Gateway

march 2018

Fort Mac fire chief speaking in P.G. Stuart Neatby Citizen staff sneatby@pgcitizen.ca

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his year’s Bob Ewert Memorial Dinner will feature a keynote by the man who oversaw the evacuation of 88,000 residents of Fort McMurray during the 2016 wildfires.

Darby Allen served as Fort McMurray’s fire chief in the midst of the wildfires. He has since become a celebrated speaker on the topic of motivational and crisis leadership and was a featured presenter during the TEDx Kelowna conference in 2017.

The Bob Ewert Memorial Dinner has been held each year since 2004 and is a key gathering of political leaders, health professionals and northern health advocates.

The event is a fundraiser for the Northern Medical Programs Trust, which supports students enrolled in UNBC’s Northern Medical Program.

The event awards an NMP student each year with the Rising Star Award.

This year’s event will feature the posthumous induction of Dr. Bert Kelly into the Northern Medical Hall of Fame.

Kelly, a founder of the Northern Medical Society and a family physician known to many residents of Prince George, passed away in December.

The event is named after Bob Ewert, a consultant surgeon who was born and raised in Prince George. Ewert left Prince George after high school, and returned after studying medicine at UBC and McGill universities.

He is often referred to as “Prince George’s first modern consultant specialist,” and was an early advocate for a modern hospital in the region.

His father, Carl Ewert, was a physician who moved to Prince George in 1913 in response to the shortage of physicians in the region at the time.

This year’s dinner will take place on April 7 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the dinner are $125, or $1200 for a table of ten, and can be purchased online at ewertlecture.com or by calling 250-596-0020.

CP file photo

Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen speaks to members of the media at a fire station in Fort McMurray on May 9, 2016. Allen will be speaking at the Bob Ewert Memorial Dinner in Prince George on April 7.

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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

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Production of Dirty Dancing playing a single show in P.G. Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

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irty Dancing is waltzing into Prince George this spring. For one night only, the box office movie smash will be on the CN Centre stage in a live musical theatre production that has already toured about a dozen countries around the world to audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Prince George, a hotbed of musical theatre talent, gets its chance to see this pop culture favourite on May 6.

Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is driven by a pulsing soundtrack of more than 30 fan-favourite songs.

Many are selected from the dance culture of the 1960s by greats like The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, Mickey & Sylvia, Otis Redding, and many more.

There are also those modern tunes that blew the roof off the pop charts when Dirty Dancing

Handout image

A touring production of Dirty Dancing –The Classic Story On Stage will be coming to CN Centre in Prince George on May 6. first came out on film and redefined the modern musical. I Had The Time Of My Life and Hungry Eyes became cultural standards still beloved today and they are original to the Dirty Dancing phenomenon.

A live cast of talented “triple threat” performers will sing, dance and act out the tale of Baby Houseman who just can’t seem to enjoy her family vacation to a Catskill Mountains retreat until she happens to meet Johnny

Castle, the resort’s dance instructor.

Together they teach each other what dance can really accomplish when the music is hot and the hearts are strong.

This touring event is a produc-

tion in partnership between Quatro Entertainment, Lions Gate Entertainment, and TN Touring.

Tickets to see Dirty Dancing go on sale Friday at the CN Centre box office or online at www.ticketsnorth.ca.

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Burns Lake man jailed for triple murder Citizen staff A Burns Lake man has been sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 22 years for three counts of second-degree murder.

Reuben Buhler, 56, was issued the term earlier this month in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers for the April 2015 deaths of Ridge Vern Vienneau, Ehr Ola Andersen and Mitchel Wade Ruttan in the community of about 2,000 people east of Prince George. Buhler had pleaded guilty to the counts in May of last year.

Second-degree murder differs from first degree in that the killings were carried out on impulse rather than being planned.

The deaths were related to a domestic dispute, police said at the time of Buhler’s arrest.

Consecutive sentences apply only in instances of first-degree murder.

Although he can apply for parole after 22 years, whether Buhler is ever released will be up to a Parole Board of Canada panel and he would have to serve a stint on day parole before progressing to full parole.

Switchman wins wrongful dismissal suit Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

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.C. Supreme Court Justice has found a contractor responsible for moving rail cars at Mackenzie Pulp Mill failed to adequately train a man who was fired after a length of railcars he was helping to guide crashed into a warehouse door.

In doing so, Justice Emily Burke ordered 4-D Warner Enterprises Ltd. to pay Richard Tymko two months worth of pay and benefits.

Tymko had filed a wrongful dismissal suit alleging 4-D Warner did not establish clear standards or provide suitable instruction for the positions of trackmobile operator and switchman and failed to maintain a consistent disciplinary policy.

On Dec. 28, 2015, Tymko was working as the switchman. His job was to notify the operator of the trackmobile – a small locomotive used to move rail cars around the yard – of when to stop a length of four rail cars over a radio.

Tymko said the radio failed and the trackmobile operator testified he had “no idea what to do” when he did not hear from Tymko and continued until he finally heard from him.

The length of cars also derailed another

car upon crashing through the warehouse door.

4-D Warner disputed Tymko’s claim, alleging he made up the story about the radio failure. But Burke found that on balance of probabilities, 4-D Warner did not prove the radio was in fact working.

“This is largely due to its failure to investigate the situation despite being immediately advised of the issue,” Burke said in a reasons for judgment issued Friday.

Burke also found 4-D Warner failed to show on a balance of probabilities that either Tymko or the trackmobile operator had been properly trained on what to do in the event of a radio failure.

“Neither employee involved in the critical incident was aware of the safety protocol when loss of communication occurs between the switchman and the trackmobile operator,” Burke said.

“While this was outlined in the manuals, neither received instruction or training about what a trackmobile operator should do if, during a movement, he stops receiving instructions from the switchman. The evidence established that the training was changed following the incident to provide a more comprehensive training course that included this policy instruction.”

The full decision is posted with this story at pgcitizen.ca.

Martin named northern B.C.’s indigenous tourism specialist Citizen staff

News Tip? Call 250-562-2441

A past councillor for the McLeod Lake Indian Band has been named northern B.C.’s regional indigenous tourism specialist.

Lucy Martin began earlier this month, Indigenous Tourism British Columbia and Northern British Columbia Tourism Association said. She will be based in the NBCTA office in Prince George.

“I am passionate about working with

indigenous communities to assist them in projects that will develop capacity and benefit members,” Martin said.

The focus of Martin’s work is to engage indigenous people, businesses and communities in formal tourism development planning, and link them with programs and opportunities.

In 2017, B.C.’s indigenous tourism sector generated $705 million in gross direct output for the province, according to ITBC and NBCTA.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

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Local curling legend lived life to the fullest Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca

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Wilf Peckham throws a ceremonial first rock to open the 2016 Kelly Cup at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Peckham, who competed in the Kelly Cup men’s curling bonspiel for 68 consecutive years, died on March 2 at the age of 94.

ilf Peckham was dancing until the very end.

The 94-year-old died on March 2 after a brief stay in hospital, his son Gerry Peckham said. Although Wilf, who played in a record 68 consecutive Kelly Cup men’s curling tournaments between 1945 and 2013, had hung up his broom in his final years, he continued to be engaged in the sport which had been a life-long love for him and his family. Less than a month before his death, Wilf and Gerry had met in Penticton to attend the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

“We partied at the Scotties in Penticton for four days – with him leading the way,” Gerry Peckham said. “You hear stories about people living life to the fullest, and I can assure you there wasn’t a wasted moment in (his) life. He loved to dance.

He and mom danced in the living room, danced in the berry patch, danced when nobody else was... first on the dance floor and last to leave.”

Even when Mae, his wife of 68 years, passed away in January 2014, Wilf found a way to keep dancing, playing music, fishing, hiking and cross-country skiing, Gerry said.

“He took an amount of time to gather himself, and then he re-embraced life. I think he took mom wherever he went,” Gerry said. “He couldn’t quit doing the things they had enjoyed doing together. Countless hours at Summit Lake... thousands of berries picked, hours and hours spent hunting – which was mostly about walking and looking around – hiking every day, even when mom was slowing down.”

Wilf was born in Reston, Man., and moved to Prince George in 1930 with his family. Other than a four-year tour of duty in Europe during the Second World War, he lived here his entire life.

“He and my mom never spent a moment on their couch, they were always out in the community,” Gerry said. “He cut quite a swath, in his quiet way. Everywhere he

went he got to know people and made friends. My dad had a memory like few others. He became a bit of a historian. His storytelling and ability to recount the history of Prince George and the context was fascinating.”

In 1939, at the age of 15, Wilf dropped out of school and took a job at The Citizen as a printer’s devil – a young assistant to the pressroom. After serving four years in the army in France, Belgium and Germany, Wilf returned to Prince George and started back at The Citizen in 1946 as an apprentice pressman.

He stayed at The Citizen until May 1983, first a pressman and later as a proof reader.

“I think it was the only job he had, after 15-16 years of age. He loved the work, he loved the company, he loved the business,” Gerry Peckham said. “The newspaper business was full of rich characters, and The Citizen certainly had its share.”

At the age of 52 he took a voluntary reduction to working three days a week, Gerry said. His friends called it a “Wilf Retirement Plan.”

“We really loved the outdoors so Mae said she would do all the housework and gardening on those days, and we’d have four days off every weekend,” Wilf said in a 2015 interview with The Citizen. “I worked good and eased us into retirement. It was a pretty good deal. Working is overrated as a pastime, you know.”

His parents were never well to do and retired with “an incredibly modest bank ac count,” Gerry said, but instead focused on the richness of life in and around Prince George.

“Somehow he’d figured it out,” Gerry said. “He didn’t need to travel the world, and he didn’t need luxury. He and my mom spent the majority of their lifetime... within 100-150 miles of Prince George.”

But Wilf was perhaps best known for his involvement in the local curling community and the Royal Canadian Legion, which was “his home away from home.”

“His curling in Prince George dates back pre-war. There used to be an old, two-sheet curling club in the shade of Connaught Hill,” Gerry said.

— see ‘DAD WAS, page 7

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‘Dad was a great student of the game’ — from page 6 “I grew up in a curling-infused family.

It made up a huge part of his life, and our family life – my grandparents life,” Gerry added.

“There was always curling stories, and some of the curling stories came from the people he had met and played with. He travelled all over the place to bonspiels.”

Whenever the family went out of town, there were curling friends to visit, Gerry said. And when rinks from the region came to Prince George for the Kelly Cup, those friends came to the Peckham home for “food, drink, music and laughter.”

“It was what we did, as a family. If you came to Prince George for a bonspeil, you were bound to end up at the Peckham house,” Gerry said.

“Grandma and by uncle played the piano and my dad played the guitar. You couldn’t find a better guy to lead a sing-song, because he never forgot the words to a song.

They would be dancing in the living room, dancing in the basement.”

Wilf didn’t just curl for the social life, Gerry added, he was an accomplished player who won three Kelly Cup championships. Gerry, who has served as the high performance director for the Canadian Curling Association more than 25 years and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 to honour his coaching efforts, learned the game from his dad.

Growing up, Gerry said his parents lived near Ninth Avenue and Brunswick Street,

right next door to his grandparents. Every winter his grandfather would flood the backyard and Gerry and his family would jam-can curl under a lightbulb suspended overhead from a clothesline. “(Dad) was a great student of the game, and therefore became a great teacher of the game,” Gerry said. “The lessons he imparted at the kitchen table or at the end of a rink I still carry with me.”

When not at the curling rink, Wilf and Mae could be found at the local Legion.

Both Wilf and his older brother Len survived the Second World War, and their father, Bill, was a First World War veteran.

“I’ve been selling poppies forever. I think I’ve missed one year in the last 72, and before that I was selling poppies as a kid,” Wilf said in an interview with The Citizen in October 2016.

Wilf landed in France shortly after D-Day, and received the French Légion d’Honneur in 2014, which marked the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy. France presented the medal to surviving Canadian veterans of the battle, which began the liberation of France and the eventual end of the Nazi occuption.

Because of his long involvement with the Legion, a celebration of Wilf’s life was held there following his funeral service on March 17.

Wilf is survived by his son, Gerry, daughter Marilyn, foster daughter Charlene and many grandchildre and great-grandchildren.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

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Auditor report critical of Northern Health nurse recruiting Stuart Neatby Citizen staff sneatby@pgcitizen.ca

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n the wake of a B.C. Auditor General report chastising Northern Health for its nurse recruitment and retention efforts, the head of the authority’s human resource department said it’s doing a better job.

The report, released earlier this month, found that, as of April 2017, Northern Health was short 121 registered nurses or 15 per cent of its rural and remote workforce.

More than a quarter of rural and remote nurse practitioner positions were also vacant. The report also highlighted a lack of tracking in performance of recruitment methods used by the health authority in its attempts to fill the staffing shortfalls in the region.

“Northern Health’s performance monitoring of its recruitment, hiring and retention functions was minimal and, as a result, it

was not able to show that its efforts in these past five years, we’ve improved by 38 per cent the retaining of nurses. However, areas had a positive impact on its results,” what they’re saying is, that doesn’t tie to a the report said. specific retention strategy that you have,” David Williams, vice president of human resources, said the auditor general’s recom- Williams said. The report states that nurse exits from Northern Health mendations were valid.

But he said the report also The workload have decreased since 2012 but that “there are no clear highlighted some of the is extremely trends in other key retenaspects of the authority’s heavy. Nurses tion metrics, such as averrecruiting methods that are age active length of service, working. are burning out. average departure length “The report itself talks They’re exhausted. of service (the average about that we’ve implemented the majority of the — Christine Sorensen, length of service of all RNs NPs who departed the good practices that they’ve B.C. Nurses’ Union and organization in that fiscal identified,” Williams said. year) and departure reasons for RNs.” The report found that, while the health The report also identified an increase in authority has implemented or partly implecost due to overtime hours and the use of mented the majority of the identified good agency nurses as a result of staff shortages. practices for recruitment and retention, it Between 2012 and 2016, the overtime has not established an overall strategy to hours increased by 30 per cent. guide these efforts, nor has it established The use of outside agency nurses has also goals and performance measures. been costly; the workload equivalent of 16 “From a retention perspective, over the nurses was filled by agency nurses in 2016.

Christine Sorensen, acting president of the B.C. Nurses’ Union, said the increase in overtime has also resulted in increasing rates of burnout amongst nurses in the north.

“The workload is extremely heavy. Nurses are burning out. They’re exhausted. We’re seeing increased rates of injury, nurses going off on long-term disability, nurses exposed to violence – because patients get frustrated because they’re not available to get the care they need,” she said.

Sorensen said she is seeing an increase in nurses retiring earlier from the profession.

Fewer remain within the profession on a part-time basis later in their careers.

“I think there is a factor that drives nurses to retire and not return or not continue to provide service,” she said.

The BCNU has recently begun working with Northern Health on efforts to recruit more nurses to northern communities.

The union has partially funded, along with Northern Health, a northern incentive program, in which nurses who take difficult-tofill positions in remote or rural communities receive $15,000 in their first year and $2,000 towards professional development in years two through five. The nurse must commit to remaining in their community for at least three years. The union, along with Northern Health, also made a joint submission to the Ministry of Health for the creation of a travelling nurse pool, which would allow for nurses based in a centre like Prince George to travel out to more rural or remote communities.

Sorensen said she felt the long-term planning, including the recruitment efforts, of Northern Health are sound. But she also said the health authority could do more in the short term to support nurses, which might help retain these professionals in the region.

“It’s those immediate supports that the nurses need now around ensuring that they are not occupied with their time doing nonnursing duties and are focusing on nursing tasks. It’s the immediate support to ensure that nurses feel safe in their workplace by providing appropriate security in all of these places and the appropriate communication tools if they’re working alone,” she said.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

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Hydro rate hikes coming April 1 Rob SHAW Vancouver Sun

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.C.’s independent energy regulator has denied the NDP government’s request to freeze B.C. Hydro rates this year, instead approving a three per cent increase to electricity rates as of April 1.

The NDP had campaigned in the 2017 election on a one-year Hydro rate freeze, and then in November prematurely announced it was honouring that promise.

But the B.C. Utilities Commission ruled March 1 that “there is not sufficient regulatory justification for approving real rate decreases – unless cost reductions justify those decreases, and that is not the case here.”

The commission was worried about Hydro’s ability to cover the $140-million cost of the rate freeze, as well as noting it “would pose an additional material risk to the 10-year rate plan.” It suggested if the

government wanted rates reduced, it could are entitled to a fair return on its invested capital. have forgone some of its economic return “These costs should be reflected in rates from Hydro, rather than sticking the Crown to customers who benefit in that period and power corporation with the costs. must not be deferred to future periods in “The Panel acknowledges the issue of the absence of a statutory affordability caused by real or regulatory justification. rate increases,” the BCUC I know this We note that if a utility wrote in its decision. news is going owner is willing to forego “We further agree that to be quite some or all of their return freezing the rate for one on investment, rates could year increases the afforddisappointing for a potentially be reduced acability of electricity for lot of British cordingly.” that year, thereby reducColumbians.

Hydro insisted the coming the hardship that may mission give strong weight otherwise be faced by some — Energy Minister to Premier John Horgan’s customers.

Michelle Mungall public comments, and “However, under the mandate letter to the encurrent legislative and ergy minister, that Hydro freeze rates this regulatory framework, the Panel is unable coming year. Hydro argued to the BCUC to consider the economic circumstances that Horgan’s assertions were “substantive of individual ratepayers. Simply stated, a utility is entitled to recovery of its prudently regulatory justification for the rate freeze.”

But Hydro’s arguments were undermined incurred expenditures and utility owners by the fact it had already spent months, and submitted hundreds of pages of written documents, arguing why it needed at least a three per cent rate increase to cover its costs. It also had no answers to commission queries about how it would cover the cost of the rate freeze, or how it would affect the 10-year rate plan the Liberals set for Hydro and the NDP are now revising.

The NDP campaigned in the 2017 election on a one-year freeze of Hydro rates.

Energy Minister Michelle Mungall announced in November she was following through with that plan, moving to cancel a three per cent rate hike set for April 1 while the government launched an operational review of Hydro.

“We committed to British Columbians to make life more affordable for them,” Mungall said at the time. “This is going to be a big saving in their pockets.”

On March 1, Mungall said she was “very disappointed” in the decision.

“I’m very disappointed today obviously with the B.C. Utilities Commission’s decision to approve essentially the B.C. Liberal rate increase rather than go with our request for a rate freeze,” she told reporters.

“But I appreciate their rationale. They were very clear in a nutshell that there’s a mess at B.C. Hydro. It needs to be cleaned

up and I hear that. We’ve already stated in that cleanup. We’ve made some significant changes at the top of the public crown utility.”

The NDP fired former Hydro CEO Jessica McDonald from the job last year and shuffled the report.

Opposition Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson said it’s another example of the NDP failing to live up to its promises.

“The same NDP that found it so easy to make big promises during an election campaign finds itself, once again, unable to deliver on them when in government,” he said in a statement.

“The hydro rate freeze now joins the renters’ rebate, the 114,000 new units of affordable housing, $10-a-day child care and massive tax hikes on the NDP’s growing pile of broken promises.”

Mungall said the government would move forward with other programs to compensate for the decision.

“I know this news is going to be quite disappointing for a lot of British Columbians,” said Mungall. “So I want to ensure them we’re going to move forward with implementing a lifeline rate.”

Mungall announced Hydro would develop a “lifeline rate program” to help lower electricity bills for low-income British Columbians and those in need. She also said Hydro will create a new program in May to provide grants toward power bills for customers who find themselves in an emergency involving unemployment, eviction or medical expenses.

The freeze would have cost Hydro $140 million in planned revenue. Government wouldn’t kick in any cash in compensation, meaning Hydro would have to defer the costs into a rate-smoothing account that delays repayment of debt until some time in the future.

Growing those type of Hydro deferral accounts was something the NDP heavily criticized in opposition, as has B.C.’s Auditor General.

Both of whom have noted Hydro can play games with its finances by deferring costs to the future to give the illusion the corporation is profitable in a given financial year – thereby allowing government to milk it for dividends to spend in the provincial budget.

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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Citizen file photo

Theo Ploias demonstrates how to string a bow on March 3 at Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George. Ploias is teaching a group of students the art of bow making.

Apprentice bowyers learning traditional craft Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca

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rcher Wayne Tanemura, who’s been shooting arrows with the Silvertip Archers for the last four years, thought the best way to get exactly what he wanted out of a bow was to make it himself.

Enter Theo Ploias, the instructor of Traditional Bow Design and Manufacture offered at Two Rivers Gallery. He’s halfway through his eight-week course and the 13 participants, including Tanemura, are making real progress on their creations.

These longbows will have a 30-pound draw, which is ideal for target practice, or when hunting grouse or rabbit.

“I have three bows now and I shoot (with Silvertip Archers) two to three times a week and I thought it would be very interesting to see how to make a bow,” Tanemura said.

For instructor Ploias, bow making started with a day at the beach hanging out with his cousin, Robert, near Vancouver about eight and a half years ago. He found a great piece of cedar and on the spur-of-the-moment the guys decided to make a quick bow

out of the found wood, gathering what they could forage from the beach.

“It actually turned out half decent and we were kind of impressed with it,” Ploias said.

“I thought I’d go home and do a little research and make a legit bow and yeah, I got hooked.”

Now in Prince George and enrolled in the forestry program at UNBC, self-taught using the four-volume series The Traditional Bowyer’s Bible, Ploias thought he’d share his knowledge with others interested in bow making.

“This is a skill that not very many people will pursue, or have, or even hear of, really – it’s kind of a dying thing – so it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do,” Ploias said.

“We’re planning to offer it again in the fall and next spring, too.”

Ploias is hoping the participants’ newfound knowledge will inspire them to continue to build bows.

“Once you see the bow shoot for the first time – I can very distinctly remember that – my very first bow that shot more than 150 feet per second (considered a fast bow) – it was pretty rewarding,” Ploias said.

— see ‘FROM THERE, page 12

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‘From there we’re just making it look really pretty’

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Wayne Tanemura measures and draws a line where he will need to make a cut on his unfinished bow on March 3 at Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George.

— from page 11 The bows created in the class are backed self bows. A self bow is a bow made from a single piece of wood.

Ploias said the backing is for extra insurance because when making your first bow there’s bound to be mistakes.

“By putting on that backing we have that much more chance of the bow not breaking,” Ploias said.

After gluing on the backing, it’s pretty much all about shaping the bow.

“Then getting it to the stage so we can tiller, and tillering is actually the process of getting the bow to bend and to bend evenly across the entire length so there’s no places that it might snap,” Ploias

said. “To have the bow tillered is the bulk of what making a bow is.”

Three of the eight classes are dedicated to tillering alone, he added.

“Once that’s done the bow is technically shootable and ostensibly finished,” Ploias said.

Ploias will also teach the bow builders how to make their own Flemish twist string to use on their bow.

During the second-to-last class participants will get to shoot an arrow at close range using their own handmade bow at a target set up specially at the gallery. And then there’s the last class at the end of March.

“From there we’re just making it look really pretty.”

Kevin Smith still coming to Northern FanCon Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

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here was a real-life comic book battle inside Kevin Smith’s body and the hero destroyed the villain. The bad guy was his totally blocked left anterior descending artery and his Justice League was the cardiology team at Glendale Adventist Hospital in California.

That’s the colourful way of drawing it.

The flat way of explaining it is Smith – the film star, celebrated movie director, and host of the podcast Fatman On Batman – had a massive heart attack and managed to survive thanks to modern medicine.

He is still the official headline guest for Northern FanCon coming up in May at CN Centre in Prince George where he will broadcast a live episode of his podcast and have a very interesting story to tell of

his body’s rebellion and how it was vanquished.

“Dr. (Marc) Ladenheim...oh, that guy,” said Smith in a Facebook Live monologue from his hospital room on Tuesday morning. “This guy’s the Batman of fk-ing cardiologists, man. He was so calm. He was like a vigilante. He seized that LAD and he was like ‘c’mere Joker’ and he stuffed him in fk-ing Arkham (the fictitious prison asylum in Batman comics). These are comic book terms for people who don’t understand medicine.”

In his video post, Smith explained how he had finished one of two shows he was scheduled to perform for a live audience on Feb. 25. In between events he began to feel nauseous, sweat profusely, and couldn’t catch his breath.

There was no pain and he remained mostly lucid.

— see ‘IT WAS LIKE, page 14

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AP file photo

Kevin Smith arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of Ghostbusters at the TCL Chinese Theatre on July 9, 2016. Smith had a heart attack last month, but still plans to attend Northern FanCon in Prince George in May.

‘It was like reading your eulogy’ — from page 12 He was in the process of convincing himself it was food poisoning when the ambulance got called and in short, frantic order it became clear to the paramedics what was really happening.

His mother has two stents in her heart, his father died of a heart attack, but because he was only 47 years old with a recent history of healthy living, the notion of heart attack never crossed his mind, he said, until the hospital staff made him know that this was what was happening.

His artery was 100 per cent blocked.

A stent (an insert in the artery to ensure it doesn’t close again) was inserted immediately and he woke up to the effects of blood flow the likes of which his body hadn’t enjoyed for years. He was feeling incredibly well. He said he was barred from driving for a while, he would have to take a careful regimen of medications, and he had to convalesce for a week.

The only work he missed was that second live show on Feb. 25 and an appointment to direct an episode of The Goldbergs.

The outpouring of support that flooded in by mail, social media and flowers delivered

to his hospital room gave his heart quite the opposite of an attack.

“It was like reading your eulogy. I saw what the reaction would be like if I died, and it was very sweet,” he said, repeatedly thanking family, friends and fans for their shows of support.

“I was always afraid of being terrified of dying,” he said.

“I’ve seen people die. I like life. Life worked out for me and I don’t ever want to let it go. But in that moment, I was like... that’ll do it. ‘That’ll do, pig, that’ll do.’ I felt like I was (cartoon piglet) Babe. I was ready, and I was OK with it.”

He repeated that he felt very well and he would be back to normal activities as soon as he possibly could, with the added bonus of mortal gratitude.

Northern FanCon organizer Norm Coyne confirmed that no dates on Smith’s schedule of public appearances had been cancelled even for the first week of March, let along the 70-or-so days until the Prince George show. That’s more than two months for local fans to come to terms with their own feelings over such a near miss by a beloved artist.

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Colonial policies still a barrier for northern care, obstetrician says Stuart Neatby Citizen staff sneatby@pgcitizen.ca

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Dr. Sheona Mitchell-Foster is a Prince George obstetrician and gynecologist.

here are no easy answers as to why First Nations people in B.C. have worse outcomes and face a shorter life expectancy than non-Indigenous people, according to Sheona Mitchell-Foster, an obstetrician and gynecologist who works in Prince George.

As examined in a recently published series of articles in the UK medical journal The Lancet, Indigenous people in Canada face higher rates of chronic disease, lower life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality than non-Indigenous Canadians.

Another recent study conducted by the B.C. Cancer Agency and the First Nations Health Authority found that B.C. First Nations women have an alarming 92 per cent higher incidence rate of cervical cancer than non-First Nations women. First Nations men have a 39 per cent higher incidence of colorectal cancer. First Nations people over-

all also have a much lower cancer survival rate than non-First Nations people.

Geography plays a role, with many small communities in B.C.’s north particularly beset by shortages of trained healthcare staff and limited access to large medical centres.

But the root of the problem, according to Mitchell-Foster, traces back to Canada’s historical legacy, from residential schools to the less-discussed policy of forced sterilization in B.C. between 1933-1979.

“The other aspect – specifically when we’re talking about maternity care and reproductive care – is we really have to remember that we actually function within a colonial system,” Mitchell-Foster told The Citizen. “If your parents, your grandparents experienced the sixties scoop or the residential school system, you may not feel that you can engage in care during pregnancy because there is generational trauma that has occurred with children being taken away from their families.”

— see ‘IT’S A UNIQUELY, page 16

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‘It’s a uniquely invasive exam’ — from page 15 Mitchell-Foster said the legacy of these policies still presents a barrier for healthcare providers today, even for the relatively simple process of screening for cervical cancer.

“Cervical cancer is not something we don’t know how to screen for. We know what causes it, we know how to prevent it,” she said.

“Public exams – it’s a uniquely invasive exam. Not only is it uncomfortable if a woman has had a previous negative experience with the healthcare system, or they have a history of any kind of sexual assault or sexual trauma, that just adds layers of barriers to this screening test.

Similarly, if you had an auntie who was sterilized against her will or without even telling her, it’s quite unlikely that you’re going to engage in this invasive public exam without knowing specifically what it’s for.”

Mitchell-Foster has been working

with partners in the First Nations Health Authority to offer patients a self-swab for testing HPV cervical cancer.

She believes this has helped women avoid the invasive exams, while allowing First Nations women to take more control over their health.

Mitchell-Foster said the lack of culturally-safe screening options for many illnesses was partly the reason for the creation of the First Nations Health Authority in B.C. in 2016.

The authority, which works closely with Northern Health, was identified in The Lancet article as a positive step in delivery of healthcare to First Nations populations in Canada.

Northern Health also deserves credit for its work in the area of First Nations health, added Mitchell-Foster. The health authority created a vice-president position on its executive leadership team in 2013. The position is currently filled by UNBC professor Margo Greenwood.

Citizen photo by Mark Nielsen

Hikers heading along the O trek in Chile’s Torres Del Paine National Park.

A little luck goes a long way at Torres Del Paine Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

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f you’re going to Torres Del Paine, be prepared to be blown away – in both senses of the expression.

Situated in Patagonia near the southernmost end of Chile, the national park and UNESCO world heritage site is known for out-ofthis world scenery but comes with a warning: It’s also know for notoriously temperamental weather with winds that can deliver gusts in excess of 100 km/h along with incessant rain and even snow in the middle of the summer.

I never heard of the place until I happened upon an online ad. As someone with a bit of a passion for most things outdoors, I had been looking for an “adventure vacation” in an exotic local and was thinking seriously of Nepal or Machu Pichu. But just

one look at a photo of the park’s namesake a series of massive granite walls glowing in the dawn sun – made my decision for me.

By the time I had booked my trip and had bought the plane tickets, I began to hear the stories – tents blown away, torrential rain coming in sideways with the affect of a sandblaster, bitter cold. Will this be a holiday or a test of survival?

Added to the worry, I had opted for the O trek, a nine-day walk that takes you entirely around the perimeter of the massif or mountain complex at the park’s centre.

The other option, and the one taken by most of the trekkers who pass through the area each year, is the W, a four-day trip along the southern side and so named because it takes hikers up two valleys to its two most prominent features – the Towers and the Horns – and alongside a lakeshore to a glacier.

— see PATAGONIA IS KNOWN, page 17

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Patagonia is known as the land of rainbows

Citizen photo by Mark Neilsen

A hiker crosses a bridge near where the Grey Glacier spills into Lago Grey in Chile’s Torres Dal Paine National Park.

sometimes not even rolling, just less severe — from page 16 than going up and down a mountainside.

Taking on the O meant more hiking and The hiking was pleasant nonetheless and thus more time in the awesome splendour after four to five hours we had reached our of Torres Del Paine (pronounced pie-nay) destination. but with a greater chance of being exposed It was essentially more of the same on to the worst of the park’s weather.

Day 3, but as we progressed, more stunThat said, I wasn’t going to travel all the ning mountains came into view – not on way to the bottom end of South America the scale of the Towers but still enough to without getting some quality outside time. make me slack-jawed. We progressed up a Plus any hardship I was going to encounhill onto a pass where we were greeted with ter was going to be offset by the fact I had our first taste of gale-force winds. Surprissigned onto a guided trip that would follow ingly, it was kind of fun as we leaned into a series of “refugios” placed around the circuit where we could get hot meals, show- the blasts or tried to remain still enough to take a picture or video. That said, it was not ers and, for a price, wine and beer. Also, the kind of place where you would try to do porters would be transporting a significant a pirouette. portion of my load, Threatening clouds meaning I only had Also, porters would be had dominated the to carry a camera and transporting a significant sky as we descended the essentials for a portion of my load, down the other side. day hike. I would still be sleeping in a tent, meaning I only had to carry By the time we were at the next refugio, but otherwise it was a camera and the essentials a strong drizzle was glamping. for a day hike. I would still falling. The camp was Oddly, we started with what a Hollybe sleeping in a tent, but fogbound, imposing a desultory mood and wood producer would otherwise it was glamping. we spent the evening call the “money shot.” in the main building On the first day, we drinking wine, playing cards and expecting made the 18-kilometre round trip up to a the warnings we had heard about the area’s lake at the foot of the Towers themselves. fickle weather to come to full fruition.

Blessed with a remarkably clear sky, our But when we woke up the next morngroup of 14 plus two guides probably took ing, the fog had lifted, the sky was a sunny, a collective 100 photos of the Towers just on the drive in to the trailhead alone. As ex- clear blue and the mountains in their majesty could not be missed. The theme only pected, the walk itself was uphill almost all the way and because we had shown up on a continued as we headed back onto and up the trail. As we looked back, we could see Sunday, it was packed with plenty of other The Cube, a massive square block of black hikers – most of them proud Chileans out rock shrouded in cloud and with a glacier to get an up-close look at the centrepiece of descending down one side to a lakeshore what, in my opinion, is their more-spectacbelow. ular answer to the Canadian Rockies.

To the other was the backside of the By the time we had reached our destinaTowers swooping up into the sky like tion, the clouds had crowded out the towSuperman’s Fortress of Solitude. Suddenly, ers’ tops but not so much that we couldn’t walking the O was worth the effort. get a sense of their ominous presence. How We followed the trail as it descended into could what followed possibly top this? I was a forest and over a series of bridges occaabout to find out. sionally catching glimpses of the mountains The next day was about appreciating towering above. the smaller things – the types of flowers, Then we climbed again and up to a small grasses and trees so different from our own. lake backed by a hanging glacier.

I also gained an appreciation for “Pata— see Lumniscent glow, page 18 gonian flat” which isn’t really flat at all,

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Citizen photo by Mark Nielsen

Sunrise at a refugio in Chile’s Torres Del Paine National Park.

Lumniscent glow lurked beneath glacier surface — from page 17 We stopped there to laze around and bask in the sun.

Then, a little bit of magic happened.

As some of us began to skip stones and simply throw large rocks and boulders into the lake, I saw something remarkable – as the mist from the splashes flew into the air they combined with the sun above to form small, moving rainbows. Patagonia is known as the land of rainbows, I was later told, and it’s so true.

The good weather stayed that evening but by the next morning it was raining, and at the worst possible time. Ahead of us lay John Gardner Pass, arguably one of the toughest legs of the trip due to the high wind that constantly blows through that part of the trek. It was as advertised but with the help of worthy rain gear, we persevered with relatively little trouble, and as we made our way over the rise we got our first views of the Grey Glacier.

Even shrouded in fog, we got a sense of just how huge it is at 26 kilometres long and six kilometres wide. We forged onwards and, to our good fortune, the clouds lifted, revealing an increasingly mag-

nificent sight. Beneath the glacier’s white and grey surface an eery lumniscent blue glowed, the green of the forest through which we were walking complimenting the colour. After roughly 10 hours of walking, often along a steep, muddy and rootinfested trail, we reached a refugio on the shore of Lago Grey, the lake into which the glacier spills. The next day was a rest day but only in the sense that we weren’t hiking to the next camp.

Instead, we were given the option of laying about or going on an excursion. I chose to do a guided walk along the glacier, complete with ice axe and crampons.

After a short boat ride and an extended scramble up a rock outcropping we arrived at the glacier’s foot where we strapped on our gear and, after a few instructions, ventured onto the ice itself. Picture yourself in a desert of undulating sandstone, except this stone is made of ice and snow, and you get an idea of what it was like.

Our guides took us to a couple of tunnels where the blue – the colour ice takes when it’s compressed into its densest form – was most evident.

— see SCENERY, page 19

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Scenery like a painting — from page 18 When I was given a chance to peer into one of the openings I felt strangely drawn in by a curious urge to seek what was around the next corner. More blue, of course, but deeper and more alluring.

Pictures were taken and we stopped for a drink of tea and cinnamon supplemented with chocolate before getting a look at another tunnel, this one a little too steep to investigate closely, before returning to the base and then back onto the boat.

Next day, the weather held although my feet were starting to feel the wear and tear of six days of hiking. A blister had emerged on a toe and the bottom of a foot where my boot got wet, had cracked enough to create a laceration. The spots were taped up and away we went, leaving what, for many is the starting point of the W and the first of the most developed of the refugios.

We headed towards the shore of Lago Pehoe, taking on more Patagonian flat along the way. By the time we reached our destination, we got a clear sight of the entrance to the French Valley, home to the Horns – a cirque of jagged peaks outdone only by the Towers themselves – and the Cerro Paine Grande – an imposing mixture of black rock and hanging glacier. As we emerged from our tents the next morning, the rising sun, the cloud and the peaks themselves created a glowing, spell-binding scene reminiscent of a painting from the Romantic era.

The feeling continued as we made our way up the valley. Cerro Paine Grande

Interested? Here’s some advice: Be prepared: Even if you’re taking a guided trip complete with porters, this is no walk in the park. You need to be in reasonable, even excellent shape. I relied on snowshoeing on the weekends, getting out to Otway as much as possible, some gym work and riding my bike on a wind trainer and was able to keep up – but just barely. If I was to do it again, I’d train for a 10K or even a half-marathon to get ready.

Consider a guided trip: Many, especially the younger types, choose to do it all on their own, carrying their own food and tents and booking their own spots at the stopping points along the way. But a guided trip has its advantages, like taking away a lot of the headache and worry, along with the weight in your pack.

became only more impressive as we grew nearer, its glacier occasionally producing a loudly-rumbling fall of ice.

We stopped for an extended time, our guides knowing this will be among the most impressive sights we would come across as well as among the last.

Eventually, we had to turn and retreat back down the valley and on to the next refugio, tracing the shore of Lago Nordenskold. On one side, the Horns peered down from above, on the other we saw rolling hills of green and granite flank the far side of the lake. We eventually reached what, for my money, was the most delightful of the refugios where, sensing the trip was soon to come to an end, we headed to the bar – yes, it has a bar – where I enjoyed yet another in an ongoing series of pisco sours.

The next day was our final one and, scenery wise, a little anti-climatic, although a fairly easy meander that took us back to our starting point, a sight that seemed a distant memory after nine days on the trail.

Throughout our trip, our guides constantly commented on how lucky we were.

And when we gathered later that night for a trip-ending dinner, our head guide told us we were the first group in four trips where all the participants made it to the finish.

While I was a little tired by the end of the trek, everything came out much better than expected – the sights were even more impressive than what I came across online and other than a few hiccups, the weather held. I was lucky, indeed.

I opted for a trip through G Adventures and I chose it because it was relatively inexpensive and was quoted in Canadian dollars. I was happy with what I got – the guides were fluent in English, were a lot of fun and showed a passion for the area – and the food was reasonable even at the hard-to-service refugios on the back side of the massif.

Getting there: I flew into Santiago, Chile’s capital, and then took a regional flight down to Punta Arenas, a delightful coastal town in the far south. From there I took a bus up to Puerto Natales to meet with the rest of the group at our launching point. I flew to Santiago via Toronto on the way down and via Los Angeles on the way back up. Toronto is the better option because you can avoid the hassle of going through U.S. customs.

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The Illusionists appearing at CN Centre Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

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rare spectacle is coming to Prince George. Paradoxically it is one you’ll have to gape and stare at to believe, and even then, you won’t see how it’s done.

But the results will be as visible as a spotlight shining on The Illusionists.

This is a show straight from Broadway to Prince George, but it’s not musical theatre.

It is theatrical magic instead.

The Times of London called it “magic’s Cirque du Soleil.” It has been a sellout around the world and never has it come to

Prince George as a whole or in any of its parts.

There are five components to this one show. All five of those parts are people.

Each one a special world-class talent in the realm of performance magic. They banded together to make a blockbuster ensemble show that is now setting box office records for this unique form of entertainment. The five stars, each a master in their own fields, are: • The Trickster, Jeff Hobson He is the epitome of glamour and showmanship. Don’t be fooled by his innocent appearance; Jeff has audiences laughing long after the curtain goes down.

• The Inventor, Kevin James

He is known for innovative illusions, is an inventor, comedian and collector of the strange and unusual. Kevin is one of the most prolific inventors of magic in the world and has created some of the most celebrated illusions of the last century.

• The Deductionist, Colin Cloud He is one of the greatest thought readers of all time, a psychic savant known as a real life Sherlock Holmes. Don’t play against him in a game of poker – he’s never lost.

• The Manipulator, An Ha Lim The first-place winner at Korea’s Busan International Magic Competition (2006), Italy Club Convention Manipulation (2006), and World Magic Seminar in Asia (2007), An Ha Lim was also a Golden Lion

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Award winner at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas (2008).

• The Daredevil, Jonathan Goodwin Widely considered one of the most creative, skilled, and frankly crazy stunt performers in the world, Goodwin is an accomplished knife thrower, archer, escape artist, fakir, martial artist, free diver, and free climber.

Unlike the other performers in the show, Jonathan is not a magician or illusionist but he will leave the audience breathless with his death-defying stunts.

This team of bewitching performers will be live in Prince George on the CN Centre stage on Apr. 17 for a one-night-only performance. Tickets are available online at www.ticketsnorth.ca.

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Hitchhiking study finds higher rates of sexual violence in north Stuart Neatby Citizen staff sneatby@pgcitizen.ca

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he results of the first comprehensive study of hitchhikers was presented to a conference of women’s advocates earlier this month.

The study, lead by UNBC associate professor Jacqueline Holler, was presented during a day-long symposium at the university on the subject of gendered violence. The event was organized by the Northern Feminist Institute for Research and Evaluation.

Holler said that hitchhiking is an established mode of transportation in B.C.’s north.

Compared to other rural parts of Canada, hitchhikers in B.C.’s north are more likely to be indigenous and are more likely to face sexual assault.

The study, which began in 2012, was funded by the government of B.C., with assistance by several First Nations. The study involved interviews with hitchhikers, online survey and a count of hitchhikers undertaken by truck drivers along major highways.

Holler said there are distinct characteristics that have resulted in a higher use of hitchhiking by indigenous people in the region.

“Indigenous people are more mobile than non-indigenous people across the board,” Holler said.

“But indigenous people also face constrained mobility – less likely to own cars, less likely to have access to transit.”

Police reports of sexual assaults were also shown to be significantly higher in Williams Lake, Prince George, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Quesnel and Burns Lake than in towns in southern B.C. Reported sexual assaults were shown to have declined between 2008 and 2016, according to this data, although Holler said that there is currently no explanation as to why this may have occurred.

Many of those interviewed indicated that they did not report sexual assaults experienced during hitchhiking due to a fear of not being taken seriously or of being blamed for the incident.

Holler Holler said that the research is evidence that regional transit plans should incorporate methods of reducing sexual assault throughout the region. The corridor between Prince George and Prince Rupert – the Highway of Tears – has received a great deal of media attention due to a high number of murdered or missing women along that route.

A provincially-funded transit bus was established along the route in 2017. The service runs between Prince George and Smithers.

However, other areas, such as the section of Highway 16 east of Prince George, or Highway 97 have not received the same degree of focus despite documented reports of sexual assault of hitchhikers along those corridors.

Holler noted that the issue of sexual assaults of hitchhikers received no mention in the provincial government’s 2015 10-year Transportation Plan.

“There’s not one mention of women in that whole work,” Holler said.

Greyhound recently announced it would be discontinuing its operations of all bus routes in B.C.’s north. Local municipal leaders have decried this decision, arguing it would result in more danger for commuters in the region.

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Citizen file photo

Joel Stobbe, right, performs on cello while David Louie plays piano during a concert presented by Prince George Conservatory of Music in 2007.

Stobbe brothers coming home to play with PGSO Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca Two sons of symphony are coming home.

Karl and Joel Stobbe are two of the city’s most successful orchestral musicians, both of them nationally acclaimed for their cello skills. They have each gotten the chance to return to their hometown for past performances but a conspiracy of fortunes are allowing them to come back as feature guests of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra at the same time.

“We had scheduled a piece that needed a prominent cello, and we had our professional cellist Flora Camuzet picked to do it, but then she left the orchestra so we had this big hole in our plans,” said PGSO general manager Teresa Saunders.

“We had already heard from Karl that he was interested in performing with us, if we ever got the chance, but musicians of his calibre are in high demand, they are often booked months or even years in advance but we thought we would float the idea of taking on this piece and by great luck, he happened to be free at that time.”

Someone who was not available for that date was new PGSO artistic director and conductor Michael Hall. He had a prior

commitment that night. A guest conductor was going to be needed.

Joel Stobbe is retired from the rigours of the cello profession, but he keeps his hand in the music profession a pair of ways. One is teaching music, the other is conducting.

“We had heard this, and when this challenge came up we thought of Joel, because Karl coming put the Stobbes on our minds,” said Saunders. “What were the odds, we thought, of Joel being free on the same night as his brother? But you never know unless you ask and to our amazement he was available and he was willing. Now we can’t wait. It’ll be such a special event.”

It’ll also be special for the friends and family of Karl and Joel. A contingent of Stobbes from out of town will be making the trip to Prince George to take in this rare night, and the PGSO is officially dedicating the event to their late mother Linda Stobbe who passed away in 2013 after spending 27 years in Prince George as a beloved music teacher and performer.

This special event happens April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Vanier Hall in Prince George.

The concert is entitled Canadian Contemplation & Russian Drama. It features compositions by Roydon, Borodin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.

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