be manufactured to resemble wood, stone and other materials Keep in mind, however, that PVC can warp if exposed to heat
2. MEDIUM-DENSITY FIBREBOARD
Simple to install, MDF panels are available in a variety of sizes and can be used as is or painted to match the space Additionally, some models are designed to be fire resistant whereas others are made specifically for humid environments
3. SOLID WOOD
This durable, elegant material can add warmth to a space and be painted, stained or varnished to complement the decor. Choose from species like pine, teak and oak, each of which has unique characteristics. Just make sure the panels aren’t warped and that any knots in the wood are solid.
For personalized advice on your home renovation project, visit your local retailers.
