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Thursday, November 17, 2016

Library offering reading list to accompany play Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

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he play hasn’t started yet, but the reading can begin immediately at the Prince George Public Library.

Each time Theatre North West does a play this season, the library will pair it with a reading list of complementary literary material. The program – new for the 2016-17 set of performances – is called Books Backstage.

“In collaboration with Theatre North West’s artistic director... librarians will provide recommendations of fiction, non-fiction, DVDs and other materials that may enrich the audiences’ experience of the performances,” said a statement issued Monday by library staff.

Since this coming production is Alice In Wonderland – and an adaptation by Brainerd Duffield at that – one could start at the source and get the Lewis Carroll classic novel.

It doesn’t stop there, of course, when the subject is one of the most definitive novels of its genre and era.

Here are some of the other suggested creative works the library is recommending, with Alice In Wonderland in mind:

Queen Of Hearts

by Toby Devens This is not the story of the Wonderland we know. Alice has not fallen down a rabbit hole.

This is a Wonderland where beneath each smile lies a secret, each tart comes with a demand, and only prisoners tell the truth.

Alice

by Christina Henry Alice has been in the mental hospital in Old Town for years. She doesn’t remember why.

All she can remember is a tea party long ago; long ears and blood.

Until one night she escapes, free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago.

— see PLAY FULL, page 3

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Play full of surprises, director says Hatter M. Volume 1 – Far From Wonder

by Frank Beddor By order of Queen Genevieve, Hatter Madigan, the Royal bodyguard, flees Wonderland with the princess, Alyss Heart, but when he loses Alyss in an alternate reality he embarks on a 13 year quest to rescue her, and bring her back to the Wonderland realm.

Alice I have Been

by Melanie Benjamin Octogenarian Alice, who as a child inspired Lewis Carroll’s famous Wonderland character, looks back on a life marked by an implacable mother, her halcyon days in Oxford, and the sons who went off to war.

After Alice

by Gregory Maguire In this brilliant new work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings – and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin

on Carroll’s enduring tale.

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman’s Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker award-winning novella follows the adventures of inquisitive young Coraline as she explores a strange alternative world that exists behind a locked door in her new home.

Pan’s Labyrinth (DVD) Powerless and lonely in a place of great danger, Ofelia lives out her own dark fable as she confronts monsters both otherworldly and human after she discovers a neglected labyrinth behind the family home.

• The on-stage production at TNW runs from today to Dec. 7.

Artistic director Jack Grinhaus said the play is going to be full of surprises, even

by Alice standards, and a chance for local audiences to believe as many as six impossible things before the end of the first act, if not breakfast. “When young Alice follows a talking rabbit down the rabbit hole her world turns upside down as she enters the fantastic Wonderland,” he said.

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”

— Mark Twain

Call 250-562-2441 to go large

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Data centre coming to UNBC Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca

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n a few short months, area researchers will have access to information unlike ever before.

The University of Northern B.C. is building a Statistics Canada Research Data Centre.

The small room, tucked into the entrance of the university’s library at it’s Prince George campus, is almost fully furnished save for four computers that will give it a direct line into confidential microdata owned by the government agency.

It will be one of 31 research locations in Canada and five in B.C. It will be Canada’s second most northern site, south only to Yellowknife’s in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research.

Now the new centre’s academic director

won’t have to travel to Edmonton or Vancouver to do her work. Before Cindy Hardy spent days at a time in those far-off centres, often doing several costly return trips for one study.

The whole time Hardy stands in the new room, she wears a wide grin and her sentences are punctuated by laughter.

Being a researcher, she explains, is like having permission to play all the time.

With the data centre in Prince George, “it’s like having the sandbox open.”

Before researchers like her can jump in – likely by the end of December or January – the equipment needs to arrive, get installed and inspected by Statistics Canada to ensure it’s secure.

But it still feels very close to Hardy since “RDC@UNBC” has been years in the making.

— see ‘YOU CAN’T, page 7

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‘You can’t ask for better’ — from page 4 “The data sets are fabulous. As a researcher you can’t ask for better… They’re beautifully designed and set up, the sample is good… (It’s a) good representative sample of Canadians,” says Hardy, who credits now retired data librarian Gail Curry for pushing the project for so many years and current librarian Allan Wilson for continuing those efforts.

The startup costs are about $67,000 and annual operating costs are about $64,000.

In the north, it can be difficult getting samples that are large enough and representative of the population, which Hardy hopes this can help solve.

“An individual researcher can’t do that kind of data collection,” says Hardy, who as a developmental psychologist loves a longitudinal study that follows children from birth to age 16.

The public use files available outside of

these centres have all identifiers eliminated. That affects community level work because most of the geographic information is removed “with the exception, in most cases, of the province and health region where the respondent resides,” says Statistics Canada.

Hardy is planning presentations to show datasets researchers can mine – all touching on social issues – like surveys of perceptions of neighbourhood environments, blood samples for measuring exposure to toxins, drug abuse, and census data.

A lot of the Statistics Canada surveys are health-related – a boon for Northern Health analysts.

“It just strengthens our ability to understand the environment in which we work in the north. It brings the population data, particularly,” says Fraser Bell, the health authority’s vice president of planning, quality and information management.

— see RESEARCH, page 8

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Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

UNBC academic director Cindy Hardy sits in the new Statistics Canada Research Data Centre at UNBC’s Prince George campus on Oct. 26.

Research a collaborative effort — from page 7 “You can get aggregates of data publicly but to have the access through the research partnerships that we’re involved into this kind of information… will be a real advancement.”

A strong local university in the north is good for the north, says Bell, praising its leadership and work to involve Northern

Health as well as the Northern Medical Program and other local partners over the last two years.

“With these partnerships it’s so heartening to see a vision realized,” Bell says.

“Especially in the north research is done collaboratively. It very seldom is done by researchers in isolation.”

— see DATA SECURITY, page 10

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Data security high at centre — from page 8 Hardy estimates about six UNBC professors have used a data centre before, but knows of several in line already for the resource.

Once the computers are set up only those who are trained, have approved projects and have sworn an oath of secrecy, will be allowed to punch in the pass code locking everyone else out.

It can’t be used by the police or for commercial purposes.

The room also blocks wifi signals and the system connects only to Statistics Canada servers.

“It’s a very unique process. We don’t encounter anything like this in our research,” says Hardy.

Any notes taken in those rooms must stay and academics leave only with the final product, an output that is reviewed by a Statistics Canada analyst to ensure no confidential information leaves the room.

Once the computers are set up only those who are trained, have approved projects and have sworn an oath of secrecy, will be allowed to punch in the pass code locking everyone else out. It can’t be used by the police or for commercial purposes.

The Canadian Research Data Centre Network was established in 2000, when the first centre opened at McMaster University.

In September, the federal government announced $14.5 million in renewed funding for the network, which includes more than 1,600 researchers.

— see CENTRE, page 11

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Centre a boon to regional researchers — from page 10 “We are a pan-Canadian organization producing world-class research,” says Joe Difrancesco, the networks operations manager.

“The research coming out of the universities is fundamental to impacting public policy to better the lives of Canadians from coast to coast.”

The City of Prince George’s manager of social development says the data centre will help its efforts around health and well-being for children and families and a collective impact approach to achieve large-scale social change.

“One of the elements of collective impact is good baseline data and ongoing tracking of data so you can know if you’ve made progress towards the achievement of your vision,” says Chris Bone.

She’s particularly interested in food security and to see if they can access neighbourhood-specific rates of poverty.

While the city can get high level data from public Statistic Canada files, she sees a couple issues with how it works.

“Sometimes it’s such an aggregate number it’s not actually valuable when you’re trying to target a desired outcome,” she said and “often it doesn’t relate to neighbourhood or things we need.”

It also creates more opportunity for the city to strengthen its relationship with UNBC, she said, and work with researchers that understand the Prince George context.

That’s exactly it, says Hardy.

“We need more research about what’s going on in northern B.C. We don’t know enough about what’s actually going on in the ground,” she says, and while there are some gaps when it comes to rural and remote communities more research about the north by the north is good for the region.

“That’s what the whole idea is: to increase the number of researchers… increase the quality of research and volume.”

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Firefighters carrying pet oxygen masks Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca

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egional animal lovers helped turn a tragedy into a better situation for Prince George pet owners, whose furry friends are safer thanks to new equipment.

On Nov. 2, Prince George veterinarian Dr. Sara VanderKraan alongside local organizers presented 12 pet oxygen mask kits to the fire department.

Each kit comes with three reusable masks of different sizes, which can help ventilate a pet as small as a bird up to a large dog. — see TRAGEDY, page 14

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Veterinarian Dr. Sara VanderKraan shows firefighter Richie Rogers how to use a pet oxygen mask on Reggie the dog on Nov. 2 at Prince George’s downtown fire hall.

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Tragedy inspired donation — from page 12 “It’s pretty straightforward,” VanderKraan told the handful of firefighters at Prince George’s downtown fire station, watching as she pressed the clear mask to the face of a cooperative cat.

“Little ones get a little mask and big ones get a big mask and just increase the oxygen accordingly.”

For the more anxious patients, the kit also comes with a leash and a bag to put smaller pets in so firefighters can avoid being scratched.

The kits will supply 10 fire trucks with a couple to spare.

They were part of several hundred kits purchased for 95 B.C. communities from a fundraiser that sought to save future pet lives after the deaths of seven dogs and two cats in a May fire in Burnaby.

Prince George trainer Kim Collins got immediately involved.

She’s friends with the killed animals’

owner, Dove Cresswell.

“They could have saved them if they had the masks,” said Collins, who owns Pawsitive Steps. “Our (dog) agility community, especially in B.C., is pretty tight. It happened right before a really big event that we all were at. It was pretty tragic and hit all of us hard.”

From there, the group fundraised at trials and beyond, eventually raising about $60,000, with Prince George adding about $2,000 to the provincial total.

“It just kind of took off.”

VanderKraan said getting oxygen into the animals right away is a critical first step, especially since some won’t show the signs of smoke inhalation for 24 hours.

“If they’ve already put in that fresh oxygen, we may see a huge decrease in the risk of death,” said VanderKraan, adding it’s a good temporary measure, but firefighters should still call the emergency hospital.

— see ‘YOUR PET, page 15

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‘Your pet is part of your family’ — from page 14 After watching VanderKraan’s session, Jason McCarron said he expected the training to be seamless for the crews, which will be getting the kits “right away.”

“I think it’s great for the public. Your pet is part of your family. When you see part of your family in pain you want to be able to help them as much as you can.

By having these tools it’ll be another avenue for us to help out the public,” said McCarron, who’s been firefighting for 12 years.

While the cases are relatively rare, firefighters have had to use the human oxygen masks and in most cases “pets don’t normally make it out of house fires,” he said.

When the Prince George Humane Society heard about the “life-saving impact” of the masks, executive director Angela McLaren said it had to get involved.

“People don’t realize what a difference this makes,” said McLaren, who used to fight fires in Fort St. James and saw both types of cases: dogs dying in house fires and two puppies that were saved when given oxygen.

“This is life-changing for animals.”

Treating a pet that’s already received some first aid from the fire department is huge, said VanderKraan.

“We can already start treating them for smoke inhalation without being 10 steps back. They’ve already had that first critical 10 to 15 minutes taken care of,” she said. “Just the fact that these guys are so interested in trying to make sure the pets are saved as well as everything else is such an amazing thing for us to see.”

While she’s had a few cases of death due to smoke inhalation or suffocation, it’s still quite few. She thinks that’s due to a “fast-acting” fire hall.

“I think we’re very lucky with the fire hall we have in this region. They’ve already saved countless lives of animals without us needing to do heroics,” she said.

But one death is still too much.

“You never want to lose a patient. That’s what you strive to do: prevent, prevent, prevent because.

If you can prevent something from happening you don’t have to worry about curing it… and an animal doesn’t have to go through that trauma.”

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Cochrane playing iconic album live at CN Centre Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

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Tom Cochrane poses for a photo in Toronto on Feb. 6, 2015. Cochrane will be playing in Prince George on March 6.

f you thought Tom Cochrane’s reign over the nation’s rock scene was sinking like a sunset, you’re living on the lunatic fringe.

The veteran singersongwriter who wrote the ode to junior hockey in Big League, who eulogized The Boy Inside The Man, who poured us a drink Down At The Stonecutter’s Arms, who got White Hot about a Bird On A Wire on Ragged Ass Road is coming back to Prince George

with No Regrets because The Party’s Not Over.

Cochrane will be at CN Centre on March 6 for a special occasion he’s celebrating all across the country.

“On stage with his reunited Red Rider bandmates Kenny Greer and Jeff Jones, Cochrane will perform Mad Mad World in its entirety with additional fan favourites in the set,” said concert organizers.

Mad Mad World, for those who missed the ruckus in 1991, was the volcanic rock album that blew the lid off the music scene back in those days.

— see ‘MAD MAD, page 18

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‘Mad Mad World remains among the topselling albums in Canadian music history’ — from page 16 It rivaled Metallica’s seminal Black album and Bryan Adams’s ubiquitous Waking Up The Neighbours for the soundtrack of summer, that year.

In the dance clubs of the world, where Jesus Jones and Primal Scream held court, there were a couple of rock songs that held their own ground. One was the Nirvana classic Smells Like Teen Spirit and the other was Cochrane’s Life Is A Highway which would often get two spins for everyone else’s one.

“Mad Mad World remains among the topselling albums in Canadian music history, achieving rare diamond-certified status on the strengths of such hit singles as the title track, No Regrets, Washed Away, Sinking Like A Sunset, and, of course, Life Is A Highway, which reigned at No. 1 for six weeks in Canada, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot

100, and went on to become recognized the world over,” said the organizers.

The opening act for this retro romp is a country artist that is sizzling with Bow Chicka Wow Wow. That’s one of her songs, and it was up for a Canadian Country Music Award in the Songwriter Of The Year category along with her co-writer Chad Kroeger of Nickleback.

She is Meghan Patrick, and she has already worked directly with the likes of Vince Gill, Gord Bamford, Chantal Kreviazuk and many more, in addition to all the stars who have invited her along for major concert events. Now Tom Cochrane has done so, too.

Tickets to see Patrick, Red Rider and Cochrane go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at the CN Centre Box Office or online via Ticketmaster.

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Cancer battle inspires family fundraising Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca

I Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Calista Frost, 7, and her mom, Amanda Frost, have their hair cut off at Heritage Elementary school on Oct. 28. The school raised more $6,000 for cancer research.

t was the best before and after photo a kid could ask for.

Five-year-old Olivia Frost watched from afar in Vancouver as her sister Calista, mom Amanda, teachers and classmates had their hair tied back ready to be hacked off in her honour.

Later, she phoned in again to see her seven-year-old sister’s shaved head and the rest of the assembly at Heritage elementary school, who’d just helped raise more

than $6,200 for juvenile cancer research over the last two days.

That’s not including the 44 people who had their hair cut or shaved to donate to Wigs For Kids.

Olivia would be in Kindergarten at Heritage if she weren’t undergoing leukemia treatment at BC Children’s Hospital. After a long eight months, it’s looking like she might make it home – and to her desk – before Christmas.

Olivia’s prognosis is good, said Amanda, because she has the most common form of the disease and her bone marrow is no longer producing leukemic cells.

— see ‘YOUR WORLD, page 22

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‘Your world comes to a screeching halt’ — from page 20 The rest of Olivia’s treatment is getting rid of what’s left and reducing her risk of relapse – and that’s a lot better than many families they meet at Ronald McDonald House, where they stay with as many as 73 sick children.

“It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to us, but it’s not the worst thing that could have happened to us,” said Amanda.

A young boy waiting for a heart transplant died this summer, and a boy who Olivia befriended died last month.

“Life is now not what I ever guessed or wanted for our future, but at least I know we have one and it’s changed our perspective huge and in a positive way. I appreciate things a lot more than I used to,” she said.

“Your world comes to a screeching halt.

All the hopes and future that you preimagined for yourself and for her and as a family… Suddenly you’re like ‘Oh that’s all gone.’ You go into worry mode and you just focus day to day on everything.”

The family took Olivia down to B.C. Children’s Hospital in February when she was complaining of sore legs. A few tests later and she’d been diagnosed with leukemia.

She hasn’t been back to Prince George since.

The family calls it their new normal.

For a time, when it was at the worst, normal meant Olivia couldn’t walk. Now, normal means the family is split with father Nathan living with Olivia, and Amanda is back at work teaching at Duchess Park secondary school and Calista is in school as the

Olivia family tries not to disrupt her education.

Being apart is probably the hardest part, but people have been incredibly supportive when they ask for help and one family even offered to pay for her next flight to visit Olivia.

“It’s opened my eyes to how fantastic Prince George is.”

Through it all, Olivia has been a trooper.

She recently adopted a catchphrase when she hears about people who want to help.

“Her saying since the summer that it’s been melting her heart,” said Amanda.

Principal Linda Picton praised the family and Olivia and said she was so pleased to see the support.

“I’m blown away. My heart was full,” she said, adding the school hopes to see Olivia in the hall very soon.

“We’re all just there for her.”

GATEWAYnews

Many area children not ready for school Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca

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early a third of children starting school in School District 57 are considered vulnerable, with the numbers jumping to 58 per cent in some parts of Prince George, according to a report by the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP).

The interdisciplinary research team, based at the University of B.C., reported that overall 30 per cent of students were considered vulnerable in School District 57, just slightly better than the provincial average of 32 per cent – based on children

studied between 2013 and 2016.

The data drills into child health by neighbourhood, looking at how students do in five categories – physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge – the latest results from a survey that has been measuring province-wide patterns in children’s developmental health since 2001. The school district’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods are South Fort George–the Bowl, with 58 per cent of children performing poorly on one of those scales, Peden Hill with 33 per cent, followed by HeritageOspika with 30 per cent.

— see POVERTY, page 24

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Poverty a key factor — from page 23 College Heights and rural Prince George were both on the lower end, with 20 per cent considered vulnerable, according to the report published this week.

The report also highlighted Hart Highlands, on the lower end with 28 per cent vulnerable, but it showed a 10 per cent jump in vulnerability compared to the previous reporting period.

The north’s performance reflects what Northern Health’s Chief Medical Health Office Dr. Sandra Allison found in her April 2016 child health report on the region.

“It certainly does support the concerns I have around school readiness,” said Allison, whose work look at data pulled from the previous Early Development Instrument (EDI) survey between 2011 and 2013.

“We probably will need to increase our resources at school to assist our teachers to either improve those student skills or

help them cope in an environment in which they’re not ready. You might see behaviour issues, you might see issues in schools related to a failure to succeed or their not embracing the environment or the materials as well as they should because they’re not ready.”

Poverty plays a huge role, said Dr. Martin Guhn, an assistant professor at UBC, who works with HELP. In School District 57, most of the data was collected last school year – from 1,019 kids out of 12,147 enrolled – with a couple dozen more studied the year before and this school year. The district did not respond to requests for an interview.

“If you don’t have any resources then it affects nutrition, it affects access to play opportunities, it affects how much time the parents have because they often work more hours to get out of poverty,” said Guhn.

— see ‘CHILDREN’S DELAYS, page 25

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‘Children’s delays are getting missed’ — from page 24 Guhn added it’s important to look at specific barriers certain areas face – like transportation or food security or language and culture.

The gaps from region to region and neighbourhood to neighbourhood showcase the inequality that exists in each community.

“The question is what can be done to create more equity in our society? We’re hoping that we can over time shine light on the success stories so that others can learn from it,” he said. “It takes a long time, it takes collaboration, it takes access to resources and decision making.”

Northern Health’s children’s first manager Sandra Saski would like to see children assessed as early as three years old.

As it stands, children see a health nurse at 18 months and then in kindergarten at five.

“It’s that gap that we find children’s

It’s not a simple fix.

Smaller rural places have been able to do it a little easier. Prince George is big therefore it’s more difficult to navigate.

— Sandra Saski delays are getting missed,” she said, adding more could be done if the problems were identified sooner.

“That’s what we’re working on. It’s not a simple fix. Smaller rural places have been able to do it a little easier. Prince George is big therefore it’s more difficult to navigate.”

The numbers are no surprise to the many agencies who sit on the city’s Children Youth and Family Network, Saski said.

— see ?, page 26

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‘A lot of this can be prevented’ — from page 25 Saski added it’s already doing “lots of good work” to try and address the overall health and the gaps felt most harshly in the bowl.

Having regular neighbourhood-specific data is important for the group’s ongoing work said the city’s manager of social development Chris Bone, who also works with the network.

“No one sector in the community can unilaterally improve those scores. It’s not just the school’s responsibility, it’s not just the City of Prince George’s or the social service agencies. It’s the community as a whole,” said Bone, who said the city can likely have the most impact on physical health.

In early October, before the select standing committee on finance, the Prince George Child Development Centre called for more money to support its struggling services, pointing to the EDI indicators as proof that the status quo isn’t working.

“The failure of the province to make meaningful, or any, improvement in this area has to do with resourcing,” said its executive director Darrell Roze.

While literacy and numeracy is improving in B.C., Guhn said social and emotional issues have worsened.

“It’s not a local phenomenon,” Guhn said.

“The question again is are we looking carefully at what we’ve changed in the social environment conditions over the past generation, how that’s affecting our children.... That’s the question we have to collectively ask ourselves: is that the direction we want to go in?”

Allison called for more investment in children, adding unhealthy children can lead to mental health issues and chronic disease later in life.

“A lot of this can be prevented with appropriate investments and understanding that we might need to make sacrifices to make the outcome improve,” she said.

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UNBC takes top honours in Maclean’s Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca

News Tip? Call 250-562-2441

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or the second year in a row, the University of Northern B.C. has bested its competition in Maclean’s magazine’s annual rankings.

“It’s always nice to get confirmation that again we’re continuing to go in the right direction,” said president Daniel Weeks about its spot atop the “primarily undergraduate” category, beating out among 18 other universities.

“Our enrollment is up a little bit this year

and I think that’s in at least in part to our ranking last year and I think this will continue that trend and we’re going to continue to make sure we’re out there telling our story about the quality and opportunities here at UNBC,” said Weeks.

For the last five years, UNBC has consistently finished high in the rankings, with second-place finishes in 2014, 2012 and 2008 to add to its back-to-back first-place finishes.

Despite its record, the university still lags behind in reputation, Weeks said.

— see ‘THE ENTIRE, page 30

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‘The entire UNBC community can be proud’ — from page 28 “We’re not as well known and this is not the time to be the best kept secret anywhere. We need to do a better job of just getting out and telling people the UNBC story, not only in Canada but globally as well,” said Weeks.

He’d like to see UNBC become a greater destination for international students, and that “being number one in Maclean’s is such an important factor” helps with student recruitment.

Weeks highlighted student satisfaction, which bumped from eighth to fourth and a “huge bump” for approval of administrative staff, which jumped from 13th to fourth spot this year.

“We absolutely knocked it out of the park and we were up significantly in all categories,” said Weeks, adding it has an impact on a student’s choice to stay.

“That student experience – particularly in

the first year – is really an important getting students to stay and enjoy the university,” he said, noting that positivity around resident living has improved to ninth this year compared to 13th in 2015.

“This is a fantastic improvement and it really is such an important part in making a welcoming university for young people.”

UNBC also earned first place for mental health services, up from fourth the year before.

UNBC’s Board of Governors chair also called the ranking fantastic news.

“The entire UNBC community can be proud of their university and the work that continues to be done in making it an exceptional institution,” said Ryan Matheson in a statement.

Joining UNBC in first, Simon Fraser University took top spot in the comprehensive list and McGill maintained its top ranking in the Medical Doctoral category.

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